I have been diagnosed with depression and ADD. I feel like a lot of their symptoms partially bleed over into autism. I am also incredibly anxious when it comes to social interactions.
I feel like I have a decent amount of behavioural symptoms like getting upset when plans change, not liking when things are moved from where I put them, some sensory things (ex. the sound of velcro tearing, gloves rubbing against the skin at the base of my fingers, I hate making sound when I walk in public, and so on), self-stimming, getting really invested in certain niche topics, and avoiding eye contact.
There are some parts where I don’t feel like I match at all. I would say I’m better than most people at reading people’s emotions. I am good with social cues and nonverbal communication. I just over think everything afterwards.
Getting help for my depression and ADD was a lot of work and I felt like I essentially had to coach them into giving it to me so I’m just not sure if it would be worth the effort. The only benefit I could see is a better sense of self-identity but I already have a major case of imposter syndrome when it comes to what I’ve been diagnosed with and I feel like that would be even worse with autism due to the stigma that surrounds it. People saying “You don’t have autism because we chitchat all the time at work” would feel like a real kick in the nuts. I have been able to force myself to mask or get over some of the issues I’ve mentioned above so far.
Sorry if any of this seems improper. I really don’t want to sound like someone who took a “What mental illness are you?” Buzzfeed-style quiz as a medical diagnosis or someone making unfair stereotypes.
This is what my psychiatrist kinda told me between the lines when I told them I suspect AuDHD. I would like to * know *, just to have an explanation to some things ADHD diagnosis alone doesn’t explain. But the autism diagnosis might cause more harm than good - as I don’t have severe problems related to those traits, so it would be unlikely to get any help but for example might encounter discrimination in health care etc…
If you find an expert who agrees you don’t have a severe enough case to need treatment then they won’t necessarily formally diagnose you (your record would still show you’ve had the evaluation but not the diagnosis).
I’m very ignorant here — what kind of discrimination in health care are we talking about? What does that look like, like the doctor just doesn’t take you seriously?
Heard from a friend who has an autism diagnosis that after getting it some health care people started treating them in a “custodial” way, as if they were simple or had problems understanding, doctors wouldn’t listen to them and so on. For example it might make it more difficult to get help with mental health issues because “it’s just the autism”. I told my psychiatrist that I’m aware of such and they kind of agreed that this can happen.
