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imposter syndrome whilst waiting for a diagnosis

SophieWhit

I am getting diagnosed later in life (27 years old) and every step I progress into the diagnostic journey, I keep getting a paranoid feeling that I am lying, I am a fake etc and I know I am not, but does anyone have any advice on how to stop these feelings? Everyone in my life who I have spoken to about going forward with a diagnosis has been saying that it's clear I am autistic and without a doubt I have no worries about the diagnosis coming back lacking but I still worry. I think it stems down to not knowing what I will do if I get the answer that I am not autistic because I have more or less accepted it (I've been thinking I could be for at least half of my life now) and I know that is a silly feeling because my GP (who is experienced in autism luckily) wouldn't have put me forward for a diagnosis if they disagreed AND my friends who are also autistic wouldn't be supporting me in going for this but yeah.. any advice?

Parents

  • I relate. I was first told I was likely to be autistic a decade and a half ago, though 'didn't qualify for formal diagnosis' (or something like). A decade or so on it was still a complete surprise that I came out as very likely to be autistic after a mental health evaluation and am now awaiting formal diagnosis (3 years on the wait iirc). 

    I'm trying to cone to terms with the idea, and it's been helpful to 'know', though if I'm honest I think I'll only actually know once formally diagnosed... I imagine that to be fairly common among late diagnosed autistics! 

    So here I am, still me, still feeling quite broken/burned, still functioning, still probably not accepting what I'll hopefully soon find out I am. I hope that diagnosis helps...

    I guess since that's my first post here after a while lurking that I'm slowly getting to grips with it. Oh, and I've no advice other than be you and keep going! 

Reply

  • I relate. I was first told I was likely to be autistic a decade and a half ago, though 'didn't qualify for formal diagnosis' (or something like). A decade or so on it was still a complete surprise that I came out as very likely to be autistic after a mental health evaluation and am now awaiting formal diagnosis (3 years on the wait iirc). 

    I'm trying to cone to terms with the idea, and it's been helpful to 'know', though if I'm honest I think I'll only actually know once formally diagnosed... I imagine that to be fairly common among late diagnosed autistics! 

    So here I am, still me, still feeling quite broken/burned, still functioning, still probably not accepting what I'll hopefully soon find out I am. I hope that diagnosis helps...

    I guess since that's my first post here after a while lurking that I'm slowly getting to grips with it. Oh, and I've no advice other than be you and keep going! 

Children
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