Female, 25, with OCD - possible autism?

My advice would be to take 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.

I have completed these.

AQ10 - Threshold above 6  - I scored 10 / 10

AQ  - Theshold above 26 - I scored 38 / 50

EQ - Threshold below 30  - 8 / 80

SQ-R -  Theshold above 75 - 117 / 150

RAADS-R - Threshold above 65 - 174 / 240

Aspie Quiz - 110 / 200 (75% chance of being autistic)

CATQ - Threshold above 100 - 92 / 175

The Aspie Quiz doesn't have a threshold.

I scored above threshold in AQ10, AQ, EQ, SQ-R, RAADS-R.

I scored below threshold in CATQ

Right, you seem to already have the answer to your question.

Good night.

I can understand that. The people I communicate best with are austistic.

Thank-you for helping me tonight, Martin. I will definitly go about asking for a referal for diagnosis and getting together the resources I need for that.

It is 10pm now, I have to sign off.

Academic studies have shown that autistic to autistic communication is just as effective as neurotypical to neurotypical communication, the problems arise in autistic to neurotypical communication.

To clarify.

I have been worried about there being something 'wrong' with me, why I cannot understand other people and it leads to fustration on everyone's part.

However, If I were autistic, then this would mean there wasn't something 'wrong' with me, since I communicate well with people who are autistic.

All that you have written could be due to autism, but the only way you will find out for certain is to have an autism assessment. To me, again not a clinician, you have more than enough traits to legitimately seek a referral for an autism assessment. I can offer you no more certainty than that.

I would recommend having a look at the diagnostic criteria for autism in the clinical manuals (can be found online) ICD-10 and DSM-5. See how your traits and history fit the various sections that the criteria are divided into.

The autism community tend not to see autism as 'something wrong', but as a difference from neurotypical norms. Realising that I was autistic, and subsequently being diagnosed, was very useful to me, it gave me a reason for the difficulties and limitations that I have always had. It gave me a certain peace of mind and the ability to forgive myself for past 'failings'. If you are autistic, you will always be autistic, as it is due to a difference in brain architecture and function. However, a knowledge of your autistic traits and the reasons behind them, allows 'work arounds' for problems to be created. A diagnosis also requires, by law, employers to offer accommodations that can make working life much easier.

Incidentally, being autistic does not prevent also having other things. My OCD tendencies were ascribed to my autism, but I have also diagnoses of generalised anxiety disorder and social phobia.

I am not sure how I am percieved by people in public, I have never asked public people.

My dad doesn't notice things at all, and my mum has MS and doesn't really remember much from my childhood.

Some things that I have previously wrote:

Growing up (2 - 11) I would refuse to wear trousers or tights as I hated the way that the crotch area would feel. I would get very upset if I was forced to do so.

I used to refuse to wear clothing that had buttons on it, and would refuse to be near people that had buttons on.

I refuse to have or be near anyone with stickers. To this day I severely struggle with this, and won’t eat food if I know it has had stickers on.

I would get very upset if I had water spilled on me, even a small amount I would have to change what I was wearing. This is less of an issue now, since I can change my clothes without having to 'ask' someone.

I’m not sure when this started, but whenever I am in the kitchen I will walk around in circles. My mum gets very frustrated as she is in the living room and she says it makes her dizzy, I shut the door and continue.

I am also not sure when it started, but I find myself rocking my body forwards and backwards when I am sitting down. I don’t mind doing this, it is nice and rhythmic. I am just not sure why I started doing it either.

I have also never liked it when there are sudden high pitch noises, especially voices, and will cover my ears to block this.

I do not like touch and refuse to hug other people, including people close to me that I would otherwise want to do so. This is a massive one - the trauma of being in hospital has made me afraid of touch.

I have also been told by my mum that I struggle with motivation and generally looking after myself, even though I think I am doing okay – she always points out something I ‘haven’t done’ as if it should have been obvious to me that I should have done it.

I struggle with the texture of certain foods, finding it physically difficult to swallow. However, this could be due to my oesophegus (sp.) issues at birth.

I also just found out it is not normal to eat pasta for every evening meal – even though I have always done this and it seemed normal to me.

I also seem to struggle with understanding people’s conversations and expectations of me, discussing social concepts such as ‘fluff’ and ‘light/shade’ (which isn't related to science) which I am not really sure how to engage with.

I have been told that I only really like to engage with discussing a few topics, and that I will repeated my conversations regarding these topics. I struggle to see interest in other people’s conversations but I am trying.

I really enjoy art. Specifically watercolour and the science of light/colour, which I love how interlinked they are. I enjoy learning about different pigment information and the properties of these pigments.

People sometimes expect me to continue a conversation and continue to engage with what they are saying even when I think I have engaged enough I am told that it is not. That makes me frustrated.

I struggle to continue a conversation over the phone and will resort to single word responses such as ‘yes’ and ‘no’ which frustrates my mum who wishes me to use more vocabulary. However, I just feel very awkward when talking over the phone.

I struggle to ask things of people or to tell them what I really want. I have gone many years without doing the things I wanted or receiving the gifts I wanted because I thought the other people knew I wanted them – but I have been told by my parents that I never did ask. I still struggle with asking for help with things sometimes, and will often try to it myself or get frustrated and give up. It is less of an issue now, I have my own money and will just get it myself.

When I have conversations with people, I continue to repeated these conversations in my head for years afterwards to check that everything I said was ‘okay.’

I feel that there is a difficulty in communicating with others that I struggle to communicate what that difficulty is. It feels like they don’t understand me, but I can’t rephrase what I am saying to help them understand. When they talk to me, I think I have understood what they are saying, but then they tell me that I have not understood.

I get told often that I have not fully explained myself, even when it seems obvious to me that I have explained myself properly. This is also evident in written communication – when I think I have put something down but the other person tells me ‘you haven’t put that though!’ I continue to think I have.

I have been told and I accept that I am a serious and literal person – I am not sure why other people think these are bad traits.

All these reasons I think there is something wrong with me – and if it is not autism then what is it? If it is my personality, how can I force myself to change?

Though I am a man, I mask like a professional, I pass as neurotypical 99% of the time when I'm in public. No one outside my immediate family would have any notion that I was autistic. I worked full time for 34 years in scientific research at a couple of universities. You should not need 'court of law' levels of evidence of your childhood autistic traits, just make a record of how you felt and behaved, having a parent to give their viewpoint will help. I was diagnosed at 59 and had neither parent left alive to say anything about my childhood traits (I have a 92 year old aunt who is frail and I did not want to bother at all).

I will have to print it off for the GP. That involves going to the library, which wouldn't be a problem except then I have to ask for another library card.

The one thing I am not sure of when it comes to an austic diagnosis is that many autistic women mask. Yet, I do not understand the concept of 'masking,' since everyone (?) tries to appear more professional in work-based situations, and I don't try to change my behaviour at all in front of friends and family - even if it gets me told off. It's their behaviour that confuses me.

I wish my school reports were more honest about my behaviour in primary school. They all say I was a 'happy girl with lots of friends' but I know for a fact I cried several times a week every week in primary school, and I struggled to maintain friendships. I am also not sure to what extent these issues are due to autism or due to the fact that I spent a lot of time in hospital and missed out on normal social opportunities.

Your test scores are excellent ammunition to help convince your GP to refer you for autism assessment.

Thank-you for clarifying.

I scored 37 in the AQ and 167 in the RAADS-R, I was told I would be receiving a diagnosis of ASD about 20 minutes into my autism assessment. Obviously, I had completed a lot of detailed clinical questionnaires etc. beforehand. To me, not a psychiatrist or any sort of clinician, your scores are screaming autism. That is what I mean.

I scored 37 in the AQ and 167 in the RAADS-R, I was told I would be receiving a diagnosis of ASD about 20 minutes into my autism assessment. Obviously, I had completed a lot of detailed clinical questionnaires etc. beforehand. To me, not a psychiatrist or any sort of clinician, your scores are screaming autism. That is what I mean.

Good night.

I can understand that. The people I communicate best with are austistic.

Thank-you for helping me tonight, Martin. I will definitly go about asking for a referal for diagnosis and getting together the resources I need for that.

It is 10pm now, I have to sign off.

Academic studies have shown that autistic to autistic communication is just as effective as neurotypical to neurotypical communication, the problems arise in autistic to neurotypical communication.

To clarify.

I have been worried about there being something 'wrong' with me, why I cannot understand other people and it leads to fustration on everyone's part.

However, If I were autistic, then this would mean there wasn't something 'wrong' with me, since I communicate well with people who are autistic.

All that you have written could be due to autism, but the only way you will find out for certain is to have an autism assessment. To me, again not a clinician, you have more than enough traits to legitimately seek a referral for an autism assessment. I can offer you no more certainty than that.

I would recommend having a look at the diagnostic criteria for autism in the clinical manuals (can be found online) ICD-10 and DSM-5. See how your traits and history fit the various sections that the criteria are divided into.

The autism community tend not to see autism as 'something wrong', but as a difference from neurotypical norms. Realising that I was autistic, and subsequently being diagnosed, was very useful to me, it gave me a reason for the difficulties and limitations that I have always had. It gave me a certain peace of mind and the ability to forgive myself for past 'failings'. If you are autistic, you will always be autistic, as it is due to a difference in brain architecture and function. However, a knowledge of your autistic traits and the reasons behind them, allows 'work arounds' for problems to be created. A diagnosis also requires, by law, employers to offer accommodations that can make working life much easier.

Incidentally, being autistic does not prevent also having other things. My OCD tendencies were ascribed to my autism, but I have also diagnoses of generalised anxiety disorder and social phobia.

I am not sure how I am percieved by people in public, I have never asked public people.

My dad doesn't notice things at all, and my mum has MS and doesn't really remember much from my childhood.

Some things that I have previously wrote:

Growing up (2 - 11) I would refuse to wear trousers or tights as I hated the way that the crotch area would feel. I would get very upset if I was forced to do so.

I used to refuse to wear clothing that had buttons on it, and would refuse to be near people that had buttons on.

I refuse to have or be near anyone with stickers. To this day I severely struggle with this, and won’t eat food if I know it has had stickers on.

I would get very upset if I had water spilled on me, even a small amount I would have to change what I was wearing. This is less of an issue now, since I can change my clothes without having to 'ask' someone.

I’m not sure when this started, but whenever I am in the kitchen I will walk around in circles. My mum gets very frustrated as she is in the living room and she says it makes her dizzy, I shut the door and continue.

I am also not sure when it started, but I find myself rocking my body forwards and backwards when I am sitting down. I don’t mind doing this, it is nice and rhythmic. I am just not sure why I started doing it either.

I have also never liked it when there are sudden high pitch noises, especially voices, and will cover my ears to block this.

I do not like touch and refuse to hug other people, including people close to me that I would otherwise want to do so. This is a massive one - the trauma of being in hospital has made me afraid of touch.

I have also been told by my mum that I struggle with motivation and generally looking after myself, even though I think I am doing okay – she always points out something I ‘haven’t done’ as if it should have been obvious to me that I should have done it.

I struggle with the texture of certain foods, finding it physically difficult to swallow. However, this could be due to my oesophegus (sp.) issues at birth.

I also just found out it is not normal to eat pasta for every evening meal – even though I have always done this and it seemed normal to me.

I also seem to struggle with understanding people’s conversations and expectations of me, discussing social concepts such as ‘fluff’ and ‘light/shade’ (which isn't related to science) which I am not really sure how to engage with.

I have been told that I only really like to engage with discussing a few topics, and that I will repeated my conversations regarding these topics. I struggle to see interest in other people’s conversations but I am trying.

I really enjoy art. Specifically watercolour and the science of light/colour, which I love how interlinked they are. I enjoy learning about different pigment information and the properties of these pigments.

People sometimes expect me to continue a conversation and continue to engage with what they are saying even when I think I have engaged enough I am told that it is not. That makes me frustrated.

I struggle to continue a conversation over the phone and will resort to single word responses such as ‘yes’ and ‘no’ which frustrates my mum who wishes me to use more vocabulary. However, I just feel very awkward when talking over the phone.

I struggle to ask things of people or to tell them what I really want. I have gone many years without doing the things I wanted or receiving the gifts I wanted because I thought the other people knew I wanted them – but I have been told by my parents that I never did ask. I still struggle with asking for help with things sometimes, and will often try to it myself or get frustrated and give up. It is less of an issue now, I have my own money and will just get it myself.

When I have conversations with people, I continue to repeated these conversations in my head for years afterwards to check that everything I said was ‘okay.’

I feel that there is a difficulty in communicating with others that I struggle to communicate what that difficulty is. It feels like they don’t understand me, but I can’t rephrase what I am saying to help them understand. When they talk to me, I think I have understood what they are saying, but then they tell me that I have not understood.

I get told often that I have not fully explained myself, even when it seems obvious to me that I have explained myself properly. This is also evident in written communication – when I think I have put something down but the other person tells me ‘you haven’t put that though!’ I continue to think I have.

I have been told and I accept that I am a serious and literal person – I am not sure why other people think these are bad traits.

All these reasons I think there is something wrong with me – and if it is not autism then what is it? If it is my personality, how can I force myself to change?

Though I am a man, I mask like a professional, I pass as neurotypical 99% of the time when I'm in public. No one outside my immediate family would have any notion that I was autistic. I worked full time for 34 years in scientific research at a couple of universities. You should not need 'court of law' levels of evidence of your childhood autistic traits, just make a record of how you felt and behaved, having a parent to give their viewpoint will help. I was diagnosed at 59 and had neither parent left alive to say anything about my childhood traits (I have a 92 year old aunt who is frail and I did not want to bother at all).

I will have to print it off for the GP. That involves going to the library, which wouldn't be a problem except then I have to ask for another library card.

The one thing I am not sure of when it comes to an austic diagnosis is that many autistic women mask. Yet, I do not understand the concept of 'masking,' since everyone (?) tries to appear more professional in work-based situations, and I don't try to change my behaviour at all in front of friends and family - even if it gets me told off. It's their behaviour that confuses me.

I wish my school reports were more honest about my behaviour in primary school. They all say I was a 'happy girl with lots of friends' but I know for a fact I cried several times a week every week in primary school, and I struggled to maintain friendships. I am also not sure to what extent these issues are due to autism or due to the fact that I spent a lot of time in hospital and missed out on normal social opportunities.

Your test scores are excellent ammunition to help convince your GP to refer you for autism assessment.

Thank-you for clarifying.