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Misdiagnosis

Tina

I have an official diagnosis of autism but the last couple of years I've been wondering if the diagnosis is wrong. I don't have difficulty with social interaction and I make friends easily. I do struggle with making eye contact but I only seem to exhibit a few autistic symptoms. I'm wondering if I just have generalised anxiety disorder as anxiety is what I struggle with most of all. I know there not a lot I can do about this it's just a question I keep asking myself now. At the start of September I'll be starting my first job, I'm hopeful it will be a success. I already did a trial day a few months back and I did really well, chatted, laughed and shook hands. I was fine, a little anxious admittedly but I coped. 

I feel a bit of a fake now though I'm aware I could still be autistic but I do feel that I might not be. Does anyone know any online tests that could give me a good idea if I am autistic or not?

  • It's certainly possible you were misdiagnosed- there's enough overlap in traits of autism and GAD that misdiagnosis is known to happen, though it's usually the other way round (as it was for me- I do have GAD, but I don't ONLY have that, I'm autistic too).

    It might be worth asking yourself whether your relative ease in social situations feels like it came naturally or had to be learned, and whether you find you make NT or ND friends most easily. Those questions won't give you a solid answer on their own, but might guide you in the right direction towards understanding yourself better.

  • For a great deal of time Autism has been mistaken for Trauma. 
    from my research and understanding NT psychology, there seem to be a few fundamental differences which contribute to autistic experience of being misunderstood and misrepresented. 

    Monotropism is a great place to start, but I believe it may be found to be link between Au and ADHD. Trauma can cause disruption with language and executive function, which then appears Autistic but a NT will be able to work through and “overcome”. And the final bit is an inability to dull the senses the same. 

    Autistic perspective is based on something that might be similar to Right Brain thinking but without the ability to ever really play along with NT language in real time or without conscious effort, which is fine. Making an effort for the sake of another is just as valid as doing a thing that’s polite without knowing why. 

    These 4 things might be good to examine. I have a feeling this may be more common until the differences are sorted out with NT Clinicians who have yet to listen to Autistic Doctors, researchers and practitioners. 

  • Tina said:
    I have an official diagnosis of autism but the last couple of years I've been wondering if the diagnosis is wrong.

    Did you take a RAADS test as part of your diagnosis? It tends to be pretty accurate in identifying autism and alongside the other tests the prychiatrist / psychotherapist would have performed, it should be fairly accurate.

    Please remember that autism is a spectrum of traits / symptoms and you may have only some of these. The criteria to be autistic is to have a certain number of the symptoms but not necessarily all.

    We also tend to have a feeling of imposter syndrome that can extend to our diagnosis as well. It seems to stem from feelings of low self worth that are drummed into us from not quite fitting in or "knowing the rules" when growing up.

    If you have concerns still then I recommend speaking with a therapist with a good knowledge of autism and they should be able to help you work through either accepting it or working our if it is a different condition you have that shares symptoms with autism.