Published on 12, July, 2020
I'm not sure if this is appropriate to post and I am not asking for medical advice. I would just like to hear from adults who were diagnosed with ASD later in life. I am in my early 30s. I am not sure what I should do as I have been reading up a lot more on ASD lately and some of my behaviours and feelings do match some descriptions but some of these can also overlap with things like depression or anxiety disorders. For example some things like understanding how others feel come naturally to me, but I did have to teach myself how to socialise with people to seem "normal". There are more things as well that keep adding up, but won't elaborate in order to try and keep this as short as possible. I'm just a bit confused as to if I should seek a diagnosis or not as life has been a bit hard for me lately. I know that people on the internet can't tell me if I have ASD, I just feel a bit vulnerable at the moment and don't feel like I have anyone to talk to. How does one even get a diagnosis? Does it help?
One of the things they do in a diagnosis is try to see whether there could be another explanation (depression, anxiety, trauma, etc).
What are the symptoms which you have noticed in yourself? As others said, try the AQ50. It can have false positives, but if you score low then you are unlikely to be autistic.