Formal Diagnosis or Not?

It's the same as classic codger, while a qualified opinion is good enough to get help, part of me wants to get the formal diagnosis so its completely done with and there's no doubt in anyones mind.

PS

Given that you seem to be receiving treatment from the local mental health team I don't really see what another diagnosis would achieve. The purpose of a diagnosis is to make sure that you receive the right treatment and that is presumably what you are getting from the mental health specialists who have decided/diagnosed that you have ASD. Does it matter what the GP thinks? Why would you take much notice of a GP for mental health issues when you have specialists who know much more about these things?

Gonna contact NAS tomorrow and ask opinion on going private to get the diagnosis as the NHS in my area is pretty overworked and underfunded.  I have private health insurance so that should help. 

Also classic codger, I find it funny because when I saw the consultant because my doctor believed I was also bipolar on top of the autism but the consultant seemed to be of the opinion that most of the symptoms I experience are simply due to the autism and not bipolar disorder.

Spoke to my GP, she was very resistant to the idea of me getting a formal diagnosis pointing out that there's no local procedure for it.  I did however politely push the issue and she has agreed to start the process once they receive the consultant psychs report from my appointment yesterday.

Well, I think Codger really said everything I would have said. Possibly, without less grammatical errors than I would have.:) 

I know for me, I really needed to see it in black and white, in order to feel validated in my own thoughts and assertions about whether I was Aspie or not. Having a dx has helped in in certain medical situations. But sadly over all support has been minimal. 

I think you need to do what you think is best and from what I can read, moving along for a formal dx is the way you want to go. I wish you luck and speed.

Just as a note, it may be worth taking with you, to your appointment, a list of perhaps concerns traits or issues you feel may be associated with ASD.  I know when I was processed, it was through all the discussions and forms etc, that they suspected I also had ADHD, which was assessed separately and at a later date. To say I was surprised, was an understament.:)

Wishing you all the best on your endevour.

Jenn

Taking your advice classic I have made an appointment with my GP to begin the process of getting a formal diagnosis of autism, i'll let you know what happens once I get back.

That post was excellent and does reflect my concerns about getting a formal diagnosis. Right now the people who have given me their "qualified" opinion are people that I trust would not lie to me including my GP, a consultant psych and my local CMHT who happen to be fantastic.  That excellent post you wrote classic codger tells me that I can I will enjoy my stay here and who know's maybe i'll be able to learn to cope better with help of the community here :D

I'm confused, but I think that what you're saying is that you have a 'qualified' opinion rather than a formal diagnosis? Plenty of people here don't have one but still identify with AS traits, and I don't think I've read anything from anyone that suggests they're wrong. It's fair to say that I mostly go with the 'all welcome' philosophy here so I don't question it too much, and I'm not qualified to.

I had a 'qualified' opinion from a whole mental health team, who then refered me for a formal diagnosis.

I think that what you're saying is that an opinion is fine, but it's not as good as the real thing - I think that typicaly, this isn't really good enough, I know it wasn't for me, and I was glad to have it properly confirmed by someone whose opinion I felt able to trust. Everyone told me that my assessor is one of the best people in the country, and looking at his work, I think so too, so luckily, I was reassured that I could put 100% faith in his judgement.

Not everyone needs this. Most of my cynicism towards CMHT and NHS psychiatry in general is based on long, wrong and futile interaction. These 'qualified' people insisted for over 2 decades that I am Bipolar, a common misdiagnosis for AS people, and they refused to budge even though I refused to accept it (which was seen as me being 'uncooperative' with the recommended medications) and wasted many expensive NHS hours trying to get some help from people who didn't appear to want to. Oh, the frustration!

I can't say what other processes are like across the country, but for mine, it was a simple, 2 hour chat with the guy having previously sent in some questionaires that came through the post. I didn't feel or experience any real 'hassle' in getting my formal diagnosis, but I know what you mean - just the prospect of the 'unknown' is tiring enough, let alone doing it.

The fundamental question, and only one in my opinion, is what would it mean to you? If you can't quite trust what you have so far, and getting it formaly confirmed is what you want (and I can fully understand why you would) then I would encourage you to do so and remove that last element of doubt, otherwise I can see that it's only going to keep coming back and bothering you. Get rid of the doubt!

This is a good place to discuss yourself or anything else - it's safe, secure, anonymous and non-judgemental, so you are here, you're welcome, you're not alone, and we have a new chum

Thanks for the response recombinantsocks and yeah your right, its just they said today they weren't sure if I have a formal diagnosis or not so me being me I had to find out and ask questions.

Hi, welcome to the forum.

I don't think that there is anything more formal than the diagnosis you already have. A diagnosis is an expert's opinion about a condition. You have a whole set of specialist experts who agree so I'm not sure what else you are looking for. Asperger's is a type of autism so if you have been diagnosed with that then you have autism.

Does this help?