Late Self-Diagnosed, mislabeled in USA mental health system

SpectralGardener said:

and if my slight political lean into this conversation has offended anyone I am truly sorry as that is not my intent

Pretty sure you’re not going to offend anyone if your agenda supports the betterment of Autistic lives lol. I have a post on this site where I mentioned RFK Jr’s insanity, but most people - even in UK - agree that guy’s a madman.

 The situation in the USA for Autism

 It’s nice to meet another American here on NAS. Hopefully things get better here in time.

Yes, thanks, I read your post too earlier! My theory is that RFK Jr. himself may be a repressed PDA/performance-perfectionist autistic — someone who was never told “no,” handed a tarnished silver spoon full of abusive wealth-entitlement theories as a child… or maybe just neglected entirely.

It’s been a rough few years for me, and everything sort of culminated this past November when reality hit — and I finally realized that what I was always told was “just ADHD” was actually a far more complex and undiagnosable mix of AuDHD, RSD, C-PTSD, maybe dyslexia or bipolar, maybe even a dash of OCD or PDA. You name it.

If that wasn’t enough, a couple of months ago I was hit with a faux diagnosis of narcissism — issued in absentia by my wife’s therapist. No evaluation. No context. No consent. No regard for the emotional harm of mislabeling someone with an identity that doesn’t fit. No acknowledgment that it might irreparably damage a relationship.

And then, two hours later, I met with a diagnostic psychologist who reviewed my WAIS-IV and other ADHD testing from undergrad. I had waited months for this appointment. Within the first 10 minutes, she told me the scores indicated ADHD but not autism. When I asked why, she either avoided the question or didn’t know the answer. I started to wonder if she actually understood the data — or if she was just parroting earlier evaluators. I'm an ecologist and a highly attuned systems thinker — and what I heard didn’t add up.

She told me, “ADHD isn’t a spectrum,” and that she was using “empirical” data. But I left with the sinking realization that this wasn’t the right kind of evaluation for what I actually needed. Not that I could have known in advance. This was what insurance was supposed to cover, right?
Mental Health Care? Sure.

Turns out, while there are good people in the field, psychology as an institution — in my opinion — has become (or maybe always was?) a hedge-funded Ponzi scheme of xenophobic comfort narratives masquerading as science.

This isn’t a knee-jerk take. It’s my conclusion after over a decade of bouncing between in-network providers — most of whom either gaslit me, blamed me for “not committing,” or told me I just needed to “deal with my trauma.” About seven years ago, after an ADHD med consult, I failed a random drug test — from a poppy seed muffin I had that morning. I was told I had to attend substance abuse counseling in order to get ADHD medication I wasn’t even sure I wanted in the first place.

I walked out and never looked back. That was an ADHD specialist.

That was one of my early warning signs that the so-called “disorder” might be systemic in and of itself.

It may be rigged — but I don’t believe all hope is lost. And with RFK Jr. back in the news for all the wrong reasons, maybe now is the perfect time to call the entire narrative’s bluff. Maybe this is the moment to expose the ironically narcissistic hypocrisy of the entire misdiagnosis-industrial complex — rooted in a biased, outside-in framework built for control, not understanding.

I’m not mad at any one person. This is a collective blunder — the consequence of a system too scared to look in the mirror. But it is time to speak up and say: enough is enough.

It’s time to stop letting corporate power structures define our identities as “dangerous” just because we threaten their exploitative psychoanalytic cash cow.

The whole emotionally repressed clown show that is Washington’s political theatre right now? It’s just… sad. I feel for the puppets — from the top to the bottom — who were abused, sold a hollow version of “freedom,” and raised on the delusion that corporate personhood would equal progress without consequence.

Well, here we are in 2025 — living the consequence. And yeah… it’s terrifying.

Yes, thanks, I read your post too earlier! My theory is that RFK Jr. himself may be a repressed PDA/performance-perfectionist autistic — someone who was never told “no,” handed a tarnished silver spoon full of abusive wealth-entitlement theories as a child… or maybe just neglected entirely.

It’s been a rough few years for me, and everything sort of culminated this past November when reality hit — and I finally realized that what I was always told was “just ADHD” was actually a far more complex and undiagnosable mix of AuDHD, RSD, C-PTSD, maybe dyslexia or bipolar, maybe even a dash of OCD or PDA. You name it.

If that wasn’t enough, a couple of months ago I was hit with a faux diagnosis of narcissism — issued in absentia by my wife’s therapist. No evaluation. No context. No consent. No regard for the emotional harm of mislabeling someone with an identity that doesn’t fit. No acknowledgment that it might irreparably damage a relationship.

And then, two hours later, I met with a diagnostic psychologist who reviewed my WAIS-IV and other ADHD testing from undergrad. I had waited months for this appointment. Within the first 10 minutes, she told me the scores indicated ADHD but not autism. When I asked why, she either avoided the question or didn’t know the answer. I started to wonder if she actually understood the data — or if she was just parroting earlier evaluators. I'm an ecologist and a highly attuned systems thinker — and what I heard didn’t add up.

She told me, “ADHD isn’t a spectrum,” and that she was using “empirical” data. But I left with the sinking realization that this wasn’t the right kind of evaluation for what I actually needed. Not that I could have known in advance. This was what insurance was supposed to cover, right?
Mental Health Care? Sure.

Turns out, while there are good people in the field, psychology as an institution — in my opinion — has become (or maybe always was?) a hedge-funded Ponzi scheme of xenophobic comfort narratives masquerading as science.

This isn’t a knee-jerk take. It’s my conclusion after over a decade of bouncing between in-network providers — most of whom either gaslit me, blamed me for “not committing,” or told me I just needed to “deal with my trauma.” About seven years ago, after an ADHD med consult, I failed a random drug test — from a poppy seed muffin I had that morning. I was told I had to attend substance abuse counseling in order to get ADHD medication I wasn’t even sure I wanted in the first place.

I walked out and never looked back. That was an ADHD specialist.

That was one of my early warning signs that the so-called “disorder” might be systemic in and of itself.

It may be rigged — but I don’t believe all hope is lost. And with RFK Jr. back in the news for all the wrong reasons, maybe now is the perfect time to call the entire narrative’s bluff. Maybe this is the moment to expose the ironically narcissistic hypocrisy of the entire misdiagnosis-industrial complex — rooted in a biased, outside-in framework built for control, not understanding.

I’m not mad at any one person. This is a collective blunder — the consequence of a system too scared to look in the mirror. But it is time to speak up and say: enough is enough.

It’s time to stop letting corporate power structures define our identities as “dangerous” just because we threaten their exploitative psychoanalytic cash cow.

The whole emotionally repressed clown show that is Washington’s political theatre right now? It’s just… sad. I feel for the puppets — from the top to the bottom — who were abused, sold a hollow version of “freedom,” and raised on the delusion that corporate personhood would equal progress without consequence.

Well, here we are in 2025 — living the consequence. And yeah… it’s terrifying.

I haven’t shared the same terrible experiences you have had with the health system, but I can understand why you are so wary of it. It sounds like you’ve been through a lot with that.

However, that misdiagnosis of narcissism is HORRID. I haven’t been clinically misdiagnosed with that, but my own mother tossed in that word as an explanation for my behaviors once. Absolutely disgusting feeling, so I feel for you there. There’s a reason almost nobody gets diagnosed with that, or at least shouldn’t get diagnosed with that.

I also went from around age 8/9 to age 30 being diagnosed with ADD, then finally receiving my diagnoses for ASD, ADHD, generalized anxiety, and major depressive. I think the problem was in my case people in my life were much more worried about my attention in the classroom than socialization with peers back in that day. I also don’t “look autistic,” so of course they weren’t going to screen me for that.

SpectralGardener said:

And with RFK Jr. back in the news for all the wrong reasons, maybe now is the perfect time to call the entire narrative’s bluff.

Well said there. He does represent a complete breakdown of the system. If he’s in charge, there is something terribly wrong going on that is causing that. If there was ever a time to make a change, it’s while that clown is the leader.