Confused and need clarity.

Hi all. I've not been on for a while as have been quite introspective about my diagnosis and something is eating away at me. In my after interview conversation with the consultant/specialist, he said i am indeed Autistic with ADHD running co currently. When I got my piece of paper making it official, all it said was Having ASD, along with what to do next, workplace reasonable adjustments etc. And no sign of ADHD. Now, being autistic I naturally require clarity and feel adrift that I now don't know exactly what I am? What can I do about this as its eating away at me. It sounds silly but I don't feel validated or authentic. 

Thanks for reading.

Parents
  • I understand this.

    It might be worth looking at your wider medical records if you have access to them - particularly the notes from that consultation. If your consultant has written that you have ADHD as well then that's official, even it if isn't included in your ASD assessment results.

    It's only relatively recently that the diagnostic criteria have allowed for ASD and ADHD concurrently (AuDHD), they used to be considered mutually exclusive. But importantly there are no combined diagnostic criteria for AuDHD; you are either being tested for ASD or ADHD, there's not yet a combined assessment that checks for AuDHD. That's why your ASD assessment won't say you also have ADHD.

    I'm really hoping the next versions of the diagnostic criteria (there are multiple, and they can give different results depending which set of criteria a person is being assessed against!!) recognises AuDHD as something distinct from ASD and ADHD, with its own set of diagnostic criteria.

  • I have checked and does just say ASD. Why say that in the interview and then not put it to paper? For someone like me, that clarity is important. So what am I? I'm going to try and contact PsychUK and drill down and find out if this can be checked and amended. 

  • Sounds like a good idea. I find contradictory information really unsettling - I need things to be clear and straight forward.

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