• Replies 1 reply
  • Subscribers 25 subscribers
  • Views 691 views
  • Users 0 members are here
Options
Related
Hints and tips
  • To quote someone's message, first select/highlight the relevant text, and then use the Quote button that appears
  • To "mention" someone, type @ followed by the start of the forum name, and choose from the list; that person will get a notification of being mentioned

Adult Assessment

raspberry

After years of being treated for depression and anxiety my CPN asked for me to be tested for ASD, especially aspergers.

I seen a specialist and within a 30minutes appointment all he asked about was my mothers pregnancy, my birth, my early years and then my sexual relationships. Because I couldn't answer anything he asked, he started asking if my mother could be involved, I refused outright. As of this I was told that I did not have ASD.

Next time I seen my CPN he kept bullying me to get my mother involved as he believes that I could have Aspergers. I basically lost my temper with him, just shouted at him that I don't have it and just to drop the subject.

My CPN knows that I don't have good relationship with either my mother or father. Also, at no point leading up to the Psychologist appointment did he ever mention that they would have to have my mothers input. My CPN never asked me about my birth and early years and strongly believes that I have ASD. Why did the psychologist wanted to know then?

After a few more appointments with CPN, we agreed to be tested for ASD but by not getting family involved. I filled in a questionnaire and handed that back to the CPN. Thinking this will get my answer. But how wrong was I?

According to my OT the assessment can take months and is not based just on the questionnaire. Also my CPN has asked my OT to ask me about getting mother involve.

Will it take months to get a diagnosis? What else do they need to know?

My CPN and OT thinks I have this and yet they never asked the questions the Psychologist ask. They have gone of how I deal with things now (which is how I have dealt with things for over 20 years).

I am so stressed out over the assessment that I want to ask them to stop doing it but I also need answers to why my depression and anxiety are not getting any better.

Sorry for the rant just dont know what to do for the best.

Parents

  • Hi Raspberry.

    Certainly sounds like a really frustrating experience.

    Although information about our childhoods can make diagnosis easier, it really shouldn't be a total necessity.  I have encountered people here and elsewhere who were evaluated and diagnosed without any parental involvement - either because of difficult interpersonal relationships, or because one or both parents were deceased.

    The 30min specialist appointment seems particularly nonsensical.  If you could not answer questions about your early years, the interview should have progressed to talk about other aspects of your lfe, in my opinion.

    The best advice I can give is to keep pushing for an assessment, but in the mean time, use resources like this place to learn as much as you can about the traits of autism - always remembering that they do overlap with the traits of some other conditions.

    If you aren't sure if a particular thing you do might be an autistic trait, just ask people here - many of us have lived the autistic life for decades, so we probably have a better idea than any non-autistic doctor could ever have!

    By learning more, you'll be able to point out the evidence (or not) for ASD much more easily in a clinical situation, and the people you see will be less able to dismiss you or push you around.  I really wish I had done this before approaching my doctor.

    Don't give up hope - it took three referrals before I even got to the evaluation stage, yet my ASD was never in doubt from day 1 once I did start the evaluation.  Once you are at that stage, you will then be dealing with people who are specifically trained to work with autistic people - and you should find them much more considerate and less frustrating than the "general purpose" clinicians that you've seen up to now.

    Best wishes.

Reply

  • Hi Raspberry.

    Certainly sounds like a really frustrating experience.

    Although information about our childhoods can make diagnosis easier, it really shouldn't be a total necessity.  I have encountered people here and elsewhere who were evaluated and diagnosed without any parental involvement - either because of difficult interpersonal relationships, or because one or both parents were deceased.

    The 30min specialist appointment seems particularly nonsensical.  If you could not answer questions about your early years, the interview should have progressed to talk about other aspects of your lfe, in my opinion.

    The best advice I can give is to keep pushing for an assessment, but in the mean time, use resources like this place to learn as much as you can about the traits of autism - always remembering that they do overlap with the traits of some other conditions.

    If you aren't sure if a particular thing you do might be an autistic trait, just ask people here - many of us have lived the autistic life for decades, so we probably have a better idea than any non-autistic doctor could ever have!

    By learning more, you'll be able to point out the evidence (or not) for ASD much more easily in a clinical situation, and the people you see will be less able to dismiss you or push you around.  I really wish I had done this before approaching my doctor.

    Don't give up hope - it took three referrals before I even got to the evaluation stage, yet my ASD was never in doubt from day 1 once I did start the evaluation.  Once you are at that stage, you will then be dealing with people who are specifically trained to work with autistic people - and you should find them much more considerate and less frustrating than the "general purpose" clinicians that you've seen up to now.

    Best wishes.

Children
No Data