does the diagnosis really explain anything at all?

[harrietjansson]

Has the diagnosis of Asperger's (or a similar diagnosis) ever explained anything about you?
This diagnosis doesn't explain anything at all really if you think about it.
It really says things we knew anyway. Issues with meltdowns (or shutdowns) or issues with social situations. I think we already knew that before the diagnosis.
Diagnosis is really only something you need in order to get some services (or meet other people with this diagnosis).
I have tried to use the diagnosis to explain a lot but it did not work very well for me.
The diagnosis only really states what is obvious. It is too broad, less concrete. What we really need is to go to professionals who can meet us where we are and tell us what our concrete issues are. We need to know our very concrete issues. What we on a concrete level struggle with. Diagnoses don't tell much about our concrete situations.
does the diagnosis really explain anything at all? Does it really help you see your concrete issues/difficulties?

please don't read this and call me a person who complains. I just want to understand what diagnoses are all about. Feel free to think about ASD as you want.

I sometimes hear about people who say that after getting an ASD diagnosis a lot makes sense. I interpret this as: they have difficulties with social situatiions (this is the sypmtom). Professionals say that they have difficulties with social situations ( the exact symptom they were aldready aware of). They say that now this makes sense. How can being told something like that make sense? To me it is very unhelpful.

 

[unperson]

would agree, dx only is about what other people find annoying or scary.

 

[harrietjansson]

would agree, dx only is about what other people find annoying or scary.

???

 

[MyLifeAsAnAspie]

I find the sign I now wear around my neck at social gatherings "Autistic, please initiate conversation with me if you want to chat with me and then don't expect much" to be very helpful, lol. It's still a brave new world for us to learn how to fit in or choose to not fit in. Sometimes I wonder why I hadn't thought of obvious techniques, like doing near eye contact instead of direct eye, until I heard about it from the online aspie community. I wonder why I didn't invent the weighted blanket, but it probably had something to do me feeling like a freak to need a heavy blanket.

 

[Major Tom]

It was like a door opening to a different dimension for me, helped me to understand myself better.

 

[Finder]

Well, it did indicate I am autistic. That was huge. It put my life into context and explained all the difficultly I was having in my life. It also explained some of my behavior like stimming--I did not even realize I was. I was diagnosed at the age of 56.

As far as your specific point about social communication deficits, the diagnosis is not pointing out the obvious, the lack of ability, but the reason for that inability. There are processes I simply do not possess. It gives me new ways of thinking about that and remedies. It also lets me know that some situation I will not be good in and I don't have to keep blaming myself for not being good at that. Or at least forgive myself when I do fail. It is a lot better than the narratives others were creating for me--I was a rude and bad human being. As Hannah Gadsby said, "getting to the starting line of normal is not my goal." I need to learn, as Tony Attwood states, to become a "first-class aspie."

BTW, I am not sure of your reasoning. I do not use the entire breadth of the diagnostic criteria to define myself. I use what is known about autism and then see where it converges in my expression of it. Fortunately, my of my symptoms are not extreme. I just use the criteria to figure out the areas I want to address. Autism is not a personality type or a particular point of view--it is a cognitive deficit. Just as no two NTs are the same, autists are not the same either. We just share diagnostic criteria in a broad sense.

 

[harrietjansson]

It was like a door opening to a different dimension for me, helped me to understand myself better.

how?

 

[Major Tom]

how?

Just about everything started to make sense, whereas it didn't before. I had thought everyone had similar thoughts and minds to me, and it made me very angry for a long time, because I wouldn't have personally done the things in life that I saw and were bothering me.

Once I understood that it was me looking at the world differently, it brought peace. It also explained a lot of my behaviours that were not "normal".

 

[harrietjansson]

Well, it did indicate I am autistic. That was huge. It put my life into context and explained all the difficultly I was having in my life.

people already knew I had difficulties with socializing before I received a diagnosis so a diagnosis did not help at all. What did you and other people learn that you did not know before? I ask because my diagnosis did not give me and my parents new info.

As far as your specific point about social communication deficits, the diagnosis is not pointing out the obvious, the lack of ability, but the reason for that inability.

I was never told the reasons why I have difficulties with theory of mind. Did they explain why you have difficulties with theory of mind?

It is a lot better than the narratives others were creating for me--I was a rude and bad human being.

that could be something a diagnosis can tell you. On the other hand any psychologist without diagnosing you should be able to tell you that (this is my opinion)

 

[harrietjansson]

Just about everything started to make sense, whereas it didn't before. I had thought everyone had similar thoughts and minds to me, and it made me very angry for a long time, because I wouldn't have personally done the things in life that I saw and were bothering me.

Once I understood that it was me looking at the world differently, it brought peace. It also explained a lot of my behaviours that were not "normal".

I see. My diagnosis did not help me understand that. People could tell me that before my diagnosis I think.
People were aware of the symptoms before the diagnosis I think. I was not told new info when receiving a diagnosis.

 

[Major Tom]

I see. My diagnosis did not help me understand that. People could tell me that before my diagnosis I think.
People were aware of the symptoms before the diagnosis I think. I was not told new info when receiving a diagnosis.

It's all in how you look at it. If you think something is negative or not helpful, it will be. If you look at it positively it will be. You had to have learned at least SOMETHING from a dx.

 

[Major Tom]

I see. My diagnosis did not help me understand that. People could tell me that before my diagnosis I think.
People were aware of the symptoms before the diagnosis I think. I was not told new info when receiving a diagnosis.

People were very aware that I was different from a young age too. I was diagnosed at 12 and my parents hid it from me.

Just because someone else knows something doesn't mean they are going to accept or even acknowledge whatever it is. That's up to you and not them.

Diagnosis should be a tool for self-awareness if anything at all. Don't expect the government or anyone else to help, because that's probably not going to happen.

 

[harrietjansson]

You had to have learned at least SOMETHING from a dx.

Not much really. Asperger's is too abstract and less concrete than what I need. It's a little bit like being called a contralto. It is not concrete enough. People don't fit too well in categories.

 

[Alexej]

Before I went for my diagnosis I was reticent to go, since I did not want to be "labelled". However, my wife pointed out that I already had a label - based on how I already was with my family. Thus, for me, the choice was the label I had been given (based on my actions towards my family) or a label that might help them to make some more sense of how I was and why I behaved and interacted the way I did.

So, I chose to have a label that might put what my family saw into a larger perspective and context.

 

[harrietjansson]

my understanding is that a diagnosis might explain things to some people. To me it doesn't explain much.
Being put into a category just confuses me. Trying to let a certain category explain a lot is bad for me.
I can't stand being put into a certain category like they do in music or psychology.
How can anyone be helped by being out into a category?
Are not too many of us seeking too many answers from ASD diagnoses?

I sometimes hear about people who after receiving a diagnosis get very emotional and start crying.

'All my life suddenly made sense'
'All my life suddenly made sense': how it feels to be diagnosed with autism late in life

what is it that ASD diagnoses do explain that would make people say things like that?
This is the question I am asking with this thread. It would be interesting to hear from people who has an answer to this question.

I wrote "I have tried to use the diagnosis to explain a lot but it did not work very well for me.". Why do certain people then find that ASD explains a lot when it did not explain much to me? It seems to be who were diagnosed later in life who are the people saying that ASD explains a lot. I wrote "The diagnosis only really states what is obvious" i.e. in my life people already knew about my issues before I was diagnosed. They already knew I struggled with theory of mind and other ASD issues. This was why they want me to get a diagnosis. The diagnosis did not state anything new. What new things do people learn after getting a diagnosis?

 

[Neonatal RRT]

Has the diagnosis of Asperger's (or a similar diagnosis) ever explained anything about you?
This diagnosis doesn't explain anything at all really if you think about it.
It really says things we knew anyway. Issues with meltdowns (or shutdowns) or issues with social situations. I think we already knew that before the diagnosis.
Diagnosis is really only something you need in order to get some services (or meet other people with this diagnosis).
I have tried to use the diagnosis to explain a lot but it did not work very well for me.
The diagnosis only really states what is obvious. It is too broad, less concrete. What we really need is to go to professionals who can meet us where we are and tell us what our concrete issues are. We need to know our very concrete issues. What we on a concrete level struggle with. Diagnoses don't tell much about our concrete situations.
does the diagnosis really explain anything at all? Does it really help you see your concrete issues/difficulties?

please don't read this and call me a person who complains. I just want to understand what diagnoses are all about. Feel free to think about ASD as you want.

I sometimes hear about people who say that after getting an ASD diagnosis a lot makes sense. I interpret this as: they have difficulties with social situatiions (this is the sypmtom). Professionals say that they have difficulties with social situations ( the exact symptom they were aldready aware of). They say that now this makes sense. How can being told something like that make sense? To me it is very unhelpful.

Personally,...the ASD diagnosis gave me an answer to why, in some cases, I was a "failing neurotypical", why I had physical symptoms, etc. The psychologist can give you their professional diagnosis,...which you can potentially use for medical, legal, and employment situations,...but for me, it was then an opening of a door to further my research and understanding. Currently, most people get diagnosed based upon signs and symptoms, personal history, as well as, performance testing. As you suggest, all of this is the "song and dance" we have to go through to obtain the diagnosis,...and doesn't really help you,...you're still you. I think, I hope, we can incorporate more objective data via high-resolution medical imaging and genetic testing. We can then, perhaps, use this for reproductive counseling, specific autism phenotyping, as well as, more specific therapies for children.

Having said all of that, I cannot imagine being anything but me,...and if given the opportunity to time travel into the past and change things about myself,...probably wouldn't.

 

[clg114]

I was not diagnosed until I was 62 years old. I have known that I was different from everyone else almost all of my life. I just did not know how or why I was different. The diagnosis answered questions that I had about myself for a very long time. It all made sense after being diagnosed. Why I am the way that I am. It was a real game changer for me.

 

[harrietjansson]

I was not diagnosed until I was 62 years old. I have known that I was different from everyone else almost all of my life. I just did not know how or why I was different. The diagnosis answered questions that I had about myself for a very long time. It all made sense after being diagnosed. Why I am the way that I am. It was a real game changer for me.

You are the person I am refering to.
What exactly did the diagnosis tell you that made you say that "it all made sense after being diagnosed"?

 

[harrietjansson]

As you suggest, all of this is the "song and dance" we have to go through to obtain the diagnosis,...and doesn't really help you

exactly

Personally,...the ASD diagnosis gave me an answer to why, in some cases, I was a "failing neurotypical"

the diagnosis never told me why I had issues with social situations. It only told me that I had which we already knew before the diagnosis. What exactly did the diagnosis told you that it refused to tell me?

 

[convallaria]

it just explains how your brain works and influence of your brain on your personatility. but you arent your diagnosis, you are human with another type of function in society. so when you know about diagnosis you stop thinking that you are wrong or psycho. it helps with self-indification and self-acceptance. in few words its better to know about diagnosis.