Can somebody help me?

I have been struggling a lot recently with everyday life/life in general. I question if I am ever going to get better... A friend of mine recently told me she has traits of Austim. 

I read up on signs of autism and it sounds a lot like my day to day life and now I am questioning if I have it because I experience majority of these signs everyday. 

I'm unsure whether to talk to my Mum about it, because whenever I talk about mental health with her she brushes it off and I'm afraid she will do the same this time and not listen to me. Do I need to go and speak to somebody about how I am feeling to get a diagnosis? 

I am struggling with everything lately and I need help on what to do... Can anyone give me any advice?

  • Glad you found it helpful! 

  • I would prefer to do this on my own, as my reasons are similar to yours in the way that my parents feel.  I am a bit afraid that they are immediately going to think of the worst of me, but if I was to get a diagnosis it would answer everything for me. Childhood behaviour and adulthood. I am noticing the signs more now I am an adult(just as I am only 19 about to turn 20!) I think it would mean a lot of me to have a professional diagnose me as It feels like I have been trapped for so long in something but never being sure of what it is. I felt like I was different to everyone else around me and I have always questioned why I feel the way I do and experience these things. 

    I am going to write down a timeline I think of when I was very young to now about everything, because I am very bad at explaining how I feel most of the time anyway, so It will help me a lot if I have that with me. Thank you for your comment and telling me about your experience - It has really helped!

  • Yes that is exactly why I am anxious! This is something I never expected but it explains everything for me. My child behaviour and now adult behaviour. I heard of Autism before this but never really looked that much into it until now. 

  • About 17 years ago when I was asked to see a psychologist after some things that happened in school I was bemused and when they referred me to a psychiatrist and the psychiatrist then said they thought I had Asperger's I thought it was a ridiculous joke. 

    Is that kind of why you feel anxious about it? As it's something you never expected? I'm guessing you're only thinking about it now because your friend said they had traits that were Autistic, so it came out of the blue for you. 

  • I felt the same way with my parents. There's somehow a lot of stigma associated with mental health / neurological differences. I eventually waited several years before I went to seek out a diagnosis by myself because of this. It was quite stressful, as most diagnostic clinics would say they prefer you bring someone who knew you as a child, or they may not be able to draw a conclusion. But it's still possible to do it yourself! 

    You could of course still try to talk to your mum about it. I'm sure she loves you, maybe she's just not knowledgable enough about mental health. I think one of the reasons my parents didn't want me to get a diagnosis, was because they didn't want me to limit my goals in life because of it, or that they are afraid that the stigma associated with it might make life difficult if someone else found out. These two points are incorrect, as the diagnosis helped me more than burdened me, but they were doing what they thought was best (even though they were wrong). 

    If talking to your mum is holding you back of whether to get assessed, you could also decide to wait until a better time. Not having a diagnosis immediately doesn't mean you can't improve your day to day life by knowing more about it, and about yourself. I've read some books on ASD and found it immensely helpful in understanding how I experience everyday life. 

    The process of getting a diagnosis would be first to go to your GP and talk about it. You can prepare a written personal history and reasons why you think you may have ASD - this was particularly helpful for me. I think this compensated for the fact that I didn't bring a parent for the assessment. 

  • That's what I was thinking... I'm just a bit nervous as it seems like an answer to me to why I am feeling/acting like this as I have been questioning myself for a long time. 

    I would just like to clarify why I have been feeling like this, so I am definitely looking for answers. This feels all so new to me so I am very anxious talking about it to somebody if you know what I mean? 

  • Maybe it would be a good idea to talk to a GP if your mum keeps brushing off what you're saying. 

    It can be a lot harder dealing with something when you're in the dark and don't know what's going on, supposing there is something like Autism which is related to what you're going through.