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Mis-diagnosis

Thea

Thea

Well-Known Member
Hey,
I recently had a discouraging encounter with a mental health professional and wanted to know: a) If you were misdiagnosed (and are comfortable discussing it) what was the incorrect diagnosis, b) how long did it take for you to receive the correct diagnosis (if you have), c) how did you know it was incorrect and what made you keep trying?
Thanks guys.
 
Well my foster mother said during my childhood she had me tested for Asperges but the person did testing thought I didn't have it. I forgot about this event as I told me foster mother 16 years later I am getting testing and then she told me of the testing for my childhood.

The reason why I getting testing now as other people I meet in my life thinks I have it. I also meet someone help me to get one done for free. I don't get testing until January.
 
I was diagnosed ADD as a child. When I was 30 I spent weeks in a hospital for planing suicide. They diagnosed me with Borderline personality (with dissociation) , depression and GAD. I did not know about AS then and it seemed to fit more then anything else I knew. My doctors have no experience with AS so they did not see it either.

Once I found out about it and researched it I knew I finally figured it out. When I brought it up with my treatment team, it explained all the things about me that borderline did not. I then sought assessment which took about 7 months (waiting lists in my area).
 
I am not diagnosed with Asperger's, but I suspect I have it. I have been in and out of therapy since I was in high school. My mom always thought I was depressed and, after a very recent suicide attempt, I got diagnosed with bipolar, depression, and ADD. The ADD is correct because I know I have extreme problems in conversation. The depression always seemed more like a symptom of a problem and not the problem itself, that is why I don't accept it as a diagnosis. That's like giving a diagnosis of headaches to someone with a brain tumor. The bipolar, I don't know about that. I have highs and lows but I think that's natural.

I knew these things inaccurately explained the bad parts of my life and they never addressed the good parts of my life. It wasn't until I started realizing what it was that I liked about myself that I started realizing the things that are the best about me are the things that are so different from everyone else. That's when I started looking into what it was like to have a different thought process and it brought me to Asperger's, the only thing that has ever been so simply spot on to explaining my life. I am scared to try to get diagnosed because I am a successful semi social young woman, the complete opposite of the stereotypical Asperger's individual. I hope my outward differences will be overlooked and they truly only look at the inner turmoil I have experienced all my life. I hope this helps!
 
I consider myself to have been misdiagnosed with Schizoid Personality Disorder. First of all, it was barely a legitimate evaluation at all because the shrinks did not see me for long enough to know much about me (just three sessions of forty-five minutes each). Neither of them gave me the AS evaluation I asked for; the only testing I received was a 100-item questionnaire from one of them. The other just talked to me a bit then pulled out the DSM and went through the list of symptoms.

At first, it seemed borderline possible that the diagnosis was correct, but the number of AS quirks or anecdotal symptoms that I have (I mean the characteristics that are discussed on forums like this even though they are not a part of the diagnostic guidelines) was overwhelming. I related to so many things posted on autism-specific forums, it was uncanny. I related to nothing posted on the schizoid forum I tried. In response to my very first post on the schizoid forum, someone said I had an "aspergic" writing style, lol.

What really convinced me to reject SPD were the physical manifestations of AS: the sun appearing to be too bright, migraines when I went outdoors, the sensation of insects crawling on my skin when I'm touched too lightly, and the difficulty modulating the volume of my voice. Psychological stuff might not be very clear cut, but physical conditions don't lie (do they?).

Besides the sloppy work of the psychologists, I was suspicious that one was very likely trying to get me to be a regular patient of the hospital, and the other was likely motivated to give me whatever diagnosis was fastest to get me into vocational rehab.

I'm in the middle of an evaluation at present. I don't know how it's going to turn out.
 
Jamie getting diagnosed by maybe a private doctor is a possibility. If you really want to know go for it, unless you have a strong reason for not (like if your in a job that will find out). If you already suspect it, and truly feel your AS getting tested will only validate that feeling. You don't need to change, you are you. Maybe it will be just enough to validate difficulties you have/had.

From my testing it was more about brain functioning. I trained myself how to speak very well when I need to and I can blend in very well (for short exhausting bursts). He listened to my childhood hardships, gave me lots to tests.

Just make sure you see a specialist, if you can, one that has experience in AS in woman/girls.
 
Thea, does this mean you've had your assessment now? Sorry to hear it didn't go well.
I suspect your age, gender and location probably all work against correct diagnosis.
How important for you is diagnosis?
I very nearly went for private assessment in Singapore when I was passing through, but in the end decided there was no benefit for me. What convinces me that I'm on the right track is Tony Attwood's Complete Guide, plus people's stories here. If you haven't read them, it might also be worth reading Aspergirls and Congratulations, it's Aspergers Syndrome.
 
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I've been diagnosed with Borderline Personality Disorder and then a psychologist told me she thought I had Asperger's.
I'm now wondering if one can be co-morbid with BPD and ASD or whether one excludes the other ?
 
I was diagnosed with Major depression and social anxiety when I was a teenager, which I have no doubt were correct diagnoses. My mother recently informed me, when I told her I thought I might have AS and wanted to get a diagnosis, that when I was diagnosed with social anxiety they also "considered autism" and decided that I didn't have it, which is why she is certain that I don't have AS (I had no idea this happened). As the psychologists I saw then weren't experts on AS, the issues with diagnosing women mentioned my others on this thread, and the fact that none of the things they discussed with me even touch on the many symptoms I strongly recognise in myself (and they generally ignored anything I had to say back then anyway) I have decided to continue seeking a diagnosis.
 
I did have a problem once with a nurse. I was only 4 of the 5 necessary to qualify for depression on a 10 part list, so she didn't bother to check and see what else was wrong with me against her six lists she had. I found the same set she was using and saw that I was 9 of 10 for the list on post traumatic stress. Then within a few weeks I was 10/10. But I was pretty fed up with her and her facility by that point, so I just struggled with it on my own and kept it hid from them until I was able to get away (they caused about half of it anyway, I can't imagine they'd have known much about helping me cope with it). I've mostly got it under control now, but I doubt I'll ever try to get formal help with it unless some doctor out there really impresses me and if it ever reaches a point I can't function.
 
Controversial statement incoming, but I don't believe people can confidently self-diagnose accurately, as we are all biased when it comes to ourselves.

However, I also don't believe a therapist can accurately diagnose you without an intensive amount of interviewing of both yourself and at least one close friend/family member in addition to the testing that is done.

So, when an evaluation is done with only cursory interviews and minimal testing, I believe there is wide room for misdiagnosis. Then the patient is in danger of either: a) latching onto and identifying with an incorrect diagnosis; or b) shunning the misdiagnosis and becoming disillusioned, in turn leading to a lack of pursuit of a correct diagnosis.

EDIT: Granted, sometimes self-diagnoses end up being correct, but you can never really be confident until the Dx is corroborated by someone outside ourselves, imho.
 
StephF said:
I've been diagnosed with Borderline Personality Disorder and then a psychologist told me she thought I had Asperger's.
I'm now wondering if one can be co-morbid with BPD and ASD or whether one excludes the other ?
Click to expand...

I don't know if they can be inclusive. I know I was misdiagnosed borderline before ASD. My theory of why some of us are misdiagnosed BPD is.

1) BPD has to do with poor emotion regulation. ASD is linked to not being able to feel subtle emotions. So the symptoms can sometime be alike.
2) Since most mental health pros are only knowledgeable in BPD and not ASD, the ASD diagnosis is never even considered.

I think only a doctor who has experience with both can only make the proper diagnosis. In my opinion the average doctor only wants to fix the key problems, getting emotions under control, stopping anxiety, or helping depression. They never really get to know us and notice our key behaviors. When I suspected it was not BPS to my therapist and explained why I thought ASD, my key behaviors were seen in a new light and it was an "ah ha" moment for both of us.
 
Excellent ! I'm glad you got your Aha moment. I have a long wait ahead of me for the specialist Aspergers diagnostic service but I personally think ASD "ticks more boxes" about me than simple BPD.
BPD would mean I was defective whereas ASD would simply mean I was wired differently which I have always known I was.
 
A Dx of asperger's usually precludes other PD's if you look at the DSM-IV and ICD-10. Obviously, under the DSM-V, you won't find jack about it, but that's another topic.
 
I was dx with many mental health issues for years until, I took some advice and got a professional evaluation and spectrum disorder and superior iq was discovered. All along drs were telling me that I just didn't fit neatly into one box that I was a little this , a little that, some of this, and some of that, the Asperger's and it ALL fits, even stuff I didn't know about, it fits!!
 
Yeah - AS/ASD is often an overlooked Dx b/c it is not really a psychological disorder but a neurological syndrome. Many psychologists simply lack the education/training to accurately spot/Dx it. Lack of empathy can seem like narcissism, for example, and so often psychologists (who are trained primarily to spot psychological/personality disorders) see some of the more prominent problems and miss the bigger picture.
 
I think the main problem in my case is either that I don't have it and that I am just defective or else that I'm atypical because of being female (most of what I've read suggests that females present differently than males) and being socially integrated after years of working in retail. Not to mention there's been a lot of pressure from my family to be different from how I am for so long that I've had to learn to adapt just for some peace.
 
@ Thea I would suggest a great book by Rudy Simone called Aspiegirls, if you haven't already it is worth a peek, there are a lot of excerpts from women who became great actors, trying to fit in. Girls sometimes are better than boys at copying social behavior. I found it personally very helpful. Good luck!!
 
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