The ASD thread (Autism Spectrum Disorder)

[firemonkey]

^ I didn't see myself as fitting any of the 3 'types' .

[lone*star]

Originally Posted by mutedsoul

I think I may be depressed. I need to get a diagnosis, maybe even save up for it. I wouldn't like half my life gone then finding out that I am autistic and feeling that I wasted my years due to finding communication hard. Even if it wasn't autism, an explanation would be good for why I haven't been able to make friends in most jobs. Why I have been seen to be acting wrong all throughout childhood and also now.

When you think about it, what actually is a diagnosis anyway? At the end of the day it's just someone else's opinion. For example, you could go and pay for two separate private assessments and receive two different results - one saying you are on the spectrum and the other saying you're not; because the so called 'specialists' didn't agree. So where would that leave you? Still wondering I guess. Maybe considering paying for yet another assessment?

[gregarious_introvert]

I sought my diagnosis (which came from the NHS) because I was convinced that I was autistic and wanted to make sense of my life; however, the diagnosis has had no practical advantages - in fact, quite the opposite. The local mental health team will not treat me, even for other issues such as agoraphobia, depression and anxiety, because they claim that they are not qualified to deal with people living with autism.

If you feel strongly about the diagnosis, then you can always ask for a second opinion; there is no point wasting money on a private diagnosis from someone who will have the same level of expertise as the NHS psychiatrist (the NHS has specialist autism units whereas the private practitioner is less likely to be so specialised). However, my advice would be to analyse the ways in which your condition is affecting you adversely and work on those, as I did long before I was finally diagnosed some 20 years after I started seeking said diagnosis.

As for benefits, you may still be eligible for PIP if you are working, it is not dependent on unemployment or income; the assessors would look at how your life is affected according to the answers you give in your application and the report from your medical practitioner (or other practitioner familiar with your case, in my case my social worker). The name or nature of the condition has no effect on the PIP award, only the restrictions which are placed on you.

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[firemonkey]

One of the hardest things at my assessment was having to explain what things like 'love' meant .

[limey123]

^ Yikes, do they really ask questions like that?

[limey123]

^ As I have zero creativity, I fear, too, I would totally baulk at such a task...

[gregarious_introvert]

^ & ^^ Isn't that the point though? It's the difficulty we have in answering those questions which points towards our autism; I can't remember what objects I was given, but my story was short and simple. They're not expecting us to be creative, imaginative or entertaining.

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[firemonkey]

^ I found the 'make a story out of these random objects' part difficult .

[Bluebear]

I do not have this diagnosis but was appalled (although not altogether surprised) to read about the system not treating someone for depression, anxiety and agoraphobia who has been dxd with autism (sigh)

Also of interest to me is this ''in practical terms it wasn't about me being a bad person''..
(I have not been ''dxd'' as ''a bad person'' but have not found their labels helpful, or even accurate..)

(my personal experience only, I understand having a diagnosis can be helpful)

[Bluebear]

Originally Posted by lone*star

When you think about it, what actually is a diagnosis anyway? At the end of the day it's just someone else's opinion. For example, you could go and pay for two separate private assessments and receive two different results - one saying you are on the spectrum and the other saying you're not; because the so called 'specialists' didn't agree. So where would that leave you? Still wondering I guess. Maybe considering paying for yet another assessment?

I also think that a diagnosis, in many cases is just someone else's opinion. I too have found that so called ''specialists'' I consulted did not agree.

[firemonkey]

There's little joined up thinking , by health professionals , when it comes to mental illness and being on the spectrum .

It's a blind spot for far too many of them .

[Bluebear]

Originally Posted by firemonkey

There's little joined up thinking , by health professionals , when it comes to mental illness and being on the spectrum .

Insufficient joined up thinking by health professionals re mh issues, being on the spectrum etc. I would tend to agree.

[firemonkey]

A diagnosis is fine , but you need recognition that there's something going on to get that.
After that it's about getting help and support for it asap . The quicker you get that help and support the better the outcome is going to be .

A person , like me , who got an Asperger's dx at 62 is not going to benefit from help and support for it to the same degree that a 25 year old would .

[Bluebear]

It has also occurred to me... sometimes it seems people are told things like ''time is a great healer'' which in some cases is accurate. In other cases, if said with apparent kindness, … or even if not said with kindness......it can be a ''fobbing off'' tactic … due to the … ''limited'' resources available. In some areas, it would seem, resources are not as ''limited'' as in others. So the question as to who is offered ''help'' (aside from the much advised and sometimes even pushed ''option'' of ''medication''..) and who is not... is not as simple as it might at first appear, especially to those who are not insiders in the ''system''...

jmo..

[Bluebear]

Originally Posted by Nanuq

That's very true, I wonder too if support varies from place to place?

I wonder too. I also wonder if more support is given at least in some cases...if the professional finds the service user more endearing in some ways, or even of some (or more) potential use to their career advancement etc.

[Bluebear]

[QUOTE=firemonkey;2470521]A diagnosis is fine , but you need recognition that there's something going on to get that.
After that it's about getting help and support for it....

I agree.

[firemonkey]

Originally Posted by Bluebear

I wonder too. I also wonder if more support is given at least in some cases...if the professional finds the service user more endearing in some ways, or even of some (or more) potential use to their career advancement etc.

I was seen as 'awkward, demanding and troublesome' by my previous mental health trust . The antipathy towards me was all too evident . Asking for more help c 2002 was met with "Coping with your illness involves accepting the level you're at" I was told I wasn't a suitable case for more help and support.

Here in Wiltshire there's been none of that bad mannered and ill tempered attitude towards me . There's been mutual respect. I've not been treated like I'm a nuisance . First appointment and mention of autism resulted in questions being asked and the receipt of a letter 2 weeks later giving a date for an assessment .

It seems to me the quality of mental health care can really vary . On a side note this is the crackpot? pdoc who switched my schizoaffective diagnosis to personality disorder in 2005 .

https://www.eventfinda.co.nz/2019/is...lmerston-north

[Dougella]

^ He uses hypnotherapy to explore people's afterlives?! Crackpot sounds about accurate. (Not that that's not something that people shouldn't explore if they're interested but for a qualified psychiatrist to be doing that sort of thing suggests some possible lack of adherence to scientific evidence.)

[firemonkey]

I planned to switch the tv on at 7 pm to watch NCIS . It was just before 6.45 pm . Looked again to see if it was time to switch it on and it was nearly 10 past 8 . Have been told judging time increments is a challenge for those on the spectrum/with ADHD . You get so engrossed with something you 'zone out '

I was engrossed with something to do with ethnicity and autosomal DNA. I've been told the colloquial term is 'hyperfixating '

This is purely anecdotal so take it at that level . My wife would say while I was on the computer that she’d spoken to me and I hadn’t answered . Truth is I hadn’t heard her . Was sent for an EEG for suspected absence seizures . The result was negative . This was around the year 2000 .

Have been told that's fairly typical with ASD/ADHD .

[Bluebear]

Originally Posted by firemonkey

I was seen as 'awkward, demanding and troublesome' by my previous mental health trust . The antipathy towards me was all too evident . Asking for more help c 2002 was met with "Coping with your illness involves accepting the level you're at" I was told I wasn't a suitable case for more help and support.

Here in Wiltshire there's been none of that bad mannered and ill tempered attitude towards me . There's been mutual respect. I've not been treated like I'm a nuisance . First appointment and mention of autism resulted in questions being asked and the receipt of a letter 2 weeks later giving a date for an assessment .

It seems to me the quality of mental health care can really vary . On a side note this is the crackpot? pdoc who switched my schizoaffective diagnosis to personality disorder in 2005 .

https://www.eventfinda.co.nz/2019/is...lmerston-north

Some of the above really is too bad. Grr

I wonder if they perceived you as “difficult” as you are generally “good” with words and requested adequate support ... I am sure their patronising, indifferent and ill mannered attitudes were extremely difficult to “put up with”... it is not “good enough” what you received from them.

I am happy to hear the service providers in your location now are respectful (as they “should” be of all..)

[firemonkey]

Originally Posted by Bluebear

Some of the above really is too bad. Grr

I wonder if they perceived you as “difficult” as you are generally “good” with words and requested adequate support ... I am sure their patronising, indifferent and ill mannered attitudes were extremely difficult to “put up with”... it is not “good enough” what you received from them.

I am happy to hear the service providers in your location now are respectful (as they “should” be of all..)

The rot really started early on when I was first admitted to a psych hospital from Felsted public school .

A week in I was told I was being sent to make doll's houses . My constructional abilities are probably in the bottom 5% or lower . At the time I wasn't even coping well with things in general . I went into a major panic and was pulled from the path of a hospital bus .

A rather stern pdoc saw me and rather than trying to find out what prompted such a strong reaction very disapprovingly told me I was an awkward teenager .

I guess that went in my notes to be swallowed chapter and verse by subsequent mental health professionals .

[Bluebear]

Originally Posted by firemonkey

The rot really started early on when I was first admitted to a psych hospital from Felsted public school .

A week in I was told I was being sent to make doll's houses . My constructional abilities are probably in the bottom 5% or lower . At the time I wasn't even coping well with things in general . I went into a major panic and was pulled from the path of a hospital bus .

A rather stern pdoc saw me and rather than trying to find out what prompted such a strong reaction very disapprovingly told me I was an awkward teenager .

I guess that went in my notes to be swallowed chapter and verse by subsequent mental health professionals .

I'm sorry to hear that. If subsequent mh professionals swallowed a negative label given years ago which doesn't even mean much of anything.... that is too bad.

''rather than trying to find out what prompted such a strong reaction, he very disapprovingly told me''... Again, that sucks. It sounds like a fobbing off technique which is particularly sad if it finds its way into ''clinical notes''

[firemonkey]

The current standard that defines high or low functioning on whether your IQ is <70 or not should be totally abolished . Often with the autism spectrum how well you function with daily tasks of living is at odds with your level of intelligence . Things like executive functioning deficits come into play(In my case especially organising and planning ,doing multi step tasks) . A lot of health professionals would stick the label 'high functioning' on me . However my life without the support I get would be a lot worse . I am lucky . Many so called 'high functioning' people on the spectrum are denied the help they need to be and do as well as possible because of being defined as such .

[choirgirl]

^That sounds like something I'd do! If I was deep in thought on some other topic and also tired.

[choirgirl]

[Bluebear]

[firemonkey]

(ANSA) - Turin, January 28 -

Over 1,000 genes are implicated in autism, an international study including a Turin university and hospital and the university of Siena has shown.
The study ws conducted on some 35,000 people by the bodies, including Turin's CittÃ* della Salute Hospital.
The study was published in the journal Cell.
The data "is just the tip of the iceberg" said Alfredo Brusco of the CittÃ* della Salute Hospital.

http://www.ansa.it/english/news/scie...42b5a050b.html

[firemonkey]

What People Think They Know About Autism Bears Little Relation To Their Actual Knowledge .

One of the most well-known psychological biases is the Dunning-Kruger effect: the tendency for individuals less skilled or knowledgeable in a particular area to overestimate their own performance. Now, a team of researchers from Miami University, Ohio, have offered the most robust evidence yet that this may apply to knowledge about autism — that what people think they know about the condition may not be that closely related to what they actually know.

https://digest.bps.org.uk/2020/02/06...arch+Digest%29

[Deer]

Cheers for sharing all this info Firemonkey, very helpful.

[firemonkey]

Just found my ADOS2 report . I thought it hadn't been sent.


I though it hadn't been sent .

Communication

Generally picked up on conversational cues to expand on answers but responses provided few leads.

Didn't include many non routine events.

Speech had little inflexion or musicality . Can increase in volume when passionate about a subject

Eye contact not well modulated with speech

Demonstrating task - descriptive gestures had little definition to them

Exaggerated quality to emphatic and instructional gestures


Reciprocal social interaction

Interested in maintaining
examiner's attention but not much reciprocal communication

Did not display any curiosity in the examiner nor ask for more information when given some obvious verbal prompts

Qualities of social responses were awkward at times

Social overtures were mainly related to own interests

Imagination and creativity

Missed the magical aspect of the storybook




Stereotyped behaviours and restricted interests

No display of stereotyped behaviour during assessment , but unusual amount of restrictive interests re internet activities mentioned

Presented with deficits in imagination/creativity -
1 out of 2

Presented with stereotyped/repetitive behaviours - 1 out of 8 (a minor problem then)

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