Psychiatry UK report - what to expect

About 10 months - mainly because my GP lost the referral twice and then when Psychiatry UK called me I was at work so couldn't answer my phone so missed calls so got pushed back in the list. 

How long did you wait from referral to assessment?

I'm glad you asked this as I had verbal confirmation from Psychiatry UK last week. It's good to know what will be included.

I consider that for anyone beyond late adolescence, providing they do not have intellectual disability, that a history of 'symptoms' or traits and experiences should far outweigh the observation, for a couple of hours at most, of any clinician, however well qualified. Given that people mask and that very few people will behave authentically or naturally during a clinical evaluation, observation is not going to give an accurate picture for many people.

It’s been pointed out to me when chatting to local sources of support in person that having a diagnosis via Zoom does not show certain “ways of being” that can only be observed “in person” 

My letter hasn’t actually gone to the GP as of yet as PUK are just making a few corrections to the letter before it’s sent. Just a few errors I asked them to sort out. So that conversation is yet to come for me. I hope you manage to get something sorted though!

I disagree, it is not as if there is a physical examination involved, your body being in the same room as the assessor is irrelevant.

I went to Psychiatry UK through Right To Choose and it plainly says on their website that they do all of their assessments online. I can’t say I’m going to hold that against them. 

The very fact that they are doing everything to make this whole process as difficult as possible is totally disgraceful - it’s as if they are in denial because if the truth was revealed they would actually have to do something for us which is thier moral obligation to do so 

If at all possible, reject all online-based meetings and insist via advocates if needs be, on face-to-face meetings - I’m going for a second opinion diagnosis face to face rather than online - by all means send reports via email but a diagnosis simply cannot be made via Zoom calls, it’s the same with meetings with GP’s and everything else, it must always be face to face, never online, with things as importance with this, regardless of how good the tech is 

Hi - happy that you've got diagnosed and finally got the report! I had mine a few months ago. Just wondering, have you spoken to your GP about Psychiatry UK's recommendations at all? I'm trying to find some info about it as my GP basically said they cannot provide any of the recommendations, which really hit me hard. I didn't go private so I would have thought the GP are required to find something? Idk how it work to be honest and I cannot find any help or advice online. Any response would help thank you :) 

I'm glad you got your answer at least. Hopefully the imposter syndrome won't reemerge again or at least not as strong, and you can chase it away better now.

Just for the sake of completeness, thought I would post a quick update to say that I received a copy of my assessment letter this afternoon. 

I won’t get into the specifics but it confirmed a diagnosis of Level 1 ASD, and was 8 pages in total. There was a lot of detail there relating to my assessment and the questionnaires filled out by me and my wife, as well as suggested next steps for my GP. I was also supplied with a workplace adjustments letter to give to my employer if needed. 

My immediate reaction is relief, and seeing it all written down has done my imposter syndrome the world of good (though I’m sure it will raise its ugly head again before too long!)

Thank you. I’m not expecting a silver bullet and I’ll probably end up with more questions then answers. I just feel like I need to see it written down!

If I’ve only had something verbally, I almost end up convincing myself that I’ve imagined or misinterpreted it. I’ve found myself in similar situations before where I’ve had verbal job offers over the phone, but don’t quite believe it until I have something in black and white…

Mine had things I agreed with a some that I definitely did not agree with. So my advice is to remember, you probably already know yourself pretty well, so keep that in mind, the report is just somebody's opinion of you based off of a short assessment.

I think it is easy to think that it will answer all your prayers and quandaries, but the truth is, it isn't as valuable as you may hope and the things you already know about yourself deep down are more accurate, in my humble opinion.

Having said that, it is nice to finally read an assessment of the traits you have probably been evaluating by yourself for ages so, it's a balance.

I hope it gives you some peace at least