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Benefits of a formal diagnosis?

Danjo

I am a 54 year old man and have done the ASQ and other online tests and have scored consistently in the autism ranges. A lot of my life experiences make more sense now - including extended bouts of anxiety and depression, insomnia, situational anxiety, introceptive confusion and others. I am wondering now about the benefits of a formal diagnosis. I’d welcome advice from others.

  • I can answer for myself and give indications of what impressions I have from others  

    For me I agree with  regarding affirmation and there is also a common thread among other autistic people regarding this I believe.

    Benefits of diagnosis depend a lot on circumstances - being able to be more "authentic" can be helpful.

    In this respect I suggest look up the "double empathy problem on this website.

    I and others have also identified a "triple empathy" issue regarding to learn to empathise with oneself.

    everyone's journey is different

    After a long wait post diagnosis I started some local NHS provided post diagnostic support last week. They put up what I have since done the research to identify as John Fisher's Personal Transition Curve model.

    Here's an image that may give a sense of what is involved in your own personal journey fisher-transition-curve-2012bb.pdf

    I have done a quick AI search to see if there is evidence to support this model generally and also specifically for autistic people.  Perhaps somewhat predictably I haven't found any yet - tricky to be objective about something so complex or boils down to personal experience.

    Plato had a good allegory: Allegory of the cave - Wikipedia that I've been pondering on for a while...  typical blooming philosopher tho' answers one question by posing more! 

    Best Wishes :-)

  • Hi,

    My first post on here : )

    I'm 48 and diagnosed ADHD but talkingbto people at an ADHD group I go to made me think about autism and I'm on a waiting list for assessment. I'm pretty sure I am autistic - explains most of my life - but I still want someone to tell me officially.

    The biggest thing for me being diagnosed ADHD is that I am much kinder to myself now. I think the same benefit would come from an autism diagnosis.

    Hope that helps

  • Affirmation of self. I am constantly going back and revising my own knowledge of who I am around all of the disruption and trauma that happens in life. This can be really helpful as a starting point to looking at yourself through the clearest lens.

    Formal diagnosis is not necessary though, it just depends on the level you are willing to go towards self understanding. I’d say the difference between me now and me before my diagnosis this summer is that now a lot of things which I see as facts, before that point they were rather ambiguous. You cannot begin to make total sense from halfway facts/suppositions (like I always knew or had an inkling because that’s how I felt). Although those feelings are important professional diagnosis verifies any uncertainty. That said it is also in some ways an irreversible position even if you choose to tell nobody it stays with you and upends everything.

  • I'm not officially diagnosed,  I'm just here. Scored high in all online tests and researched enough to have the strong suspicion that autism is the best explanation for my life lasting problems. There is a situation right now that I might be sent for testing but as for now I don't know yet. If its just for information- it's up to you. But it's all complicated and stressful. Some people get benefits, others not at all. Just left alone with a piece of paper 

  • Hello, it's been discussed here before. It is largely for personal knowledge and validation. There's no cure, so it is to help understand yourself and have 'permission' to change things.

    It can help when others don't take it seriously to have a confirmation. It also helps (a bit) with imposter syndrome.

    I got it because I was in burnout, had dysfunctional thinking and was an emotional mess, so had to know for sure what was going on, not least because I wanted to understand what had happened in the past.

    There was in the blog last week on embrace autism. It's a reasonable summary.

    embrace-autism.com/.../

  • Hi and welcome to the community.

    The GP I had when I did the AQ50 (and scored 42) advised that if I did get a formal diagnosis I wouldn't get any support. A lot of people in this community have reported getting a diagnosis and then no support after. So if you feel you need it just for validation, go ahead - that certainly helps some.

    I couldn't be bothered with the waiting and stress of having an assessment myself so I've stayed self discovered. If you choose this option you will still be welcome here.