Worrying about assessment

Hi Dream, they didn't have to for my diagnosis which is just as well, both my mum and me have the worst memories. Having past memories helps them build a picture of what you were like as a child but it's not a requirement, they can build a picture themselves if they have to.

I had questionnaires to complete prior to a 6 hour long one to one assessment. 

my sister attended with me for some of it.

The findings from this then went to a multidisciplinary meeting where professionals discussed further than I had an in person feedback session (I had the option for this to be over the phone but prefer face to face communication). 

I found it all rather smooth and my assessor was very considerate. I’m female and there was an acknowledgment of masking and the impact of this which was incredibly insightful for me. 

edit: this was through NHS

• To be diagnosed do your parents need to have memories of your childhood. Mine are really struggling to remember when I could use cutlery, if I waved at people or pointed to ducks. In the assessment do you discuss things in more depth. They have memories after the age of 5. 

I very frequently have episodes of conversations, situations I've been in or it could just be anything random repeating in my head. It drives me insane. I try to distract myself and tell my brain to stop doing it but it will reappear and start all over again. Does anyone else have this happen? How do you stop it? I have bipolar, I don't think I'm getting ill so I was wondering if this is part of having autism? 

Ok I’m also bipolar but all I get is one half-hour appointment a year with a mental health nurse.

Just..Be..Yourself. ( And stop worring )

I'm in the new style ESA support group. So I don't have anything to do with the job centre. The employment support worker I have is through my mental health team due to bipolar

Yes, I volunteer at a local community cafe and one of the woman who runs it now knows that if she is sending me a question by text or e-Mail that she has to put a ? at the end of the question if she wants to be sure of an answer.

if you are on benefits it may be possible to arrange job trials which may enable you to demonstrate your skills as well as not committing the employer to anything and not affecting your benefits. Speak to your advisor at the job centre.

I've met with my employment support worker and we are going to work on my communication skills. I can't do chit chat, I struggle to know if what's being asked is actually a question I'm supposed to answer. Does that make sense? Ive never actually got myself a job through an interview it's always been through knowing someone. If I could demonstrate my skills rather than speak it would be so much easier. Even though I'm not officially diagnosed she is going to speak to the autism team to see what help there is and for some tips on how to help me and to see if I can be assessed quicker. 

i can remember my childhood and im surprised i wasnt seen to when i was a kid because i was really totally openly mentally insane and not coping at all. but yet my words i dont feel would be evidence as they are just words and i could be making it up or lying for all they know. my mum could attest that i had no friends and was bullied alot, did bad in school despite being smarter than what they judged me as then eventually began skipping school. but yet my parents wouldnt likely know the extent of how unhinged i was in school. most would recall what they accused me of making animal noises all the time lol but there was alot more to that. one school counsellor saw me one time and tried to talk to me i cant recall much but i remember her asking me to do a example of my noises but i didnt do it on demand because its embarrassing and cringe, its something you dont do intentionally,. likely extreme coping or social anxiety reaction. but yet nothing still came out of anything and no one cared.

I didn’t feel in the slightest bit infantilised.

(They will ask you questions about your childhood however because autism is a childhood developmental disorder so you will usually have to have some evidence of it in childhood in my case however they still diagnosed me as ASC/Asperger’s without sufficient evidence in childhood probably because I was 50 and my mum was 84 so neither of us could remember that much.)

I was lucky though when I sought my diagnosis my local nhs trust had just opened an autism diagnosis centre (a bungalow attached to a mental health outpatients unit) when I was there it was just the nurse, the therapist, my mum and me.

whether you go nhs or private is up to you if you can afford to go private. Waiting times on the nhs can be a consideration

yeah the nhs seem too focused on children on this and it puts me off personally as i dont wanna be put through any shaming shite like sent to a childrens hospital or be treated like a child, it would insult me too much. 

is it better to go private then if the nhs infantilises us?

Thanks

Hey Taltunes - My referral was via the NHS, but after referral I asked for a 'right to choose' which put me on track to get an assessment sooner. EEssentiallythe NHS pay for a private outsourced company to provide the assessment and it is a lot quicker than sitting on the regular NHS waiting list. The company who provided my assessment were called Psychiatry UK. You can google them and book an appointment yourself, or, you can ask your GP to refer you. 

Good luck. 

NHS or Private?

Hi Dream - Nice to meet you. 

My diagnosis was conducted on Zoom in about 1hr 20m. 

They mostly went through all the paperwork I had provided before the assessment and asked me about elements of it. These covered topics like my childhood, my schooling, my siblings, my parents, etc. 

They provided the diagnosis within the session and followed up with the supporting paperwork 4 weeks later. 

The interview was with 1 male psychiatrist. 

I hope this helps ease your concerns. 

In the NHS not usually.

I was assessed by a (mental health?) nurse and a speech therapist.

( Technically autism is a childhood developmental disorder and not a mental health disorder but often they are dealt with by the same people particularly as people who are autistic may have other co-morbidities such as anxiety or depression which can be mental health disorders depending on how severe they are.)

I found a list on line and it could be:-

- a speech and language therapist

- a clinical psychologist

- an occupational therapist

- a psychiatrist

- a nurse

- a specialist gp

or

- a specialist diagnostician whatever they are

This is for adults in Scotland but the list should be similar elsewhere although slightly different for children

ideally you would be seen by at least two people with different qualifications

Of these I think I am correct in saying the highest qualified is a psychiatrist. Certainly as far as I am aware only a psychiatrist could have diagnosed your bipolar.

Given psychiatrists are scarce in the NHS it makes sense for the NHS to use psychiatrists just for work only they can do  and leave work like autism assessments to more junior staff.

in the private sector however psychiatrists will do whatever they are qualified to do as long as you pay them enough.

if you have a look on the nhs website there is a link to what to expect during an assessment.

It wasn't for me (NHS), but I know at least some of the people who got assessed privately were seen by psychiatrists. 

Does a psychiatrist assess you for autism or is it someone else? 

The psychiatrist is more qualified to diagnose you as schizoaffective bipolar than the support worker (the support worker probably can’t diagnose you one way or another as far as the schizoaffective bipolar is concerned) although that doesn’t mean the support worker can’t also diagnose you as autistic assuming the support worker has sufficient knowledge and experience of autism. What is does mean however is that the support worker is not going to question the diagnosis of the psychiatrist.