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Why Get Diagnosed?

Boggart

Hi,

I'm an adult (31), female, and I think I might have mild autism. I wanted a diagnosis, and the mental health team (with whom I'm involved for anxiety) gave me the AQ10 questionairre thingy, on which I scored 8/10, but when I took it back to my GP she said something like that they don't really have any facility to diagnose adults and it wasn't that important anyway- I should focus on my other health stuff. I have severe anxiety, complete agoraphobia (I don't leave the house at all except for tests / specialist appointments at the hospital), and emetophobia, and digestive problems for which I've had an intestinal bypass- that's what the specialist appointments etc are to do with. 

I like my GP a lot- she's been very kind to me helping with my physical health problems, and very understanding about the anxiety stuff. My previous GP was nothing like that, so I really appreciate her. I do not want to make her mad at me, or get her into any trouble at all, but I'm a bit disappointed I can't get diagnosed. 

I guess I'd just like some advice- what should I do? What would you do? Is there any way I can press this without making my GP dislike me? Or is it best to just drop it? Does getting diagnosed make any real difference to your life? Does it help with studying / benefits / would it affect the treatment I get for anxiety? I'm already signed off sick, and I don't know if I really need any support for the autistic traits- they've always just been part of my personality, but I'm not sure how much the anxiety is tangled up in it, or whether that matters at all for treatment purposes? I might be completely wrong, anyway- I might just be an oddball and not autistic at all! I have a lot of the traits, but certainly not all of them. I guess I just got a bit of a bee in my bonnet about it and I'd really really really like to know. 

Parents

  • Hmm... it seems to work a bit funny- like, I *think* they're all different departments. So m/health referred me for CBT for the anxiety, and also gave me the autism thing to fill in and take back to my GP. Unless I tell the CBT therapist about the autism stuff I don't think they'll even know about it. Whether or not the therapy will be appropriate I'm not sure, but it can't hurt. 

    I think from what you're saying perhaps the best answer is just to drop it. None of the things you listed are really things that I need, unless there's some form of autism-tailored therapy that would be more helpful to me? But I doubt it. I think autistic or not, I'd still just get CBT. And I don't work, so the equalities act stuff doesn't really matter for me, and there's nothing to stop me reading autism literature, diagnosed or not. There isn't a really logical reason why I need to be diagnosed, is there? I just want to be, because I've got this fixation on wanting to know. -_- but that isn't a good enough reason. Eugh. I'm SO BAD at just dropping stuff when I should! 

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  • Hmm... it seems to work a bit funny- like, I *think* they're all different departments. So m/health referred me for CBT for the anxiety, and also gave me the autism thing to fill in and take back to my GP. Unless I tell the CBT therapist about the autism stuff I don't think they'll even know about it. Whether or not the therapy will be appropriate I'm not sure, but it can't hurt. 

    I think from what you're saying perhaps the best answer is just to drop it. None of the things you listed are really things that I need, unless there's some form of autism-tailored therapy that would be more helpful to me? But I doubt it. I think autistic or not, I'd still just get CBT. And I don't work, so the equalities act stuff doesn't really matter for me, and there's nothing to stop me reading autism literature, diagnosed or not. There isn't a really logical reason why I need to be diagnosed, is there? I just want to be, because I've got this fixation on wanting to know. -_- but that isn't a good enough reason. Eugh. I'm SO BAD at just dropping stuff when I should! 

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