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“Trendy” diagnoses

Alien0n3arth

I’ve got some negative experience and also some thoughts. It’s about the self diagnosis in mental health conditions being not accepted mostly by professionals. 
There are various online tests - screening tools. AQ50, AQ10, RAADS, and many others. There are also tests for ADHD. These are screening tools, not designed to diagnose. When you fill out the test, you get the result. If your result is significantly high, you get a message- you might have xyz condition, it’s better to contact a mental health professional. What is the reality? If you fill out the test or even few of them and their results together point to this condition and you go to the professional, there is a high chance, that they will not take you seriously, there high risk of hearing the stupid  “trendy” comments about diagnoses that everyone wants to have, that you just want attention, you’re just lazy not willing to work on yourself, or laugh and question if you know it from TikTok. 
There is a huge ocean of information and also misinformation out there, we as non professionals often lack the ability to differentiate what is true, what is not, but it also depends on where do we look for the information. Social media is more likely to deliver us more misinformation than books, but it’s not all black and white. 
the truth is that we ourselves know best what we experience and a professional who questions that, who tells us “you are exaggerating, creating your problems yourself, or that “this is not a problem” erode our trust and make us more cautious about contacting them. I heard from a psychotherapist (psychiatrist and psychologist, with long experience, doctor, lecturer at a university) that lack of friends is not a problem when I told her it is. When I was a teenager, I was suicidal because of this. And then I heard such a thing. 
So I feel it like - if you think that xyz condition describes your problems and explains the why’s, better stay as you are and don’t dare self diagnosing or reaching out to professionals with your insignificant problems. I hope I will finally find someone treating me seriously. I hope others here have better experience. In my case I was told by few professionals that Im probably autistic, the first one - the lecturer gave me her “trendy” comment after I described her my problems. I haven’t even mentioned anything about autism. I will see if it leads me anywhere or I stay as I am trying to cope. At least the self dx helped me manage my life in a way that is a bit easier for me and recognize how to name actually my struggles and strength and weaknesses. I’m not sure why I’m sharing this, just want to share some thoughts and experience. Can anyone relate? Sorry for a long post

Parents

  • My long route to a dx of Asperger's(ASD) started in 2000 with a google search,  re my verbal intelligence being significantly better than my non verbal intelligence. That lead to sites about non verbal learning disorder, and from there autism. I had already been thinking that a schizoaffective dx didn't explain everything . Armed with the info I sought more help and support. . I was refused it. I persisted. That persistence peed of my then mental  health  team, and resulted in my dx being changed from schizoaffective mixed to pd nos and then paranoid pd.  I found out several years later on receiving my psych records , that I was labelled 'awkward, demanding, and troublesome'- a 'very dependent narcissist'.

    Periodic attempts after my wife died to raise the question re more going on than just SMI were for the most part ignored. I did persuade my then care co to arrange an appointment to discuss things with a psychiatrist. That was a total disaster. He asked a few irrelevant questions,then abruptly ended the discussion.

    In 2017 I moved from Essex to Wiltshire to be near my daughter. She came with me to my 1st psych appt there in October. 2018. She mentioned autism . Unlike those in Essex he took time to ask questions , and after finishing stated the best fits were schizophrenia and ASD.

    2 weeks later I got a referral letter stating that I'd start to be assessed in February 2019 for autism. The diagnosis came in May 2019.

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  • My long route to a dx of Asperger's(ASD) started in 2000 with a google search,  re my verbal intelligence being significantly better than my non verbal intelligence. That lead to sites about non verbal learning disorder, and from there autism. I had already been thinking that a schizoaffective dx didn't explain everything . Armed with the info I sought more help and support. . I was refused it. I persisted. That persistence peed of my then mental  health  team, and resulted in my dx being changed from schizoaffective mixed to pd nos and then paranoid pd.  I found out several years later on receiving my psych records , that I was labelled 'awkward, demanding, and troublesome'- a 'very dependent narcissist'.

    Periodic attempts after my wife died to raise the question re more going on than just SMI were for the most part ignored. I did persuade my then care co to arrange an appointment to discuss things with a psychiatrist. That was a total disaster. He asked a few irrelevant questions,then abruptly ended the discussion.

    In 2017 I moved from Essex to Wiltshire to be near my daughter. She came with me to my 1st psych appt there in October. 2018. She mentioned autism . Unlike those in Essex he took time to ask questions , and after finishing stated the best fits were schizophrenia and ASD.

    2 weeks later I got a referral letter stating that I'd start to be assessed in February 2019 for autism. The diagnosis came in May 2019.

Children