Published on 12, July, 2020
Hi
I’ve recently been diagnosed with aspergers type autism, I’m kind of trying to understand this and I’m getting there but what I’m really struggling with is something the specialist said in the session.
I discussed my past mental health issues with him and he mentioned this was a pattern he had seen lots of times before and that ‘it’s most likely all my mental health issues are because of the autism’.
This has made me so angry and I can’t seem to get past it, just wondering if any of you have had any similar experience/ would be able to reach out and discuss with me.
thanks
I was diagnosed ASD last month. Prior to this I had been diagnosed with anxiety, depression and BPD (body dysmorphia and OCD traits were also briefly mentioned at some point in my life). During my assessment I was told many people (especially females) are often misdiagnosed with BPD when they in fact have ASD. I found this really disconcerting because I lost my job due to my mental health struggles and the prejudice view of BPD from my employer. To find out my struggles might have actually been because of ASD made me angry because maybe I could have kept my job if I had disclosed ASD instead of BPD. I have also accessed support and DBT for my BPD diagnosis so now I feel like a fraud. It is perfectly possible that I have both BPD and ASD but I'm not sure I will ever be able to find out for sure.
I feel that I still need mental health support but I'm not sure what I am entitled to or where to turn from here. I would benefit from having someone to talk to weekly even if my only true diagnosis is ASD. However I couldn't afford to see someone privately and long term weekly support has never been offered to me through the CMHT or GP.
How long did your anger go on for ? At the moment I don’t want to do ANYTHING at all, like I just want to hibernate and have time to process things. Like I don’t want to work or do anything cos I’m just angry, is that similar for you
it's so nice to hear that!
I literally felt like my world had turned upside down when i found out.
i had 4 full on weeks. Then 4 more weeks processing. Then it eased off. My mind is still there. Others have told me it takes a year to integrate, then even a few more to fully adjust to it. But I'd say 2 months shifts things a lot. And hibernating and processing is good, I had to review 50 yeats of my life.
I wish I'd known 18 years ago, possibly life would have been different, better, but who knows.
I gave myself time to process and I feel less angry now. I tried to get in contact with my mental health team but it is impossible at the best of times so I've sort of accepted that I will never be able to discuss with anyone whether my mental health diagnoses are correct.