Natasha Nelsona 35 -year entrepreneur in Stone Mountain, Georgiadid not have an innate meaning of social norms. I didn’t know why people who first knew were chosen to participate in superficial conversations instead of deep dialogues, or why people like to tend their bed.
Then, a few years ago, she was diagnosed with autismjust after his youngest daughter received the same diagnosis.
“If your life has always looked like chaos and you don’t feel comfortable and you feel that you don’t prosper and simply feel that you are constantly surviving and going from one thing to another, what do you have to lose?” Nelson said, encouraging people to look for a diagnosis.
Common autism signs include problems with social communication and fixation in certain routines or issues – theck says that now “people have become my special interest” – and can go unnoticed during someone’s childhood.
But it can be expensive and difficult to obtain a diagnosis of autism later in life due to the shortage of medical professionals trained to work specifically with adults. Here is more information about what you should know about autism diagnoses in adults.
What is autism and when is it diagnosed?
Autistic spectrum disorder is a range of intellectual, linguistic and social difficulties, such as routine routines, having fixed or obsessive interests and difficulty maintaining visual contact or understanding nonverbal communication. In general, autism is diagnosed during childhood, and the American Pediatrics Academy (AAP) recommends that all children be evaluated from 18 months.
Why are more adults diagnosed with autism?
More adults have sought information about their own neurodiversity in the last decade – often after their children are diagnosed, or after seeing publications on social networks. A study published last year in Jama Network Open showed a 452% increase in autism diagnoses between adults from 26 to 34 years from 2011 to 2022.
Some traits of autism can go unnoticed until adulthood, when there are new social demands. Others may have learned to hide certain behaviors.
“Adults learn to compensate over time,” said Whitney Ence, a psychologist at the University of California in San Francisco who works with autistic adults. “They may have learned ‘I can’t show that in public, so I do it in private.”
There is also an overlap of symptoms between several conditions, such as attention deficit disorder and hyperactivity (ADHD) and obsessive-compulsive disorder (TOC), which can complicate a diagnosis of autism due to difficulties with nonverbal social signals or executive functions such as attention, working memory and problem solving.
What are the symptoms of autism in adults?
Symptoms are different for each person, and many of the traits are common in people without autism, such as enjoying routines or deepening information.
But to meet the diagnostic definition of autism, symptoms must cause significant deterioration, explained Dr. Arthur Westover, a psychiatrist specialized in autism at the Southwestern medical center of the University of Texas.
“We are human beings in general. We like routines … having a little pleasure and feeling better with routines does not mean that you are autistic,” said Westover. “It’s a bit deeper than that.”
Russell Lehmann, 34, was diagnosed with autism more than 20 years ago. The motivational speaker has routines that describes as comfortable and stressful. Eating the same food and buying the same food, he said, gives you comfort. But if you jump into the gym for an hour and a half every day, you feel overwhelmed by feelings of depression and failure.
“If I didn’t go to the gym, there was no day,” he said. “My routine is an incredible existential burden, because every night I go to bed knowing that I have to make a routine that I don’t like, simply to work.”
How is a diagnosis obtained?
While there are several internet evaluation tools, autism is a complex diagnosis, so experts recommend talking to your head doctor to channel you with a psychiatrist.
That psychiatrist could interview people who were present in your early childhood, such as family and friends, who can attest that the symptoms were present at that time.
Some psychiatrists may refer to a psychologist, who can perform a standardized diagnostic test of autism or use their own clinical judgment. There is no brain exploration or a blood test for autism.
Obtaining an autism diagnosis as an adult can be expensive and take time. Westover said there is a great shortage of specialists who work with autistic adults. Nelson’s diagnosis took three years and paid more than $ 3,000 in his pocket.
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