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Involvement of family- adult diagnosis

belles12345

I have started the diagnostic process with a psychologist, who after speaking to me believes that I am on the autistic spectrum, but I need to complete the different parts of the diagnosis for 'evidence'.  I don't want to involve my family, for personal reasons.  The psychologist said that they will skip that part and go onto the subsequent part of the assessment, however if they haven't got enough evidence (apparently my signs are subtle), they many need to speak to a family member.  

I am aware that there may be other instruments they could use, but I have not been advised of these.  Is it the case that sometimes family must be involved (ie. when the outward signs are subtle)?

Thank you.

Parents

  • Sorry, this is a bit long. It's not like an Aspie to go into details....

    OK, I get what you're saying. I've read that it is a different matter for females, because of the way you deal with things, but sorry, I'm a bloke and sadly I haven't yet met enough confirmed Aspie ladies to even begin to get a clue! Of course I'm going to pick up on the precise use of language, I'm an Aspie! I'm sorry if this threw a spanner in the works.

    If female diagnosis has to include these essential differences, I think that I would expect diagnosticians to understand this very well, and therefore I'd think of it as being that the signs aren't so much 'subtle' but simply gender affected. I haven't asked, but it may be that a family member's observations can be more significant in female diagnosis for these very reasons, and now I'm going to have to try and find out.

    OK, done. Tony Attwood in his 'Complete Guide to Asperger's Syndrome' p.58-59 says that he finds girls to be able to 'camouflage' their difficulties. It seems that he isn't saying that the signs are subtle, they're the same but better hidden by other adopted strategies. I guess I reacted so strongly to the innapropriate use of the word 'subtle' because it might give you the impression that your condition is less serious than others, which is kind of pre-empting a full diagnosis - you could be both severe AND good at camouflage!

    You don't have to involve your family if you don't want to. I don't know your circumstances, no-one does but you, so it's your choice. Happy to talk about that if you feel like it, it's also OK if you don't.

    Whether you involve family or not shouldn't affect your diagnosis, but it's extra assistance for them in making one, that's all.

Reply

  • Sorry, this is a bit long. It's not like an Aspie to go into details....

    OK, I get what you're saying. I've read that it is a different matter for females, because of the way you deal with things, but sorry, I'm a bloke and sadly I haven't yet met enough confirmed Aspie ladies to even begin to get a clue! Of course I'm going to pick up on the precise use of language, I'm an Aspie! I'm sorry if this threw a spanner in the works.

    If female diagnosis has to include these essential differences, I think that I would expect diagnosticians to understand this very well, and therefore I'd think of it as being that the signs aren't so much 'subtle' but simply gender affected. I haven't asked, but it may be that a family member's observations can be more significant in female diagnosis for these very reasons, and now I'm going to have to try and find out.

    OK, done. Tony Attwood in his 'Complete Guide to Asperger's Syndrome' p.58-59 says that he finds girls to be able to 'camouflage' their difficulties. It seems that he isn't saying that the signs are subtle, they're the same but better hidden by other adopted strategies. I guess I reacted so strongly to the innapropriate use of the word 'subtle' because it might give you the impression that your condition is less serious than others, which is kind of pre-empting a full diagnosis - you could be both severe AND good at camouflage!

    You don't have to involve your family if you don't want to. I don't know your circumstances, no-one does but you, so it's your choice. Happy to talk about that if you feel like it, it's also OK if you don't.

    Whether you involve family or not shouldn't affect your diagnosis, but it's extra assistance for them in making one, that's all.

Children
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