Introduction, newly diagnosed

Congratulations on your diagnosis and welcome to the community!

Following a diagnosis, it can be common for us to experience a lot of emotional dysregulation, so please don't worry if you experience this - it's normal!  Besides perhaps feeling some relief about now having an explanation for our past difficulties, this can also include working through a phase where we experience confusion, uncertainty, so-called "imposter syndrome", and/or (backward-focused) anger, frustration, grieving, and more. 

As for many others here, my own diagnosis turned out to be much more of the start of a new journey, rather than a conclusion full of instant solutions for my difficulties.

The NAS has a great set of articles focused on "after diagnosis", including one covering how you might feel during the subsequent days / weeks / months. You might find them of interest and/or helpful:

NAS - How you might feel after a diagnosis - includes perspectives from other autistics

NAS - Other advice covering post-diagnosis including:

• Talking about and disclosing your autism diagnosis
• Emotional support for family members after a diagnosis
• Formal support following an autism diagnosis
• What can I do if formal support is not offered or is not enough

Therapy (or counselling) is often recommended after a diagnosis, as a follow up action for your GP to arrange. If you prefer, depending on where you are in the UK, you may instead be able to self refer for talking therapy on the NHS.

Before arranging it, you might find it helpful to borrow or buy this book, which includes discussion of various types of therapy and counselling, together with advice on choosing the right therapist or counsellor - all from an autistic person's viewpoint. Several of us here have found it very helpful:

The Autistic Survival Guide to Therapy

Finally, I'll just mention a couple of books that I and others have found helpful early on in our post-diagnosis journeys:

Self-Care for Autistic People: 100+ Ways to Recharge, De-Stress, and Unmask!

How to Be Autistic (free download currently available via this page)

Thank you. I'm glad I know, and I've been thinking back a lot about how I was growing up and if school would've been easier if I had a diagnosis. But I didn't so hopefully I can figure out what works best for me now instead. I appreciate these articles and books, I've been looking for more information but I didn't know where to start, so I will definitely check them out! I've recently started therapy as well so we'll see how that goes. I agree with you about it being the start of your journey, I feel the same way, that's why I've come on here to hopefully find out more and talk to likeminded people.

Thank you. I'm glad I know, and I've been thinking back a lot about how I was growing up and if school would've been easier if I had a diagnosis. But I didn't so hopefully I can figure out what works best for me now instead. I appreciate these articles and books, I've been looking for more information but I didn't know where to start, so I will definitely check them out! I've recently started therapy as well so we'll see how that goes. I agree with you about it being the start of your journey, I feel the same way, that's why I've come on here to hopefully find out more and talk to likeminded people.