To all who have been, or are in the process of, being diagnosed as an adult.

I was referred by my GP (after breaking down in the surgery and asking for some paper to write it all down as I couldn't face talking about it) to the local mental health team for anxiety and depression. I was diagnosed with PTSD for which I was treated with CBT (not too successfully I might add).

During my visits to my care worker she noticed traits that she said pointed to Autism and referred me for a diagnosis. It took many months to get around to me but within a few months more the Autism team gave me a definitive diagnosis of Aspergers.

I was surprised at first to even be assessed, I had not considered this as applying to myself! It just seemed that everything the autism team asked and discussed with me fitted perfectly into my life experiences. I am glad I now have a label for my feelings, I'm just very bitter now that, as a 54 year old man, it was not looked at sooner.

I have had horrendous experiences connected to this syndrome throughout my whole life, yet no health professional I ever came into contact with bothered to look at the autism spectrum as an answer. I think I must have learned to cope quite well with life in my own little bubble, but the events that caused the PTSD produced a cascade of problems that meant I reverted back into a state where I was noticed as different again.

I think it is quite sad that it has to be this way to get diagnosed as an adult by the NHS.

I was referred by my GP (after breaking down in the surgery and asking for some paper to write it all down as I couldn't face talking about it) to the local mental health team for anxiety and depression. I was diagnosed with PTSD for which I was treated with CBT (not too successfully I might add).

During my visits to my care worker she noticed traits that she said pointed to Autism and referred me for a diagnosis. It took many months to get around to me but within a few months more the Autism team gave me a definitive diagnosis of Aspergers.

I was surprised at first to even be assessed, I had not considered this as applying to myself! It just seemed that everything the autism team asked and discussed with me fitted perfectly into my life experiences. I am glad I now have a label for my feelings, I'm just very bitter now that, as a 54 year old man, it was not looked at sooner.

I have had horrendous experiences connected to this syndrome throughout my whole life, yet no health professional I ever came into contact with bothered to look at the autism spectrum as an answer. I think I must have learned to cope quite well with life in my own little bubble, but the events that caused the PTSD produced a cascade of problems that meant I reverted back into a state where I was noticed as different again.

I think it is quite sad that it has to be this way to get diagnosed as an adult by the NHS.