and missed diagnosis regarding Autism.
I have been searching and researching for information and studies, statistics, etc regarding the missed diagnosis of autism and its misdiagnosis as “something else”.
Interesting to me is that most times when I searched, I found many discussions, studies, conversations and articles about children being misdiagnosed with autism when they were not.
It seemed to me as though this is a common question among parents with newly diagnosed children. Maybe difficulty accepting diagnosis, maybe wishful thinking/ denial? I was amazed to find page after page of discussion about how this could happen.
I found very little regarding misdiagnosis of adults with something else when instead they should have been diagnosed as autistic. I have commented many times that there is a vast vacuum/ echoing empty space on the internet in place of articles about adult autism, finding older adults with undiagnosed autism, etc.
I participate in multiple on line forums especially for autistic adults. One common topic is how so many of us have garnered so many diagnoses of all sorts before we knew were autistic.
So often a forum member would explain that their bipolar, their schizophrenia, ADHD, Depression, anxiety, or their other diagnoses were atypical and did not fall into the usual categories of definition. Many have been treated for years with partial to limited success. Many have given up trying to get help because the continual lack of success is so discouraging.
Discovering that they are autistic and understanding their diagnosis had freed many from series of unsuccessful treatment attempts, from shock therapy, over medication, institutionalization or hospitalization for intermittent periods, and on and on. Traditional analysis and therapy are often unsuccessful. I went to several other therapists before I finally found one I could communicate with, who understood me, and was able to help. I was treated with medication for years for depression and even more so for anxiety.
Now that I know I am autistic I have understanding necessary to give me a great deal of relief where traditional treatments had failed.
What if all of us had got proper autism diagnoses earlier? How much emotional pain, how much suffering, how much damage due to side effects of powerful anti-psychotic medications, how many social struggles such as unemployment, poverty,homelessness, suicidal behavior, emotional outbursts leading to trouble with the law, hospitalization, etc could have been prevented?
This post breaks my usual policy of not sharing documents and links to other pages because it explains everything I wanted to explain in my blog, in better words than I could explain it. Please read and think about how much we as a society have lost with our lack of understanding of autism, lack of training specialists and giving them tools to properly diagnose autism, the lack of access to diagnosis, the struggles and troubles that could be averted if we finally understood our own autism and were able to see how to make accommodations and to use self care or access tools already available in many places to help us in ways that we need. Finally needs of older undiagnosed adults is being recognized and brought to light. The voices of many have been raised in chorus and at least in some circles, we are being heard. Feeling grateful.
https://link.springer.com/article/10.1007/s00406-020-01189-w
OldLady With Autism 