Autism spectrum disorder: has it lost its meaning and is it leading to misdiagnosis?
https://www.cambridge.org/core/journals/psychological-medicine/article/autism-spectrum-disorder-has-it-lost-its-meaning-and-is-it-leading-to-misdiagnosis/AF834026D004D42B1963BEA515495AC6
13 points · 7 comments · view on lemmy.world
7 Comments
SnarkoPolo@lemmy.world · 10 pts · 31d
I wasn't diagnosed until I was almost 50, mostly because autism wasn't well understood when I was younger. Back then, I was just freak, weirdo, why don't you like sports?
That said, I think those who are diagnosed later in life are the ones who are able to pass for neurotypical.
mountainRadish@lemmy.world · 2 pts · 31d
What does that mean? Would you explain ?
Alvaro@lemmy.blahaj.zone · 4 pts · 31d
The issue is that if you become a master at masking because of decades of experience, who can tell if you are truly on the spectrum or just struggling with certain things?
I am facing this issue, I don't know if I am on the spectrum or not because if I am, I have reached a point of being able to mask it almost completely. and if I am not, then I guess I just had a bunch of social and sensory issues that just took me longer to understand and learn to manage.
An ASD diagnosis costs about $3K and any non ASD medical professionals seem to not realise my masking.
I am left with either spending $3K or self diagnosing, both of which feel wrong, so I am stuck in neuro classification limbo.
misk@piefed.social · 2 pts · 30d
I underwent a late diagnosis after researching the topic to the point I thought I had a good understanding of what defines autism. Well, that, and being told to „stop being so autistic” by so many people over the years, starting in childhood. Always brushed that off as a joke, haha.
Don’t beat yourself over not getting a formal diagnosis and here’s why. I got mine rather quickly, ADOS-2 people said it’s petty obvious but the results were supported by depressingly shallow descriptions of myself. Psychiatrist was surprised when he saw those results but we talked for a bit about why I thought I might have disabling qualities of the condition until he admitted that it’s surprising I’m seeking help this late. I have very mixed feelings about the whole process. It seemed to look at me very 2-dimensionally and that sufficiently clever person would be able to game it easily. Given that I consider myself capable of gaming it, I found it of little worth and ultimately I value my self-diagnosis more. I still distrust self diagnosed people regardless because of what’s happening currently.
Maybe a more distinct diagnosis will be possible in the future as we learn more about the conditions that constitute current ASD. I do recognise so many similarities among autistic people but there’s loads of differences too which have a major impact on life’s trajectory.
ScoffingLizard@lemmy.dbzer0.com · 2 pts · 20d
What country? I think I have autistic burnout and it's reaching crisis level. Nobody will take me seriously without a diagnosis.
misk@piefed.social · 1 pts · 19d
Poland, medium sized city so there’s pretty much nothing I could do through public healthcare which is nonexistent outside of biggest agglomerations.
There’s plenty of places that will charge you upwards of hundreds if not thousands of euros for a couple of days of diagnosis „experience”, for lack of a better word. I just looked up a local psychologist who does ADOS-2 certified assessments and took the results to a psychiatrist who diagnosed me formally after 2 visits that consisted of chatting about various life difficulty things. Cost me something like €300 total to get the required documentation for disability.
Unfortunately autistic burnout isn’t a medically recognised condition so it’s not like you’re going to get real help with that anywhere really. Maybe in some Nordic countries it’s more civilised. As it is now you’ll be prescribed antidepressants and encouraged to do more physical exercise. Which sucks, because it’s a very real thing and requires you to take things easy for a long time. I had to change jobs because I couldn’t keep pace but realistically even if I crashed and burned nobody would care. It’s getting better now but I had to lean on my spinal injury to get longer medical leave when things got too tough.
Alvaro@lemmy.blahaj.zone · 1 pts · 25d
Thank you 🙏