Appointment with my local Mental Health Team

Yes, I was definitely talking about the rumination, my apologies for not being clear.

So far, in all of your posts, I've seen nothing that doesn't fit in somewhere with the range of experiences that AS people have, and have had. Looking at other people's answers to you, I'm not alone in treating you as if diagnosed AS. However, I did make a glaring error in that I thought that you had a GP referal, and have been talking to you as if you're already in the process. I deeply apologise.

As ajl338 points out, only specialists can diagnose AS. Don't think that someone with a degree in psychobabble is therefore also qualified to even begin to assess you. I, and many others, have been definitively assessed by fully qualified psychiatrists as having Bipolar Disorder, Schizophrenia, OCD, Anxiety Disorder (which means, 'I don't know, but something's upsetting the patient') and any amount of other waffle-type 'labels.

Each and every one of them was wrong. Not just a little bit, but totally, completely and absolutely wrong. The consequences for us of struggling along in the way that you are now, our difficulties unnoticed and unrecognised, has put the very core of our identity exactly where yours is now. Having all these inexplicably bad things, thoughts, feelings etc etc, being the only one in the group who doesn't get the joke, with no explanation, and no idea of who you are.

We, know.

You seem to think that you will be able to hide yourself away during a verbal interview. Should you be seeing a proper assessor, you won't be able to do that. I know that it isn't your intention, but you are being disrespectful of their skills if you think you can do that.

I will say this to you. There is nothing to fear from telling the truth. You are driven to being honest, you can't even begin to appreciate what I can see in your posts because of it, and no-one is judging you. If anything, we are ready and willing to help, support and advise seekers such as you. We do it with no judgementalism, no opinions other than our own, no agenda.

We could choose instead to spend our days any other way. I choose to come here and try to help others in a way that I never was helped, but knowing what I know now, how could I, in all humanity, leave others to the same suffering that I experienced, when I know that it doesn't have to be that way, and that I can take responsibility for playing my part? I know of others on here who feel exactly the same way.

You need the formal process, and that starts with getting a referal from your GP. I know some of it's difficult to talk about, and I encourage you to understand that it's important you do. The more you talk to us on here, the better you'll get at it and that will help, but we can't diagnose you. It takes courage, and all the strength you can muster, but you may surprise yourself with just how strong you can be. I can see it in you already.

Yes, I was definitely talking about the rumination, my apologies for not being clear.

So far, in all of your posts, I've seen nothing that doesn't fit in somewhere with the range of experiences that AS people have, and have had. Looking at other people's answers to you, I'm not alone in treating you as if diagnosed AS. However, I did make a glaring error in that I thought that you had a GP referal, and have been talking to you as if you're already in the process. I deeply apologise.

As ajl338 points out, only specialists can diagnose AS. Don't think that someone with a degree in psychobabble is therefore also qualified to even begin to assess you. I, and many others, have been definitively assessed by fully qualified psychiatrists as having Bipolar Disorder, Schizophrenia, OCD, Anxiety Disorder (which means, 'I don't know, but something's upsetting the patient') and any amount of other waffle-type 'labels.

Each and every one of them was wrong. Not just a little bit, but totally, completely and absolutely wrong. The consequences for us of struggling along in the way that you are now, our difficulties unnoticed and unrecognised, has put the very core of our identity exactly where yours is now. Having all these inexplicably bad things, thoughts, feelings etc etc, being the only one in the group who doesn't get the joke, with no explanation, and no idea of who you are.

We, know.

You seem to think that you will be able to hide yourself away during a verbal interview. Should you be seeing a proper assessor, you won't be able to do that. I know that it isn't your intention, but you are being disrespectful of their skills if you think you can do that.

I will say this to you. There is nothing to fear from telling the truth. You are driven to being honest, you can't even begin to appreciate what I can see in your posts because of it, and no-one is judging you. If anything, we are ready and willing to help, support and advise seekers such as you. We do it with no judgementalism, no opinions other than our own, no agenda.

We could choose instead to spend our days any other way. I choose to come here and try to help others in a way that I never was helped, but knowing what I know now, how could I, in all humanity, leave others to the same suffering that I experienced, when I know that it doesn't have to be that way, and that I can take responsibility for playing my part? I know of others on here who feel exactly the same way.

You need the formal process, and that starts with getting a referal from your GP. I know some of it's difficult to talk about, and I encourage you to understand that it's important you do. The more you talk to us on here, the better you'll get at it and that will help, but we can't diagnose you. It takes courage, and all the strength you can muster, but you may surprise yourself with just how strong you can be. I can see it in you already.