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Hello everyone!

Deleted User
over 8 years ago

Hi,

I'm new here.  I'm a 57-year-old male who was diagnosed with Asperger's Syndrome last year.  The diagnosis was a positive thing for me because it's enabled me, at last, to make sense of my life and the difficulties I've always faced.  Previously, I'd been GP-diagnosed with 'Depression', 'Anxiety Disorder' - but they were all symptoms of the underlying ASD.  It took a therapist to finally notice traits that suggested something deeper.

I work in care (with learning disabilities), so have a lot of identification with my clients!  I'm currently doing a work-related distance learning course in 'Understanding Autism'.  I'm reading as much as I can on it, too, and it's all making a lot of sense.  It's my new obsession!

Anyway... it's good to be here.  I expect I'll see you all around.

All the best,

Tom

Parents
  • over 8 years ago

    Thank you for this. I certainly think a diagnosis would help, while I am in little doubt that I have an ASD it is very difficult to communicate that to others if it is only self-diagnosed. I just don't feel comfortable even talking about it in case people think I'm just making it up.

    I found the Baron-Cohen test online, and scored 40. I also found an empathy test, scored 18 out of 80 on that, which was of little surprise to me. It's just hard to take the first steps with this.

    One issue that may be awkward here is that there is no-one now who has known me my whole life. I have lived with my mother for my entire life, as personal relationships have been impossible for me. She passed away last year, I have no other family or close friends so it's just not possible for me to involve anyone else in a diagnosis. Whether that would be problematic remains to be seen. Frankly, I should probably be getting some treatment for the crippling depression her death has left me with but I am very wary of anti-depressants as my father was on them (and anti-psychotics) for many years and this did not end well for him, and I am equally wary of getting involved with psychiatrists because of this. So maybe this is not quite the right time, but I'll make some enquiries anyway and see how it goes.

    Thanks.

Reply
  • over 8 years ago

    Thank you for this. I certainly think a diagnosis would help, while I am in little doubt that I have an ASD it is very difficult to communicate that to others if it is only self-diagnosed. I just don't feel comfortable even talking about it in case people think I'm just making it up.

    I found the Baron-Cohen test online, and scored 40. I also found an empathy test, scored 18 out of 80 on that, which was of little surprise to me. It's just hard to take the first steps with this.

    One issue that may be awkward here is that there is no-one now who has known me my whole life. I have lived with my mother for my entire life, as personal relationships have been impossible for me. She passed away last year, I have no other family or close friends so it's just not possible for me to involve anyone else in a diagnosis. Whether that would be problematic remains to be seen. Frankly, I should probably be getting some treatment for the crippling depression her death has left me with but I am very wary of anti-depressants as my father was on them (and anti-psychotics) for many years and this did not end well for him, and I am equally wary of getting involved with psychiatrists because of this. So maybe this is not quite the right time, but I'll make some enquiries anyway and see how it goes.

    Thanks.

Children
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