Published on 12, July, 2020
Hi just introducing myself ,I'm a 48year old male and was diagnosed in June this year having had a previous assesment about two years ago which they said I was borderline but they weren't sure because of my diagnosis of mixed anxiety and depressive disorder ,then I moved up to Newcastle a got another assesment and was diagnosed finally and when they looked at the previous test result they said I should've been diagnosed with ASD then.i thought being diagnosed would help but to be honest it's fucked my head right up and I still trying to figure it out ,I still don't know where the aspergers starts and the anxiety /depression finish,I feel like after being diagnosed I was just left to myself with no support apart from the mental health crises team ,so after being diagnosed I just feel I'm just f***** as before .
[Edited by Moderator]
Thank you, this is my first time on any forum but the replies I got already have helped thank you
Welcome,
I'm the same age as you, though diagnosed about four years ago. The situation you find yourself in is pretty common; most of us who were diagnosed late are going through or have been through similar times, and getting no formal follow-up support is, sadly, quite typical too. However, the kind of support and learning that you can find on forums like this one can be a huge help; in fact, probably more help than any psychologist could ever provide, because you can talk to people who actually experience autism "from the inside" in ways that a professional never could.
I've also struggled a lot myself to pick apart what is autism and what is mental illness; you're right that this isn't always easy. But this will become clearer the more that you speak to other autistic people, both those who are experiencing depression and those that aren't. High anxiety is a very common experience for us, as we're constantly trying to fit ourselves into a world that wasn't really made with us in mind - it's not so much that we have an anxiety disorder, just that we genuinely do have so much more than other people to feel anxious about. Depression is quite common too, but is easily confused with what's known as "autistic burn-out", where parts of our brain kind of shut down in order to force us to take a rest from the outside world when it gets too overwhelming.
There are plenty of very friendly and generous people here and on other forums who can help you with much of this understanding. Of course, we can't directly fix the things that go wrong in each other's lives, but the moral support and self-knowledge do help over time to come to peace with things. I hope you find it as beneficial as I have.
Best wishes.
Thank you.
Welcome by the way!
I'm a similar age and still trying to come to terms with things after about a year after my diagnosis. I'm trying to slowly learn stuff about this. I try and keep in mind that knowing the root cause of the problem is the first step to trying to work out what you can do about it.