Had a friend casually diagnose autism, should I get it confirmed by a professional?
Had a friend casually diagnose autism, should I get it confirmed by a professional?
Hi all. Relatively new to Hexbear, but I was scrolling through the community and saw this, never realized such a thing existed and will be following it more.
Basically, one day just wondered "an I autistic", googled the symptoms, got nervous reading them, so worked up the courage to ask my close friend who is a clinical psychologist.
She said "don't get upset" and then listed about 50 reasons why she thought I was on the spectrum. It was a total punch to the gut, but feels so obvious now in retrospect.
What I'm wondering now is, is it worth seeing a doctor, therapist, or any other professional to get it confirmed and then learn how to deal with this? Or just accept it and be who I am?
Thank you all.
Ha! Good question. I recently did some reading, and had a conversation with a doctor in my group of friends, and came to think my teenage son might be on the spectrum.
Assuming that, some of his behavior is much easier to understand and accept, also deal with. So I sort of wish someone would have told me earlier, and I have been thinking about asking our therapist specifically for the diagnosis on the basis of which he is in therapy .
But then again, what’s the point? He is fully functional, only special in some specific ways. With all the difficulties to fit in, there’s no reason to assume he won’t be able to get a job and manage his life.
What remains is, he, like everyone else, has to deal with his specific personality and coinages. Some come from within him, others come from the circumstances he grows up with. We are working on that with or without a diagnosis.
Having a diagnosis might help understand some things happening, but there’s also the risk of using that as an excuse for everything, or letting oneself identify by it.
So, after thinking about this for a few weeks I now think I don’t care about a diagnosis, unless he needs one to get some specific help. For living the live, the named diagnosis is too much of a risk to be a burden.