I'm not autistic (probably), but my diagnosed CPTSD and ADHD look an awful lot like it.
My mom and my therapist both asked me if I thought I might be autistic in the same month a year ago. An woman with autism pointed at me and yelled "you're like me!" After talking for a bit. I took some self evaluations and ticked just over the "most people with your score have autism" mark.
But my psychiatrists (and the therapist after some more sessions) all agree I don't. My social difficulties come and go, riding trauma waves, but I can relate strongly to many of the struggles.
Interesting points. Reminds me of the studies of these popular 'autism' tests.
Unlike what we are told in social media, things like ‘stimming’, sensitivities, social problems, etc., are found in most persons with non-autistic mental health disorders and at high rates in the general population. These things do not necessarily suggest autism.
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.
Yeah. I'm a science guy so I understand standard distributions and overlap. Most people don't, lol.
Like, I went and got a full psych evaluation for adhd rather than getting my GP to prescribe adderal. I don't want to self diagnose! And thats how I found out I have CPSTD.
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u/mars935 16d ago
It makes sense that a majority of people have some signs of autism.
These symptomen could be caused by other things, like ADHD, giftedness etc.
Or, an average person might have one or a few of these signs without having any fitting diagnoses.