Should I mention HFA as a possibility to my therapist?

[moonstruck]

Hello! I'm a 16 year old girl struggling in high school right now, it's been two years since I changed schools and I'm really finding it difficult talking to people and getting used to everything.
Two weeks ago I started looking more into what high functioning autism/asperger's is and I can relate to a bunch of things but I'm not sure if I should bring that up when I go to therapy, I'm worried I might be wrong and thought posting here and hearing some opinions will help me decide, hopefully that's the right place to do that!

I've been to therapy twice and got diagnosed with depression but not being able to keep a conversation going and even starting one is what bothers me so much, the first therapist I saw told me I'm just very introverted but I really doubt that's the case because it has a big negative effect on me. I always feel very annoyed and tired before and after school and need a lot of time on my own to recover from the day spent there. Whenever I don't get that time to rest I end up having bad mood swings these days.
I still haven't got any friends since nobody shares the same interests as me and without a common topic I can't really find anything to say to anybody without having to think a lot and force the whole thing which exhausts me. A lot of classmates assume I'm a narcissist because I don't even say hi but that's not the case.

I did a bunch of tests online and the last results were 165/200 neurodiverse and 25/200 neurotypical on aspie quiz and 41 on an autism one. I'm aware they're not really accurate and that nobody can diagnose me based on them, I'm just afraid of assuming and being wrong so I need more opinions.

Other things that I struggle with include body language. I don't really notice it in others? I'm always sitting with my legs and hands crossed too. I can't tell how are people feeling based on the way they behave or talk too, I usually don't get people's intentions but I can't tell if I'm just overthinking which leads me to wrong conclusions. That's also why I often take jokes from strangers seriously.

I don't experience intense sensory issues, a lot of things bother me but I find ways to deal with them and tbh they don't seem that out of the ordinary to me. There are fabrics that feel too harsh or itchy on me, sometimes I remove tags on shirts if they bother me. I don't like soft foods, I'd say I'm a picky eater. Sunlight feels harsh on my eyes at times, I walk looking down almost all the time, not sure if that's to avoid sunlight or eye contact though. I can keep eye contact when I have to, I've learned to occasionally look at people for a few seconds then look away when they're talking to me but it doesn't feel natural..it's uncomfortable. And noise is usually distracting, difficult to filter whenever I'm talking to people I don't like much or when I'm talking about things that aren't interesting to me.

So could the things I mentioned be because I might be lacking experience and still learning or should I talk about it with my therapist? I doubt getting a diagnose would help a lot but I still want to know why I struggle so much around people. Oh this turned out kind of long, I'm sorry if my thoughts are all over the place.

 

[Gracey]

If I were you, I would be mentioning my struggles at my next session with my therapist.

I'd also be asking to explore the possibility of Autism because of what I suspect.

You are allowed to make mistakes.
Being wrong isn't a comfortable feeling at all,
but it is okay.
Your therapist won't be judging you because of it

 

[Crossbreed]

Hello & welcome @moonstruck .

Should I mention HFA as a possibility to my therapist?

What country are you in?

 

[Suzanne]

Hi there, moonstruck

If you have a family member you can trust to open up to, that would be the first place to start from. That person can act as your advocate, because ( sorry I am being blunt here), your word counts for not much in that therapy room. Especially, since your therapist diagnosed you with depression and being an introvert. It is like my therapist, who diagnosed me with ptsd, all because my husband told him about my abusive childhood. I do have ptsd though.

My experience with telling professionals myself, is very negative. I have been laughed at, which certainly goes along way to making me feel worse.

Since you have just reach teenhood, in fact, that should not be too hard to achieve; ie finding information about your childhood.

I came here, as a self diagnosed aspie and the welcome was amazing.

The first thing I noticed, on coming here, was the lack of text form typing and boy that is so refreshing. I felt "at home" here and still do.

You talk of sensory issues, that to you seemed normal. I too have an issue with sunlight, but sunglasses solves that and I hyperventilate if I lose them and it was only on getting to know about aspergers, that I saw the reason why I felt like that towards brightness.

I cannot cope with bright coloured food; it has me wretching. Or, deep coloured foods. Also, suddenly I cannot eat a lot of food stuffs together ie on a fork.

Also, like you describe regarding sound. It is horrible being surrounded by others; I feel the need to escape.

We have an expression on here: you meet one aspie..... you meet one aspie.

 

[moonstruck]

Hello & welcome @moonstruck .

What country are you in?

Thank you! I live in Bulgaria.

 

[moonstruck]

Hi there, moonstruck

If you have a family member you can trust to open up to, that would be the first place to start from. That person can act as your advocate, because ( sorry I am being blunt here), your word counts for not much in that therapy room. Especially, since your therapist diagnosed you with depression and being an introvert. It is like my therapist, who diagnosed me with ptsd, all because my husband told him about my abusive childhood. I do have ptsd though.

My experience with telling professionals myself, is very negative. I have been laughed at, which certainly goes along way to making me feel worse.

Since you have just reach teenhood, in fact, that should not be too hard to achieve; ie finding information about your childhood.

I came here, as a self diagnosed aspie and the welcome was amazing.

The first thing I noticed, on coming here, was the lack of text form typing and boy that is so refreshing. I felt "at home" here and still do.

You talk of sensory issues, that to you seemed normal. I too have an issue with sunlight, but sunglasses solves that and I hyperventilate if I lose them and it was only on getting to know about aspergers, that I saw the reason why I felt like that towards brightness.

I cannot cope with bright coloured food; it has me wretching. Or, deep coloured foods. Also, suddenly I cannot eat a lot of food stuffs together ie on a fork.

Also, like you describe regarding sound. It is horrible being surrounded by others; I feel the need to escape.

We have an expression on here: you meet one aspie..... you meet one aspie.

I've mentioned it to my mother but she's not really informed on what HFA is so trying to explain it to her won't be the easiest thing but I agree, I don't really feel like the therapists I've been to took me seriously that's why I'll go to a different one next time.
I'm sorry to hear about your experiences, I know the feeling. I've been made fun of by a bunch of different doctors before too and not being able to explain my problems because I struggle with finding the right words doesn't help at all.
I actually don't remember most parts of my childhood..only a couple of bad memories that I remember vividly but maybe I need to think about it a bit more.
For me noise is the most annoying and being surrounded by so many people talking at school really tires me but hey at least now I've found people that understand my struggles!

 

[Crossbreed]

I live in Bulgaria.

As to whether you should tell your therapist,

1. See if your country has an Autism Association.
2. See if they recommend your current therapist for autism.
3. If s/he is, tell her/him.
4. If s/he is not, still tell her/him, but be prepared to look for another one.