Hey,
I’m new here and thought I would give this space a try to maybe learn a few things about coping with the busy world we all live in. So heyyyy.
So, after 4 straight weeks of constant online digging, intense research on autism and doing a deep dive into myself from childhood to now, i am certain that I have Autism. And boy is it an eye opener. When I initially came to this conclusion it was the missing piece of the puzzle which I didn’t even know was missing myself. It explains so much about how life has gone for me so far and I feel a great sense of peace with myself now that I know this and that is ok - it’s even better as my friends also have autism and I can finally connect with others around me properly. Also you guys will likely share the same experiences I experienced so it’s nice to know I wasn’t alone in my troubles in things like my social life, sensory challenges etc so thank you :) my friends were the ones who initially prompted me to do this deep dive as from the minute they first met me they thought I may have had autism but didn’t strictly ask until later on.
now, seeing as I know this to be true, what are you opinions on self diagnosis/identification? I did think very hard about pushing through to the GP and asking for a referral for an assessment, as daunting as this did feel, and decided not to for now. I’ve been in constant interventions with services like CAMHS, NHS mental health aswell as private therapy all through my life from about the age of 11 - I’m 18 now- and thought to myself “do I want to be in this system again when life is finally going really good for me and coping really well?” The only reason why I would go for an assessment would be for just for an answer - nothing more or nothing less. But all to be told something I already know and re completing said assessments I have already done? (For context, I have mapped my entire profile on the DSM-5 criteria for autism, taken the screeners the NHS use, reviewed this with my parents/friends to review what I have wrote and many more lists and anecdotes I have used as evidence on this multipage document I have compiled). Do I need to have this officially on paper?
Thank you all for making this a space where I can talk about this :)
