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3:55am June 18, 2013

➸ Trying to find the right words: goldenheartedrose: My mind rebels at stagnation: josiahd:...

goldenheartedrose:

My mind rebels at stagnation: josiahd: goldenheartedrose: bendingthewillow: Why can’t these google…

josiahd:

goldenheartedrose:

bendingthewillow:

Why can’t these google searches be easier for fucks sake

All I want to know is how much an adult would…

I wasn’t diagnosed as an adult. I was 14. But it would have been expensive.

I was in a psych institution because of suicidal behavior. They assigned a shrink randomly. He immediately suspected autism and wrote that down.

He asked my mother for a developmental history. He spent weeks testing me and talking to me and observing me.

He already told my parents he thought I was autistic, but he confirmed it on paper my next stay in the institution. The diagnosis was a little complicated because back then they thought autism meant hopeless. So on paper he wrote PDDNOS/atypical autism, and mentioned idiot savant features. He was afraid if he just wrote autism, they would refuse to fund therapy and want me put away forever. Later when that wasn’t an issue he changed it to autism.

Luckily that is no longer an issue diagnostically for anyone using the DSM. There are other issues but that was not one.

Given it was a private mental institution I was in, I’m afraid to even know the cost if we hadn’t had insurance. But I also wasn’t looking for an autism diagnosis. I didn’t really know what autism was, and nobody explained to me.

I was re-diagnosed on paper several times over the years by the same psychiatrist. He had consulted with a neuropsychologist among others. Then there was a guy from the state who confirmed my diagnosis in one session including IQ testing showing a typically autistic pattern of strengths and weaknesses. And a few others I don’t even fully remember who interviewed my family at length.

I have no idea how it would have went if I’d gone looking for a diagnosis. Or if it was the era of the DSM-V. But I am always shocked how little time many diagnoses take compared to mine. Not that I think they’re invalid necessarily, it just seems so weird compared to the month or so it took me to get a firm diagnosis as a kid.