undiagnosed, family against the idea

Hi,

I'm not entirely sure if I'm autistic or not, any certainty I did have is all but gone after a conversation I had with my family tonight. I've suffered from depression and anxiety more or less all my life. I always thought I was different compared to my peers. They always seemed to be able to talk to one another and get along 'naturally' but I always felt like I was faking or forcing it. I've had social anxiety for as long as I can remember. I was always shy, and just never really understood people (there's more but I can't get into it, I'm already so tired just having to write the rest of this message).

I've been aware that I could potentially be autistic for about 2/3 years now, but recently, after one of the worst depressive episodes I've experienced, the idea has just been gnawing at me. I have really bad difficulty talking to my family about how I'm feeling because they always have a habit of making me feel weak minded and willed. They're really religious, so to them all my problems stem from the fact that I don't pray enough. But, when I tell them, I pray quite often, it becomes you don't pray hard enough then.

So today, I had the courage to tell my family what I think I've discovered. Big mistake. What once felt like some form of clarity has now just made me even more confused. The entire conversation basically boiled down to "I'm just easily influenced and accept any label that is given to me (even though no one has given me this label), I am weak minded and weak willed, there's been something wrong with me since birth, (I was supposed to be a twin, and then some random woman bathed me and so that affected me spiritually) that all of this is a problem with my spirit and there can't possibly be something wrong with me neurologically. That I'm just coming up with excuses as to why I can't go back to school. That if I was really autistic, wouldn't someone have noticed (I was a part of a survey spanning the length of my childhood (baby to about 15 years old)? What was supposed to be me telling my parents about this potential discovery, and my plan to getting the help I needed has just led to me spiralling; that I am a faker and looking for a cop out. Is there even a point going to the GP or seeing a therapist when they could be satanists (my parents words)? I just wanted some answers and now I feel lost all over again. I feel so alone. I don't have many friends, and just had a friendship end recently because of all the pressure I've been feeling from all aspects of my life. I don't even know what I'm expecting from this post. I just hate feeling so alone just when I thought I might finally be able to get somewhere. 

Parents
  • In my experience no one seeks out an autism diagnosis for frivolous reasons, but because autism makes the most sense to them, to explain how they are. Try taking some online autism tests. AQ10 and AQ50 (sometimes called just 'AQ') are the most commonly used by clinicians in this country, but the RAADS-R is the most definitive. They can be found here: embrace-autism.com/.../
    If you score in the autism range it will give you more certainty about following up on a diagnosis and give you useful ammunition to use in persuading your GP to refer you. I am a scientist and agnostic and to me your parents sound unhinged, sorry to be blunt. You do not have to involve them in your diagnosis path, or tell them of its outcome.

  • thank you for replying. i’ve done a range of tests and each one points to autism. i’m also agnostic, but i can’t even come out with that. the more i think about it, they truly sound unhinged but are trying to convince me that i’m the crazy one. i can be a bit on the woo woo side, but that’s because it brings me more peace, but they are borderline delusional in their beliefs. it just is what it is. 

Reply
  • thank you for replying. i’ve done a range of tests and each one points to autism. i’m also agnostic, but i can’t even come out with that. the more i think about it, they truly sound unhinged but are trying to convince me that i’m the crazy one. i can be a bit on the woo woo side, but that’s because it brings me more peace, but they are borderline delusional in their beliefs. it just is what it is. 

Children
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