louloulovesdogs
Active Member
So my search for a diagnosis started almost 3 years ago. When a friend, someone who knew me quite well, who had a PHD in psychology, on the spectrum themselves, and specializing in better ways to effectively diagnose conditions, said straight up she thought I was on the spectrum. So my start to the search was already pretty well grounded. I studied psychology myself and when learning about autism I always thought hmm that sounds like it fits, and that does, but then lots of things didn't and lots of things didn't seem severe enough. I now know this is because everything I learned was male focused. After reading about females on the spectrum and the levels of misdiagnosis and how the conditions I had been diagnosed with (anorexia and generalized anxiety disorder and social anxiety disorder) but never really felt like the right diagnosis were common misdiagnoses of autistic females it all clicked into place and I self diagnosed and told my boyfriend what I thought and that I was going to go get an official diagnosis. He seemed supportive at this time. I decided not to tell him about anything while going through the process, and I waited about a week and half after getting the actual diagnosis before telling him. Once I told him he just straight up said I don't think you are. I asked why. He couldn't really answer. I told him to research it, specifically for females and get back to me. He still said he didn't think so afterward. I explained that this wasn't like a one call diagnosis, that it was a process with written and verbal tests, by someone that specializes in not only autism but diagnosing autism in teens and young adults and basically.....I sent him a bunch of links to videos and articles that were what really clicked for me and he didn't read or watch any of them. I just feel like he doesn't want to believe it.....and I feel like he's been kind of picking on me for things I've always done, now seeing them through a lens of an autistic person. An example is how much I fidget, I always have, it hasn't increased since being diagnosed, but now he's calling me out on it.....I don't like going to a lot of social events, again, it's always been this way, but now he's saying things like "so you're never going to go out again" and stuff like that. And I just feel sad....and not supported. But mostly, because I didn't expect anything to change because nothing about me changed.....I want to talk to him about this but idk what to say.....any advice would be great.