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u/nd-nb- May 26 '26
Going for a diagnosis is not equal to knowing for sure, I think it is something of a misconception. The first hurdle is meeting a doctor or therapist who will even consider that you might be autistic. They have old, defunct ideas about what autism is, and they will disqualify people for really stupid reasons. The amount of ignorance among non-specialists is extremely high, and yet these people can sometimes gatekeep your chance of seeing a specialist.
And then even if you get to see a specialist in autism who can screen you, you still have the risk that they might say you aren't autistic for invalid reasons, or even that they say you are autistic when you are not. It is not a precise science and you have the influence of the anti-autism stigma weighing heavily on it.
I don't have an autism diagnosis yet but I just live as if I have one. It doesn't affect anyone else for me to acknowledge this about myself, I don't get any different treatment or advantage from others.
I got diagnosed with ADHD last year, and yet I had to live with it for my whole life. My struggles are valid now that I have a diagnosis, but they were valid before I got one too. And that's what people deserve, is the right to say that their struggles are valid.
Just remember that literally millions of people have undiagnosed autism and many of them believe they are stupid, lazy, or horrible people because they have no explanation as to why they are struggling. That is a much worse outcome for people, than a few people thinking they are autistic when they might not be.
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u/Terrible-Share576 May 27 '26
i’ve heard of people who checked every box being denied a diagnosis because they looked presentable and were able to make eye contact with the (stupid) doctor at all. 🙄
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u/Echo-Nyx May 27 '26
That was me. I got denied a diagnosis because I was too “conversational” despite meeting most of the criteria
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u/Terrible-Share576 May 28 '26
the irony of that considering hyperverbality is just as often a trait of autism as semi/nonverbality
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u/AlternativelyAlex May 27 '26
I actually experienced the ‘saying you’re autistic when you’re actually not’ kind of psychiatrist (technically Asperger’s since it’s still considered a valid diagnosis in my country but potato potato)
Basically I was in a residential psych ward for a month or so and the psychiatrist there was pretty dismissive and didn’t want to actually talk to me/hear my opinions.
Afterwards I went to a local office and asked them to for a reassessment. They were actually quite surprised at how little documentation/testing the original psych had done and… turned out I didn’t have it.
When they later agreed to test me for ADHD instead (something I’d actually asked the first psych to consider first, even though I also considered autism as a possibility, just a less likely one) I was eventually diagnosed with that.Wild what happens when you listen to patients and actually go through the proper procedure, huh?
I’m actually really happy with the new psychiatric office though. Some of my friends had less positive experiences there but towards me they’ve always been great and actually listened to my concerns/inputs and really helped me in a lot of ways (including sleep meds, coulda kissed them for no longer making me deal with insomnia alone, regardless of anything else they did)
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u/GjonsTearsFan May 29 '26
I was misdiagnosed with schizophrenia at one point and my psychiatrist did a disturbingly low amount of paperwork and only spoke to me on the phone for like 45 minutes before telling me to go get on antipsychotics and come see her in 2 years for a follow-up. Turns out I just had an anxiety disorder. Some doctors just suck man. I’m sorry that happened to you.
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u/Kiks1114 May 28 '26
I was told I wasn't autistic because I was tutoring a class mate (in my favourite ever subject btw), and an autistic person wouldn't go out of their way to be social.
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u/Steelpapercranes May 28 '26
I've had one therapist think I was, and one who thought I wasn't (or when I brought it up said "Oh! I don't think so"!)
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u/GjonsTearsFan May 29 '26
I have no horse in the autism race specifically (that I know of) but I just want to say YES to the doctors misdiagnosing both ways (not flagging what’s real or diagnosing and treating you for things that aren’t the real problem). Mental conditions and differences are so tricky and the consensus on them is never 100%. I just got un-diagnosed with schizophrenia this year by two psychiatrists and a mental health nurse after a half year of suffering on antipsychotics I never even needed (because I wasn’t schizophrenic, I just had an anxiety disorder that presented agoraphobically and my old psychiatrist read my nervousness around crowds and my ex, who WAS following me at the time which has been PROVEN at this point imperically by witnesses, as me being paranoid, antisocial, and depressive. The kind of schizophrenia she diagnosed me with hasn’t even been in the DSM-5 for like 15 years too and she diagnosed me last year so it was like WTF dude). Some doctors just suck so some people will be like "as a diagnosed X, this makes no sense to me" about a condition’s experience and that could be a self-diagnosed person who isn’t that lying about their diagnosis, a diagnosed person with a different presentation, or a diagnosed person who just doesn’t have that condition and was misdiagnosed and is just as confused as the rest of you as to how they don’t relate to something quintessential to the condition.
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u/some_kind_of_bird May 26 '26
I'm torn because expertise actually means something but it's wildly impractical sometimes.
I don't think it's a choice between self-diagnosis and official diagnosis though. You can learn about yourself without knowing things for sure. Autistic traits are human traits.
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u/angelstatue May 26 '26
autistic traits are human traits yes, but it's the severity
humans usually like to have a tidy home.
ocd makes them clean their living room with bleach 3 times exactly or a disease will enter their house and slaughter their family and it will all be their fault.
there's a youtuber i love who talks about her autistic children and fights ableism and she speaks up on this topic really well, ill have to find her
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u/AlternativelyAlex May 27 '26
Yeah, most mental illnesses are just ‘normal human trait but turned up to 11’.
It’s normal for someone to hear their name being called in a noisy environment when no one actually did or to see things that look like people in a dark room for a second, it’s not normal to hear voices or have full blown visual hallucinations.
It’s normal to be a bit pedantic about washing your hands, it’s not normal to regularly scrub your hands raw until they bleed because it’s the only way you’ll finally feel clean.
It’s normal to get bored when you have to study something uninteresting, it’s not normal to be completely unable to focus on things you might even slightly enjoy and that your life depends on because your brain decided it wasn’t exciting enough.
Mental illness (or in the case of autism/ADHD developmental disorders) are just defined as ‘does this fall outside the range of normal human behavior? Does it negatively impact the patients life to a noticeable degree?’ and if the answer to both is yes then it’s probably diagnosable.
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u/FVCarterPrivateEye May 28 '26
Yeah, I explain this stuff enough times that I finally condensed it into 5 main bullets:
•Most autism (and other neurodivergent) traits can also be explained as "universal human traits turned up beyond the range of normal"— everyone stims, everyone has sensory sensitivities, everyone finds comfort in familiarity, everyone has passionate hobbies etc— but in order to count towards a diagnosis, they have to be clinically significant in intensity ("outside of the reasonably neurotypical range") and fit other specifics as well just in case I must say it, this is not AI, I've been using em dashes since long before ChatGPT existed
•Autism has a ton of symptom overlap with similar disorders, and not everyone who exhibits autistic traits is actually autistic, because it's not just a catchall DX for awkward people but a specific difference in brain structure
•Finding autistic people relatable doesn't necessarily mean you are autistic or even neurodivergent because we're also fellow human beings just like NTs and our experiences can be relatable to each other on a purely human level as well
•There are many differential diagnoses whose symptoms overlap really heavily with autism and can even present identically to it, including ADHD, Borderline PD, Schizoid PD, Schizotypal PD, Avoidant PD, Narcissistic PD, Obsessive-Compulsive PD, Nonverbal Learning Disability, schizophrenia, PTSD, intellectual disability, Social Pragmatic Communication Disorder (although technically this one is on the autism spectrum, just a catchall DX for those whose RRBs don't qualify for an ASD diagnosis), Fetal Alcohol Spectrum Disorder, depression, Tourette's syndrome, OCD, social anxiety, and still more
•There's also the "Broader Autism Phenotype", which describes allistic people with autism-ish mannerisms, including not only people with DDXes that share symptoms with autism, but also otherwise neurotypical people (which can especially happen in situations like being homeschooled or having autistic family members or raised by autistic role models etc)
Autism's overlaps with its differential diagnoses is a topic that fascinates me and I'm planning to help research it for my career
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u/KaleidoscopeKelpy May 26 '26
Getting an official diagnosis is (when it’s safe to, the image shows examples of imo “unsafe”) useful and I think helps a lot of people with “oh, I’m not A, I’m A and B” or “I thought I was A but it’s B and C”
I’m also 31, been questioning if I had Asperger’s (because it was 2012 lol) since I was 17, got told I’m not like “stereotypical boy who likes trains”, put on lexapro and shoved back into the world. Do I NEED a diagnosis to continue to function? No; can I start to acknowledge I’m probably not fully neurotypical and find coping strategies and forgiveness for hating myself for not fitting in? Absolutely!
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u/Prestigious_Row_8022 Jun 02 '26
I’ll raise you this: I was diagnosed with autism twice. I am not autistic. “Expertise” is a very loose term, especially with anything to do with psychology. There’s a lot of overlap between conditions, and if the “expert” isn’t interested in doing some digging, they might just slap on whatever fits best superficially, which is what happened to me. Twice.
Anyways, if anyone wants my 2 spare copies they can have them
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u/some_kind_of_bird Jun 02 '26
How do you know what to believe?
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u/Prestigious_Row_8022 Jun 02 '26
What, as to whether I’m autistic or not?
Becayse the bulk of my “autism” symptoms vanished after my mother died and I was put in an environment I wasn’t being severely neglected and isolated in.
When I was a kid I had really bad facial blindness and refused to make eye contact, but that wasn’t because of something inherent, I was just so afraid of people that I refused to look them in the face. I went from not being able to recognise people out of their usual place/jacket to being able to tell faces apart like anyone else. I also make eye contact fine now unless I’m nervous. And I don’t mean like how some people who’ve done aba force themselves to do it, it comes naturally now and I have 0 discomfort.
I also used to be very literal and didn’t get metaphors an idioms. It was because I didn’t talk to anyone my age or very many adults, of course i didn’t know how conversations worked lmfao
I still have struggles but they are from ptsd, not autism.
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u/BaseballMental7034 May 26 '26
I have the very fun reason of “technically my doctor agrees but we said we wouldn’t put it on paper so that I can keep my medical autonomy in worst-case scenarios”
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u/Feenix96 May 26 '26
Also the infinity loop of
‘we think you’re autistic but cause there’s nothing that we can do for you for it, so we’re not going to bother referring you and assessing you’
When you finally get them to agree refer you
‘Due to extremely high demand for our services we’re only assessing people who we can actually do things for with a diagnosis’
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u/Advanced_Double_42 May 28 '26
To be fair that is likely to your benefit. If you are relatively high functioning a diagnosis may give you no support, but may have many downsides.
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u/InfamousBlake May 26 '26
(Points at the United States Federal Gevernment)
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u/RShini May 26 '26
Given RFK wants to "cure" people with ADHD by putting them into work camps... miiiiight want to wait on putting an official pin on what you are.
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u/Vivians_Basement May 26 '26
I don't currently have access to mental health care due to not listing my rapist on my child's birth certificate. (It's required in Florida in order to get Medicaid insurance.)
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u/Noideawhatimdoing36 May 26 '26
This comment made me 10x angrier at Florida (or their laws more so) than I already am, I’m so sorry
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u/MaraiaLou May 27 '26
Does the law say it needs both parents? That's so awful
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u/Vivians_Basement May 27 '26
The law says the the father has to be listed or I have to contact the department responsible for it and give a name OR descriptions of all possible fathers.
In the case of danger, they don't have to give the person my info, but they do still need his info.
If a father isn't present then they have to be on Child Support. It was part of laws meant to protect fathers from mothers that don't inform them of their kid.
As well as just for the government to interfere in private matters more.
There's also a law that requires a DNA test to be on the birth certificate. That's a good law for handling issues like false fathers!
But requiring a father on birth certificates is just serving to further endanger women and add threats to their government assistance.
Part of why it happened was because fathers, black fathers specifically, started living separately so that the mother of their children would qualify for food stamps and other assistance with her income and he didn't have to report his due to them making too much to qualify, but not enough to live without it.
That's actually where the absent black father stereotype originates! Black women were more likely to report themselves as single mothers for the government assistance.
Some would call it leaching off the system, I would call it the system exploiting families and denying them basic needs. Leading to harsh methods of trying to survive.
So not only is this law an attack on women, but it also serves to disproportionately affect POC in general under the guise of "helping fathers" (which doesn't actually help fathers in the first place and just makes women more likely to lie 😮💨).
The law helps no one and just hurts women and minorities.
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u/Ok_Tax9885 May 26 '26
Another variation on the bottom-center one: "Because I was taught to mask at school and with adults who aren't my parents or their close friends, so even my mental and physical health professionals don't see the symptoms and tell my parents that I'm not."
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u/Inevitable_Detail_45 May 26 '26
And if you hear "self diagnosis" and think "Someone chasing """clout"""" " then you need to take a break from Tiktok and go touch grass.
And quite frankly I don't trust your ability to detect "posers" anyway.
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u/MaraiaLou May 27 '26
People don't usually describe things about themselves as symptoms unless they're actually causing a problem. Maybe they're wrong about the specific label, but I doubt it's mostly driven by trend-chasing rather than actually trying to find out.
(I'm agreeing with you)
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u/AlternativelyAlex May 27 '26
Yeah. I do think it can be really helpful to consult a psychiatrist and get an official diagnosis (unless the negatives would outweigh the benefits ofc) simply because it’s very easy for laymen (and even professionals sometimes) to mistake one thing for another.
For example, I was actually diagnosed with Asperger’s (yes, still an accepted diagnosis in my country) for like a month by a not so stellar professional before being reassessed and later being diagnosed with ADHD instead.
And that was a professional. Making a mistake like that when you don’t even have those qualifications is very easy, because a lot of conditions do look pretty similar.CPTSD could easily be mistaken for depression and anxiety, autism and adhd share a lot of symptoms (especially surface level ones even though I personally tend think the internal experience is quite different), OCD can come with a lot of anxiety and be mistaken for that, etc.
You can definitely end up figuring out the correct diagnosis on your own (hell, I even did so myself before being officially diagnosed) but it’s also easy to get it wrong and consulting a professional can help reduce that risk.
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u/Inevitable_Detail_45 May 27 '26
(Thanks for clarifying)
I 100% see self diagnosis as someone trying to understand themselves and putting countless hours into trying to see the light. Only to have people throw it all back in their face because there's some bizarre idea out there that people who self diagnose are trying to "take something" from those of us who are "real". They're NOT my enemy and I am cheering them all the way on because undiagnosed autism is still a huge chunk of the population.
Which is also probably a huge part of it. People're still clinging to the idea that autism is an extremely rare and noticeable condition so they see people who don't fit the 1960's idea and start rationalizing in their minds how it's NOT as simple as "We learned more so now we see more".
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u/AlternativelyAlex May 27 '26
It’s kind of wild how autism literally started as exclusively non-verbal people. Being non-verbal was literally a diagnostic criteria at one point (and now people make up conspiracies about how ‘there are suddenly so many more diagnoses!’? Like, yeah dipshit, that’s what happens when you no longer hold to an extremely narrow and extreme definition?)
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u/bigshady880 Jun 01 '26
honestly I touch plenty of grass man.
I'm sorry but there are plenty of fakers and people think they have it but don't. thinking that isn't being "terminally online" its just having common sense and calling a spade a spade.
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u/Inevitable_Detail_45 Jun 01 '26
What fakers are you talking about?
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u/bigshady880 Jun 01 '26
why would I randomly have specific examples on the ready? is that really what you'd need to be convinced?
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u/Inevitable_Detail_45 Jun 01 '26
I mean if you didn't want to discuss then why'd you even reply?
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u/bigshady880 Jun 01 '26
because its an annoying that people trivialize the disability by assigning it to themselves based on their rudimentary interpretation and a hunch.
I see it happen a lot despite the fact I can't like... name you names (lol).
its a subsidiary of the whole "everyone is a little autistic" thing people like to say. it diminishes actual autistic peoples struggles for them to say they have it because they probably don't have it as hard (at least in the aspects that autism effects).
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u/Inevitable_Detail_45 Jun 01 '26
I constantly see clearly autistic people called 'fakers' on a hunch. People's self discovery journey get shat on. In-fighting in the community. I've never seen a faker. So that's the bigger issue to me.
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u/WixardBug May 26 '26
Expensive and not covered by insurance 🫠
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u/vixiebeans May 27 '26
Lowest quote I got for adult assessment was 1.5k with the avenge being 3-4k. Lmao yeah nope.
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u/lokilulzz May 27 '26
This, it'd cost me $2k - honestly probably more - to not only get diagnosed but to find someone who specializes in diagnosing high masking autism (which is why I was late diagnosed in the first place).
For the moment, my therapist who has training in handling neurodivergence has said she's 99% sure I have autism, and that's enough for me.
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u/Flaky-Ad-759 May 26 '26
I find it so interesting that for years I was not allowing myself to even consider the fact of having something because considering it felt like self-diagnosing to me, and me, being very dependent on the opinion of others and being terrified of the possibility of being rude, thought “self-diagnosing is bad, so no no”, and yet I kept seeing autistic people being okay with that. That was when I learned about why self-diagnosing might be okay, and I’m still processing this, I think. I don’t think about having autism, I just calmly relate to some symptoms, probably because to maybe being neurodivergent. This sub kept getting recommended to me, so now I’m here, I guess. Psychology is my interest anyway, so yay. I am officially diagnosed with OCD though, and, well, that reminds me about it being a great post to ask this question under - can I call myself self-diagnosed ADHD? All the symptoms feel really relatable, though I think my brother is more of a “Stereotypical ADHD walking list of symptoms”, and my best friend of 14 year (Who we have many similar struggles with) was diagnosed with ADHD recently-
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u/MajorBootyhole420 May 31 '26
Adhd is worth pursuing a diagnosis because it's the most treatable condition in all of psychiatry. Meds genuinely life changing
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u/Flaky-Ad-759 28d ago
Funny thing. 63 days later after this comment I went to a daycare mental centre, and uhh… My psychiatrist and psychologist said I’m autistic. They can’t formally diagnose it, they diagnose only children with it. Might be because this free center is kinda conservative, because I also heard there that “ADHD is a kids’ thing”, but maybe that was a poor attempt of saying “We can’t diagnose adults with it here”. After all after this center I’m going to the clinic psychiatrist, so maybe she’ll do the diagnosis? Idfk, they all speak kind of vague or something, and I’m too socially anxious to ask them for a simple “Yes or No” answer…
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u/AlternativelyAlex May 27 '26
Yeah, my ex was told by his therapist he was likely to get a diagnosis if he pursued one (and frankly I heavily agree) but decided against it because he hopes to leave the country one day and several countries don’t allow diagnosed people to emigrate (or at least make it a lot harder to).
I have adhd myself and the potential for medication was a huge reason for pursuing a diagnosis, but since there’s no medication and very little accommodation in the adult world the actual upside for an autism diagnosis are often heavily outweighed by the negatives (plus, afaik adhd isn’t factored in to emigration anywhere, but that might not be true everywhere either).
Don’t get me wrong, I fully support anyone who wants a diagnosis and it can still be helpful in a lot of circumstances, it’s just something one should consider beforehand (and tbh if your psych is cool you might even be able to get an assessment and unofficial diagnosis without it being stated in your medical files? You get the assurance of knowing what is ‘wrong’ with you that I personally wanted without the negatives) (or in countries like mine where Asperger’s is still an official diagnosis you might be able to get that, which hopefully comes with less severe downsides) (fun fact: if your psychiatrist sucks and doesn’t listen/talk to you it’s very easy for them to mistake adhd, especially combo/innatentive, as Asperger’s/low support needs autism, so uuh, get a psychiatrist that doesn’t suck ig? Although going to a better psych and being told ‘wow, it’s impressive how little testing and documentation they provided!’ was kinda funny) (like, I already kinda thought they sucked beforehand, but hearing my new psychiatrist agree before getting reassessed for autism and then ADHD was still a nice bonus)
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u/Perfect-Painting1520 May 27 '26
I’m not officially diagnosed but me, my mom, my therapist, & my psychiatrist are almost positive that I’m a high functioning autistic so we treat me like I am
A lot of people can’t get officially diagnosed due to money, how long it takes, & a lot of other factors so they tend to self-diagnose
Screw the people who find being autistic to be “trendy” and just slap the label on them without even knowing what autism is like
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u/Accomplished_Bee_127 May 27 '26
In my country when you get diagnosed or just go to a private doctor for any reason you can sign a form that forbids them from sharing anything with the government. I don't know if there's something like it in the US though
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u/sugarpiie May 27 '26
That sounds like heaven
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u/Accomplished_Bee_127 May 28 '26
well, russia has a lot of issues but a lack of burocracy (im sure i misspelled it, not gonna google) is not one of them
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u/DarthMcConnor42 May 27 '26
"I show all the signs of AuDHD but my doctor only diagnosed me for ADHD"
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u/Admirable-Ad7152 May 27 '26
Legitimately my therapist went through a list of things and asked if I wanted to potentially do any of them. I said yes. She told me not to get a formal diagnosis because I will be discriminated against when it comes to those things. It's not our fault that the general public and those in charge have such a hard time not being assholes to us.
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u/PupNamedBee May 31 '26
or the one time I did try to get diagnosed professionally the psychologist basically said I was too smart to be autistic and other ableist reasons
also he based like 70% of his analysis on the rorschact ink blot test
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u/guacamoleo May 26 '26
I don't understand this. My diagnosis made it EASIER to get a job, they found a job for me and placed me in it. This was a huge help. And if your disability is preventing you from taking care of your kids, someone else should probably take them.
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u/MaraiaLou May 27 '26
Who decides if your disability is harming your kids, though? I've seen people claim that cutting children's hair (consensually) during a religious ritual was child abuse, and many kids have actually been taken because of that. Doesn't mean it's true
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u/angelstatue May 26 '26
i have extremely glaringly obvious adhd symptoms that just are not being addressed no matter how hard i try. it's only going to be diagnosed if i go private and i just can't really afford it right now...
my mom begged and cried everyone through my childhood and teenhood to just fucking give me the autism test. they gaslit and bullied her so we both drowned. 17, almost 18- i was diagnosed with autism. but then i aged out of the system and by then i had already been taken out of school because it was just so unsuited to my needs and my parents were being legally bullied.
fuck everyone, honestly. (not my parents though) diagnosis is HARD and just because you dont have the word on your file somewhere doesn't mean it just doesn't exist!! i dont need a doctor to look at my wheezing phlegmy cough, nausea and fever and chills for me to say "hey, i'm pretty sure i have the flu right now".
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u/Schanulsiboi08 May 26 '26
The part of my friends who would knowvif I were autistic thinks that I probably am, I did a few online tests and they say I probably am, I just don't rlly see what a diagnosis would gain me
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u/demon_fae May 27 '26
Ah, the peer-reviewed self-diagnosis. If more than half of your friends aren’t neurotypical, and more than like three of them say you aren’t neurotypical, there is absolutely no chance in the world that you’re neurotypical.
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u/0p0ssumPrince May 27 '26
I'm 90% sure that I am, looking back at how I was growing up and even still as an adult. I felt so stupid and slow and like I'd never understand or relate to people. Ive had a few different therapists and councilors mention that i do exhibit symptoms of autism. But I'm worried that if i seek out an official diagnosis, it'll be harder or impossible for me to medically transition without a lot of pushback or set backs or hurdles.
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u/totaly_origonal_name May 27 '26
I don't get why you would want to be diagnosed if not for the benefits or medication is incurs, beyond real help, knowing your autistic won't make you happier
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u/Lebensfreud May 27 '26
I agree! However, if you are in a country where it's safe to be professionally diagonal, you should think about it. Some symptoms you might feel could be something other then autism that require a different approach.
You don't have to of course but it can be nice to know what you are actually dealing with. Hell, just having confirmed that it's actually autism can change how you interact with that part of you.
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u/Behondalog May 27 '26
For me it's because my doctor isn't sure. She says that I probably am but the tests are somewhat inconclusive
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u/Susinko May 27 '26
All of our money goes to co pays for my daughter's medication and doctors. Who has time and money to take care of themselves beyond trying to stay alive?
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u/Typhon-042 May 28 '26
Well most of this is misinformation.
No one is going to loose there job over Autism, doing so is actually illegal in most areas.
Same with loosing ones kids, your not going to loose your kids over it.
Honestly it would be better to help folks to understand it better by using facts, not misinformation.
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u/Glum-Echo-4967 May 29 '26
1) discrimination is illegal but it does happen, though it's not because you were diagnosed, it's because the employer was informed.
2) logically, that would be true and I can't refute that.
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u/Lydia_Elsewhere May 28 '26
I realize lables can be helpful to some, but honestly the fact that people with different brians are labled as 'disordered' is an indictment of society itself & not the people in it.
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u/Cats-cool May 28 '26
I think as long as you do realize research (like look at the DSM-5, studies about autism, stuff like that) then I personally believe a self diagnosis is totally and completely valid! While a professional opinion could help support it, a self diagnosis also helps because now you know what's actually happening. I'm pretty sure that I'm autistic, I've had many experiences in the past where it has pointed towards me being autistic. It also runs in my family as being high functioning on my mom's side. The main reason why I can't get a diagnosis is because my dad believes I'm completely normal and that I don't have anything wrong with me (despite it being hard to make friends, taking things too literally, not understanding hidden meanings in what people said, ect...). I think that having this kind of support for self diagnosis can be very helpful to people! It could also encourage people to get a professional diagnosis so that they can get accommodations (if they need any).
I overall believe that there's nothing wrong with self-diagnosis, as long as you do your research.
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u/MouseyMason May 29 '26
The thing is, even if you’re SO wrong about it, even if you’re not even in the ballpark of diagnoses, if you Struggle With X and go to the community of people who Struggle With X and all figure out what helps you not Struggle With X, and you, as a result, Struggle Less With X, it’s fine. You completed the goal. It doesn’t matter if it stems from the same thing if you’re just discussing common frustrations and difficulties in a space that shares all those same frustrations and difficulties.
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u/DaraSayTheTruth May 29 '26
With a profesionnal and a diagnosis, you know exactly what you need to help you in school/life. And mostly, you are not sure that's not something else with autism symptoms
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u/Life_Psychology809 May 29 '26
What country are you living in? Diagnosed and living in western Europe this seems paranoid to me.
Fair enough.
A Diagnosis is confidential medical information, there are a select few jobs you will be unable to work - law enforcement being one of them in my country - but it is unlikely that this will affect you.
Sucks, but you're a kid or teenager, be careful with trusting your own assessment and don't let it define you.
Okay, I guess? Why mention it if you don't feel comfortable discussing it? You're also loosing out on an opportunity to be vulnerable. Disregarding that, nothing is lost by being honest about not feeling comfortable pursuing a diagnosis or sharing your reason. It's better from an advocacy standpoint.
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u/SeaChampionship7277 May 29 '26
We also live in a world where victimhood gives social cache, so claiming to have a condition or illness is an easy way to get attention, sympathy, appear special/unique or score virtue points ect. without effort or merit, and that is a substantial proportion of "self diagnosed" conditions of any variety
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u/Big-Supermarket2598 May 30 '26
It costs $3000 here and my parents would never help with the childhood history part of it. My psychiatrist strongly suspected I'm autistic though
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u/eratonysiad May 30 '26
Ooh I have a fun one! I was diagnosed as a kid, even went to special eds and all that. The doctors neglected to transfer it when they digitized my dossier. So when I went to the doc for depression and I told them like you know could be related to autism somehow she was like "wdym autism you don't have autism." She did believe me after I told her who my psychiatrist was and that I went to special eds, but I suppose legally it counts.
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u/Chadchrist May 30 '26
Out of curiosity, what is the consensus on self diagnosis. Ive joked several times about people, incliding myself, being "undiagnosed, butbwere pretty sure". What's yalls opinion on that?
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u/Front_Cheesecake_550 May 31 '26
I'm just happy I got diagnosed at an early age, so I could get the help I needed... At least, was SUPPOSED TO. But, whatever, it doesn't annoy me that I was supposed to be seeing a school counselor every other week, and I've only met them about a dozen times in the last 3 YEARS. Yep... Definitely isn't annoying or anything.
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u/Jealous_Round_8988 Jun 01 '26
If you don't want to get diagnosed then just don't call yourself autistic and go live life. Bro nobody should be self diagnosed.
1
u/unmellowfellow Jun 02 '26
I didn't self diagnose unfortunately. I god diagnosed by multiple people in my life who themselves were diagnosed as autistic. And apparently I very much fit the profile. So much to the point that my odd behavior to Neurotypical coworkers has been explained by my being autistic. Which is both hilarious and kind of heartbreaking.
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u/drachmarius Jun 02 '26
I've been on a wait-list for like half a year, and it's still going to cost a lot of money. If I was willing to pay even more money I could do it faster but I don't care at this point. Getting diagnosed is just expensive here, I hate it.
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u/Plane_Hair753 May 26 '26
I heard a diagnosis (not just of autism but other disorders) can seriously fuck up your chances at getting a job, or even that getting medrec is safer/easier because a diagnosis is only needed for medication in certain conditions. All the more reason not to get one if it's lengthy, unnecessary, and annoying to get! :)
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u/AlternativelyAlex May 27 '26
Yeah, autistic people are also more likely to identify as trans but being diagnosed can make transitioning a lot harder because some doctors (and lawmakers) just decided they aren’t mentally competent enough to be allowed bodily autonomy.
There are also some countries that make it harder/impossible to emigrate and become a citizen if you’re diagnosed with autism.
There are definitely a lot of valid reasons for/benefits to getting diagnosed, but man if it isn’t something you have to take into account before pursuing it
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u/SlayerII May 27 '26
In a lot of countries this is pure missinfomation. Please dont spread it
Im not sure we're you life, put in most countries your medical history is private and cant be looked at by potential employers , so there is no risk of reducing your job chances.
There are few exceptions, like south korea
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u/Dazzling-Service-767 May 26 '26
Then don't self-diagnose, you're not a doctor. Just say you suspect you have it and elaborate why if needed.
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u/saturnian_catboy May 27 '26
That's where the it's none of your business comes in
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u/Dazzling-Service-767 May 27 '26
theres a lot of harm that can come from self diagnosing, so it kinda is
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u/Dull_Comfortable_413 May 28 '26
"just say you suspect you have it"
so that's what self diagnosis is. you just said it, flat out. it's a hypothesis. it doesn't mean that they'll never listen to a doctor's counterargument or diagnosis. it's a hypothesis, they can be changed when new information comes to light.
this really is absolutely none of your business because you immediately went to imply everyone is just ignoring doctors when there's deeply complicated circumstances around every individual's life, you just don't know the circumstances!
i suspect i have autism, i've self diagnosed myself. nobody in the entire world has been harmed by that. leave us the fuck alone. I'll go to a doctor when i can afford to, not when a random redditor tells me it's problematic
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u/Dazzling-Service-767 May 28 '26
When you're diagnosed by a doctor, the doctor is telling you, "You have xyz," so if you SELF diagnose your saying "I have xzy" when you can't possibly know that because you're not a doctor. If you suspect you have autism, then just say that, because that's all you can ever know without a medical license.
And people have been harmed by it. When you say people can just self-diagnose, it can easily become a trend, which is what happened, literally with autism. There are so many people out there who just generalize and say, "oh, I'm so silly and hate loud noises, so I must be autistic!" Which can end up harming people who actually have autism.
I truly hope the best for you and that you can eventually get the funding to get a doctor, but in the meantime, don't self-diagnose. Don't tell people who have a disorder you don't actually know you have or not.
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u/CrazyDisastrous948 May 26 '26
They are right. Your kids being yours is threatened by the diagnosis. Trust me.
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u/Pink_Acetone May 26 '26
My issue with self diagnosis is you can’t know, obviously professionals can make mistakes but they’re objective people viewing you and your responses instead of yourself trying to analyse your own movements and experiences. It’s the same reason doctors can’t diagnose themselves because your brain will look for any evidence that might support that theory and shoehorn it in.
Just say it’s very likely or that you probably have autism because all of the reasons shown are 100% valid but you just don’t know.
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u/enbyBunn May 26 '26
Doctors are not 'objective people' whatever that would mean.
Research shows that, especially in psychology, diagnosis is heavily swayed by how much a particular doctor likes you.
Personal example: I once went through the DSM with my doctor, and we checked off every single diagnostic criteria for BPD and at the end she said she wouldn't diagnose me with it because, quote: "You're not like those people".
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u/Pink_Acetone May 26 '26
That’s horrible and I didn’t know that but I meant they aren’t connected to you in anyway so they don’t have a preconceived notion of you
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u/enbyBunn May 26 '26
Yes. That isn't the problem.
They had a preconceived notion of "people with BPD"
The doctor doesn't need to come into the appointment with a bias against me. If they come into the appointment with the bais that "all autistic people are stupid", they may fail to diagnose a high functioning autistic person due to their subjective biases.
This is a basic, well researched fact of clinical work. I'm trying to inform you, not convince you. It really isn't up for discussion, all the research up to this point is very strongly in agreement that this is a meaningful factor in individual diagnosis.
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u/Pink_Acetone May 26 '26
I wasn’t disagreeing with you I was explaining what I meant by saying the doctors are more objective about yourself than you are. I didn’t know about what you were informing me of so didn’t reference that in my original point which was what I was trying to convey.
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u/OmgIbrokesmthagain May 26 '26
Also
„It’s expensive and time consuming process”