Hi,

this is going to be a kind of a long shot but I am posting this as a reaction to my GP appointment that I had this morning.

I am late diagnosed with autism and have had no support or treatment from any NHS department directly relating to my neurodiversity, apart from the lengthy process and waitlist to receive my diagnosis. On and off I have been with the mental health team to address my depression, anxiety and mood swings, and although I felt listened to in the initial first response team assessments and in the first two CBT sessions, they were unable to offer ongoing support, in their own words they chose to address the symptoms and not be bothered with the causes. One psychotherapist even bluntly said that if I was not progressing then that was because I wasn't trying hard enough to work on my condition!

Back to today's appointment, explaining to my GP that I had autism and was going through autistic burnout and circadian rhythm disorder, I directly asked if there was a GP that knew about autism and provide the adequate approach and support. His simple answer was no. I then asked if there was a database for GP surgeries that listed doctors or nurses specialised or experienced with autistic patients and he again said no and that I would have to do the field research work myself.

His response (forget about the lack of empathy)  shocked me. NHS databases exist to look up specialists such as dietitians, diabetic nurses, paediatricians, urologists etc. practicing at GP surgeries, they can even be filtered for patients requiring accessibility and Loop, but they throw a blind eye at people with autism or ADHD?

Any feedback or hints are much appreciated.