I Believe I May Be on the Spectrum... Looking for Advice

[pymn]

Hi and welcome, I hope that you enjoy it here. Try Jessica Kingsley publishers for a range of relevant reading, including books about girls and women on the autistic spectrum, for example by Sandra Hendrickx, Rudi Simone and others. I self diagnosed after a lot of research and reading, plus having worked with young people with Aspergers and their families.

I was struck by the differences relating to gender presentation and socialisation, for example, all the clients I worked with were male, typically girls and women go under the radar, both due to the diagnostic criteria being predicated towards males, and due to effects of gender socialisation making us less visible, we are trained to internalise our distress, to act out less, and to be nice. Additionally girls and women receive training and socialisation towards social and communication skills that accommodate others.

The brain difference we have appears to be quite hereditable, so maybe you have a parent or other family members who seem to have high autistic traits or Aspergers?

There are plenty of interesting and useful threads here to view, and this is a friendly place.

Hi, thank you so much for the info and welcoming! I do have a cousin who was diagnosed with Aspergers, but everyone else in my family seems to be neurotypical.

 

[pymn]

Also, it is going to drive me up the wall if I don't add to the "violin" discussion. That violin is massive and I believe it would be more accurate to call it a possible viola. Then again, even for a viola that instrument is pretty wack haha
Maybe the guy on the right is doing yoga? Or he's being manipulated by a supernatural force...

 

[VAW]

Hello

I have been doing a lot of reading online and I truly believe there is a possibility I am on the spectrum. It's really fascinating how deeply I relate to others' experiences. But, I want to handle this with the utmost respect for others.
I think it could be really nice to have my experiences "validated" with a label. But, I have heard that it can be very, very tedious and expensive to get any type of official diagnosis. I'm currently in college and I am not capable of spending great amounts of money. And, I'm not really sure if I would even take any action after being diagnosed. I would feel less alone if I knew for sure, but that's about it I guess... But feeling less alone sounds pretty nice.
Is it worth it for me to seek a professional opinion in your own experience? What is your opinion of self-diagnosed individuals? Is this something I should speak to my loved ones about?
Throughout my life- I have always found myself identifying with things like anxiety disorders, misophonia, and the like. But, I have never described myself as such because I am not a mental health professional and I don't want to disrespect anyone by throwing around words that affect people's lives.
I just really want to handle this right. But I have never identified with anything more and I think this may be really beneficial for me to explore (that rhymed lol). I would really appreciate any and all of your thoughts. And, I'm sorry if I didn't word something correctly. I'm still new to my research and I mean no offense!

Cheers

Hi PYMN, This is just my opinion of course but I think the same as most of the others have answered, if you don't really plan on doing anything about your ASD, and you are getting along fine, I don't think I would get an official diagnosis.
We had taken my son in when he was about 28, he had such severe anxiety when he was out in public that some of his doctors advised to get him checked out because they thought he had ASD. Funny thing was that all his doctors mentioned that, and sent him to a councilor but she mostly worked with people under 18 but she was sure he had it after some testing of her own but she couldn't diagnose anyone over 18 officially, so we finally got an appointment to have him officially diagnosed but the neuropsychologist wasn't sure he had ASD, she was hesitant to diagnose him with that. She said he doesn't exhibit all the signs of it. In the end she did give him a high end ASD with avoidant personality disorder and high anxiety disorder. He also had other problem which was his UC, and migraines which were so bad he had to be hospitalized. So in order to get him on disability because with everything he had, he couldn't work and provide for himself, so we pursued that which added to his disability. Even when he went in for his review he had to talk to a psychologist who told us she had no problem continuing his disability because of it. She actually felt very sorry for him. I did wonder how all these people felt he had ASD except the one who officially diagnosed him??? This psychologist he had to see for his disability explained to us that it was a vicious circle, because going out caused his UC to become worst and his migraines from the anxiety. If he could function well enough to go out in public without setting off his bleeding to a degree he was hospitalized with blood transfusions or migraines for days, If he could have held down a job and made it without complications then I don't think we would have pursued the official diagnosis. The one thing I will say is having been through all of that and knowing that he does have ASD opened the doors in my mind more to understand him because with out that you were always wondering if he was just not wanting to work? was he lazy? was he being a jerk because he wouldn't answer me? all the things I wondered about were answered and I knew that his mind actually processed things differently and I didn't expect the same out of him as I did my other kids, like running up to the store for me, or talking to someone on the phone etc...I don't think it helped him in any way to have the official diagnosis other than adding another symptom to his disability but it did open doors for me to understand what he was going through.

 

[Tom]

Czech University students attempt reenactment. Ehhhh.... not quite. What do you think?