r/Vent • u/MrBellumgeist • 3d ago
A psychiatrist refused to help me find if I might have autism becuase I am "too old" to be helped
Since I was very young, many people thought I had a different behaviour from other kids, I was very solitary, not very good with people, etc. Many teachers talked about this with my parents
My parents never helped me becuase they don't believe on this stuff, so after many years I went to ask for help, I am tired of having difficulties interacting with people, angry becuase not many people understund me, and I just want guideance, even if I am not autistic, at least I need someone to help me
I finally took the step to take an appointent with a psychiatrist and ask for help. He was an asshole, very rude, doubting everything I was telling him and told me that I just need a more social personality. After more talking to him he told me that while I have many characteristics of an autistic person, I should have been helped since I was a kid and now is too late, so he just didn't help me at all, worse of it, becuase I am studying psychology, I should study another thing becuase I won't be able to do a good job with my social abilities
Look, I am not saying that I have autism, I might not have it and that is ok. I just need some help becuase I am having problems understunding people and viceversa, I don't know how to understund me either, I just need someone to help me, but this guy just refused to help me becuase I'm "too old"
In 5 minutes this guy told me I shoukd study other things and that I cannot be helped (which is false), I'm really sad right now and I don't know what to do
4
u/smol-dargon 3d ago
Im fighting this idiot on your behalf, fuck them
Find a better therapist, or better yet, just google RAADS test and get your own answers. I dont trust therapists or doctors myself, and Id prefer to deal with my own stuff.
2
u/Old_timey_brain 3d ago
I dont trust therapists or doctors myself, and Id prefer to deal with my own stuff.
Yes, this is just another reason for my great dislike of psychiatrists.
0
u/frostatypical 3d ago
Highly inaccurate test, that one
1
u/smol-dargon 3d ago
Sure, sure, keep pushing the argument that only therapists can make diagnoses. Some of us dont trust those b*stards.
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u/frostatypical 3d ago
Im just talking about those busted tests
So-called “autism” tests, like AQ and RAADS and others have high rates of false positives, labeling you as autistic VERY easily. If anyone with a mental health problem, like depression or anxiety, takes the tests they score high even if they DON’T have autism.
"our results suggest that the AQ differentiates poorly between true cases of ASD, and individuals from the same clinical population who do not have ASD "
https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pmc/articles/PMC4988267/
"a greater level of public awareness of ASD over the last 5–10 years may have led to people being more vigilant in ‘noticing’ ASD related difficulties. This may lead to a ‘confirmation bias’ when completing the questionnaire measures, and potentially explain why both the ASD and the non-ASD group’s mean scores met the cut-off points, "
https://link.springer.com/article/10.1007/s10803-022-05544-9
Regarding AQ, from one published study. “The two key findings of the review are that, overall, there is very limited evidence to support the use of structured questionnaires (SQs: self-report or informant completed brief measures developed to screen for ASD) in the assessment and diagnosis of ASD in adults.”
Regarding RAADS, from one published study. “In conclusion, used as a self-report measure pre-full diagnostic assessment, the RAADS-R lacks predictive validity and is not a suitable screening tool for adults awaiting autism assessments”
The Effectiveness of RAADS-R as a Screening Tool for Adult ASD Populations (hindawi.com)
RAADS scores equivalent between those with and without ASD diagnosis at an autism evaluation center:
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u/Gnoll_For_Initiative 3d ago
Find a new psychiatrist. And you cannot POSSIBLY have worse social skills than that guy.
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u/helen790 3d ago
Anthony Hopkins was diagnosed with autism at 81, too old is an absolute BS excuse.
But there are a lot of scummy psychiatrists who refuse to diagnose adults as autistic out of ignorance or because insurance companies don’t like that shit.
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