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My autism assessment psychologist laughed at me

KittyMetal

After a few years of realising I'm autistic, my GP's referral for formal testing ended up with me being assessed and then diagnosed as autistic in May 2026. The specialised autism service did a great job in my assessment and with my diagnostic report - I clearly saw a lot of autistic traits I wasn't even aware of, which was helpful.

However, at age 67 I had a lot of issues with this very late diagnosis. Especially regarding my self-identity and 60 years of masking (I found school report cards clearly reporting autistic traits that then "disappeared" the next term - actually when I discovered copying others and doing what teachers expected. That set up a lifetime of masking). At 67 I now don't know who I really am after masking for 60 years.

I was supposed to get three post-diagnostic follow-up support sessions with a psychologist over the phone. In the first session she laughed at me twice: when I described a traumatic childhood issue and when I told her I am distressed about the negative impact that my auditory processing disorder is having on my life. The effect of her laughing at me during my upsetting life experiences caused me to go into shutdown and end the session 10 minutes early. Nearly one month later, I'm still thinking of this awful experience every day and I get sudden anxiety attacks when remembering what she did. 

I wrote her an email about her unprofessional behaviour and impact on me. Her reply didn't have an apology nor did she take responsibility for her appalling behaviour, instead she shifted the responsibility to me, saying I "misunderstood" what happened and that she "uses humour in counselling sessions". However, the fact is that she laughed while I disclosed traumatic and distressing experiences. There was nothing humorous in either experience. I cancelled the two remaining "support" sessions.

I have contacted complaint sites, a clinical neuropsychologist (PhD level) I know, and my MP to get some consultation/advice for my distressing experience.  Everyone has been disgusted (and upset on my behalf) by her behaviour and they all urged me to make an official complaint, which I intend to do.

I'm writing this to ask if anyone experienced something like this (I hope not!) or if anyone has feedback or advice for me. I'd greatly appreciate any thoughts, comments, suggestions. Thank you for reading this. 

Parents

  • I have had two incidences that are similar to yours.  One was about 5 years ago when I was in a crisis.  I left my house and travelled to the coast with a view to not coming back. The Police stopped me.   I don't want to go into that but what I will share is that I was referred to the mental health team and I got one call from a man who laughed at me and said 'The trouble is we don't not to do with you - hahaha....'.   I said 'do you think I could be autistic?'.  He immediately said he would refer me and he promptly ended the call. I instantly got a text message -  he had discharged me from the Mental Health Service.   

    About ten years ago I was having regular sessions with a Psychologist.  One day I went to my appointment and I was distraught, crying.  He said ' I don't need this! Whats wrong with you?'.    I was horrified and left. As I was leaving the building someone stopped me and when I explained to her what had happened she urged me to make a formal complaint, which I did.   The result of that was that my complaint was not upheld and the reason given was that it was 'my word against his'.    

    I was once again traumatised, not just by his behaviour but by the fact that I was urged to make a complaint and if it comes down to my word against his, and there were only two of us in the room, and they are more likely to believe the person who is not having a mental health crisis, then what was the point of putting me through that?

    There have been other instances where I have been encouraged to call local mental health teams when things have been bad and on the two occasions that I have, I was left feeling MUCH worse than if I had not called.  On one call I was curled up in a fetal position in my garden shed sobbing.  It was the middle of the night. The man on the phone told me to drive to one of two hospitals - one was 28 miles from me, the other was 32 miles from me.   I said surely you are not serious, I am in no state to drive.. His response?  'If you are going to be aggressive I will end the call'.   

    For me, Mental Health Support is an illusion.  A facade that is peddled to make it look like there is help.  

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  • I have had two incidences that are similar to yours.  One was about 5 years ago when I was in a crisis.  I left my house and travelled to the coast with a view to not coming back. The Police stopped me.   I don't want to go into that but what I will share is that I was referred to the mental health team and I got one call from a man who laughed at me and said 'The trouble is we don't not to do with you - hahaha....'.   I said 'do you think I could be autistic?'.  He immediately said he would refer me and he promptly ended the call. I instantly got a text message -  he had discharged me from the Mental Health Service.   

    About ten years ago I was having regular sessions with a Psychologist.  One day I went to my appointment and I was distraught, crying.  He said ' I don't need this! Whats wrong with you?'.    I was horrified and left. As I was leaving the building someone stopped me and when I explained to her what had happened she urged me to make a formal complaint, which I did.   The result of that was that my complaint was not upheld and the reason given was that it was 'my word against his'.    

    I was once again traumatised, not just by his behaviour but by the fact that I was urged to make a complaint and if it comes down to my word against his, and there were only two of us in the room, and they are more likely to believe the person who is not having a mental health crisis, then what was the point of putting me through that?

    There have been other instances where I have been encouraged to call local mental health teams when things have been bad and on the two occasions that I have, I was left feeling MUCH worse than if I had not called.  On one call I was curled up in a fetal position in my garden shed sobbing.  It was the middle of the night. The man on the phone told me to drive to one of two hospitals - one was 28 miles from me, the other was 32 miles from me.   I said surely you are not serious, I am in no state to drive.. His response?  'If you are going to be aggressive I will end the call'.   

    For me, Mental Health Support is an illusion.  A facade that is peddled to make it look like there is help.  

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