I felt the exact same way after figuring out i was autistic, comrade. I also feel less shame about what i need now - i NEED to have quiet time and to limit my time in busy places or i will get overloaded. We are living in a world not made for us, and there's nothing wrong with needing extra help to adapt to it.
Yeah, it helps to realize what you need from the world! And makes you feel less bad for demanding it. It’s what we deserve!
I'm self diagnosed, but realizing I have autism has made me recontextualize like my whole life lol. A lot of stuff that I repressed so I would stop being "weird"
I think you can get diagnosed by a psychologist, psychiatrist, or neuropsychologist. I don't know how it works everywhere, but a referral to a place that specializes in adult ASD diagnosis would probably be what you need. Though it's not always easy -- or cheap -- to get diagnosed as an adult, but it may be worth a shot if you want to try!
I definitely feel the diagnosis helping you understand yourself more part. I was disappointed in myself for a while that I never gave the right answers or was open enough to be diagnosed correctly, and that I "wasted" so many years treating (or thinking I had overcome) the wrong one, only to be confused why it came back so hard. Others are baffled my providers and parents never picked up on things or asked the basic screener questions to point in the right direction.
I'm at peace with it, though. I think I would have made majorly different decisions or not been able to handle it if I had gotten my current diagnosis at a younger age. And it helps to share that feeling with others, and hear how things just came into focus when we learned what's really going on.
By BPD do you mean borderline personality disorder or bipolar disorder? Always been unsure about that. Never knew whether to include myself as neurodivergent, but I'm glad this place is here.
i once got diagnosed with both in under half an hour. psychiatrists generally don't know what autistic people actually are, even when you tell them.
That sucks, sorry that happened. A full psychological evaluation is much better than the quick visits with a psychiatrist, but those can be hella expensive. Diagnoses are working understandings, and unfortunately you kinda have to be your own expert and work with the provider to help them understand what's going on.
eh, i was mostly amused and annoyed. the diagnostic criteria for personality disorders specify, in their own book, that you need an extended relationship to diagnose with any confidence.
I meant Borderline! It almost always is meant to be borderline personality disorder tho occasionally people misuse the acronym.
