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The original was posted on /r/autism by /u/Yonkou2745 on 2023-08-11 08:51:00.

Hi, I’m really new to reddit and I wasn’t quite sure if I should make a post about this, but honestly it was really unsettling so I wanted to give it a shot.

So, I went to a psychiatrist for the first time today (actually, first time in any mental health related thing, never been to therapy or anything like that before), in hopes of being able to get an autism and ADHD diagnosis; this is because I’ve been researching for months the symptoms related to both of those disorders, since I’ve been stuggling with many of them all my life. I even took the RAADS at one point and got like a 97 score.

First thing in the appointment, he asks me what brought me there, and I tell him exactly that (except the RAADS since I forgot about it till now lol). He then proceeded to ask me like 2 questions about the ADHD, and then another 5 or so questions about autism, all related to my lack of ability to make eye-contact and trouble socializing. We’re about 30 minutes in, when he just said something along the lines of: “well, that’s it, autism is discarded”. Just like that. He didn’t even ask about sensory issues. Or about repetitive behaviours. Or anything relevant at all. All he did was ask a couple questions about why I thought that making eye contact was uncofortable for me, or why I wasn’t the one initiating social interactions, and then he just said that and went back to asking me ADHD-related questions for the rest of the appointment. In the end tho, he did diagnose me with ADHD, and prescribed me with Concerta.

Was that normal? Can he really say I’m not autistic after asking less than 10 questions and seeing me for 30 minutes?

I just don’t know, I am totally open to the idea of not being autistic, but the way it was discarded didn’t sit well with me. My understanding was that getting such a diagnosis was a much more involved process and you had to get studies done and whatnot. What do you guys think? This psychiatrist is provided by my university, so I can ask to be changed to another doctor, but I’m not sure if I should do this after just 1 appointment. Thanks for your opinions in advance.