Mental Health Assessment

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Yes, the diagnosis itself is half the battle. Suddenly, we get to stop wondering why we're different and just embrace it.

Dawn said:

Mental Health Services had a thousand clues, a thousand opportunities to identify my autism and missed every one of them. 

Ditto...

Well, maybe not a thousanf times.....  but it felt like it.

Everyone I saw was focussed on trying to attribute my 'difficulties' to some deeply buried traumatic experience in my past.  There were of course many traumatic episodes - mostly frustration with the ignorance and arrogance of NTs.  I remember I used to talk to my counsellor about 'real people' when I meant NT's but of course wasn't familiar with the term;  I would have thought that might have suggested ASD, but no, it didn't.

Since my private assessment (in my mid-sixties), I have gained so much knowledge and understanding of ASD that I am at last beginning to feel comfortable with myself.

I am Ben.

Indeed. Some mental health issues overlap with features of ASD. And it is certainly true that a very high % of people with ASD also have Mental Health issues - comes from trying to navigate an NT world as an ND.

They do have to be sure which features are mental health problems and which are potential ASD. But if you feel your issues are to do with neurodivergencence of one sort or another, be clear with them. You can have both a mental health issue and autism/ ADHD/ Dyspraxia etc. but nothing they do will help unless the autsm or like is recognised for what it is.

Good luck

It's a service of NTs for NTs, when they bump into one of us, and they must do more frequently than they realise, they have no clue what to do and end up blaming us when we can't fit the NT boxes. 

The mental Health Services need massively re-education and fast

Oh Lord. Yes ,I've been though them. But I hardly know what to say. Mental Health Services had a thousand clues, a thousand opportunities to identify my autism and missed every one of them. 

All I can say is be up front you suspect you are on the Sepctrum and tell them why.

after hearing/seeing/reading way to many times mental health saying nothing more than this, this, oh and that too is wrong with you,

nothing about: ok, than what do you want me to do about it, reminding me about it only makes my depression worse.

I never found any of those Mental Health Services / Wellbeing sites/people helpful and I had to come up; with my own solution.

there is nothing wrong with someone depressed,

it means that person is a very sensitive person and absorbed to much evil from others and suffers now

very much like what you get on a report from assessment

what I think about them now sounds very much like

give me a break,

how am I to respect you if you do not respect me, and see everything wrong in me

even if I did start to respect you you wouldn't notice it because you can see me only as broken

so again, what do you want from me? I don't want to hear more of your perspective

The topic of mental health is very relevant to me. Thank you for posting this information.

Thank you for your replies. Mental illness runs very predominantly in my family, and I've been taking fluoxetine for a little over a year for my anxiety and it's really helped me. I guess I was just wondering what it had to do with me possibly being autistic. Thanks for the help!

Its good to talk about your mental health before your assessment, because people with autism can develop mental health issues as a result of trying to cope in the world.  Also, some mental health conditions can look a bit like autism so they probably want to see if you have one of those first.

They will probably start off asking how you are feeling now and if you have had any mental health problems before.

If you don't feel you have any mental health issues that's fine, just tell them, but if you think you do then write things down before you go, so you can either show them or read out in case you forget.