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Late life diagnosis - autism imposter syndrome?

FelipeAz
2 months ago

Hi,

I'm in my late 50s - have just had a diagnosis of autism confirmed.

Certainly, as an adult I'm very structured and have fixed routines (prefer to do the same thing each day, eat the same thing for days on end, really struggle with social anxiety which I think manage with 'scripting' but a lot of this has become second nature, I have a couple of artistic interests which I get very focused on to the exclusion of other things). I think I might be alexithymic in that I have a very poor sense of what my own emotional state is, but I'm pretty good at reading other people's states.

While the diagnosis has led me to a few "oh of course" moments, it's also been really confusing since as a child I don't think I exhibited any of the signs that are associated with autism. Similarly, I can make eye contact with people and feel as though I'm pretty empathetic and know what to do in social situations.

All of this has got me doubting my diagnosis and wondering if I'm autistic at all? In fact, rather than giving me answers I feel a bit like my identity up to now has been taken away?

Any advice in dealing with this would be really appreciated.

 

Parents
  • 2 months ago

    I  was diagnosed in May 2019, at the age of 62. It wouldn't have happened if I hadn't moved to a new area to be near my daughter. My previous mental health team, in Essex, repeatedly ignored me when I expressed my belief that there was more going on than just severe mental illness. My dogged insistence had me labelled 'awkward and troublesome', 'a very dependant narcissist', and my dx changed from schizoaffective mixed to personality disorder nos, That was in 2005. A few years later it was changed to paranoid pd.

    My 1st psych appointment here in Wiltshire my daughter came with me. She raised the question of autism. Unlike the pdoc etc in Essex the psychiatrist spent quite a lot of time asking me questions. He said the best fits were schizophrenia and ASD. 2 weeks later I received notification I was going to be assessed. 7 months after that psych appointment I was given an Asperger's diagnosis. It had taken nearly 2 decades from first reckoning there was more going on than just severe mental illness.

    I had a post diagnosis appointment at which I was given a large booklet , and was told what the diagnosis meant. That was it.

Reply
  • 2 months ago

    I  was diagnosed in May 2019, at the age of 62. It wouldn't have happened if I hadn't moved to a new area to be near my daughter. My previous mental health team, in Essex, repeatedly ignored me when I expressed my belief that there was more going on than just severe mental illness. My dogged insistence had me labelled 'awkward and troublesome', 'a very dependant narcissist', and my dx changed from schizoaffective mixed to personality disorder nos, That was in 2005. A few years later it was changed to paranoid pd.

    My 1st psych appointment here in Wiltshire my daughter came with me. She raised the question of autism. Unlike the pdoc etc in Essex the psychiatrist spent quite a lot of time asking me questions. He said the best fits were schizophrenia and ASD. 2 weeks later I received notification I was going to be assessed. 7 months after that psych appointment I was given an Asperger's diagnosis. It had taken nearly 2 decades from first reckoning there was more going on than just severe mental illness.

    I had a post diagnosis appointment at which I was given a large booklet , and was told what the diagnosis meant. That was it.

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