4 ms·

If you think you (or a loved one) may have a psychological condition, go to a psychologist and get a screening. The diagnosis isn't the important part. The valu

If you think you (or a loved one) may have a psychological condition, go to a psychologist and get a screening. The diagnosis isn't the important part. The value is in the 20-something pages of detailed analysis by a professional. At a bare minimum, it will give you a fresh perspective on things you already knew. In my experiences, there will be things you didn't realize about yourself. They aren't going to tell you what the solution is to all your problems; that's for you and your doctor to figure out. They will give you everything you need to make well-informed decisions, and that's priceless.

WA 11mo ago
Autism diagnosis has targeted screening questionnaires. So what kind of general purpose screening do you mean?
- ryukoposting 11mo ago
  Get screened for whatever you think you've got. Think you've got ADHD? Go get an ADHD screening. Autism? It's not easy to find a psych who does adult Autism screenings, but they're out there. OCD? You get the idea. Regardless of whether the conclusion is "yes you have x" or "no you don't have x" the diagnosis will be accompanied by a detailed analysis of your psychological condition. Whether or not you are diagnosed, that analysis will cover the issues that led you to believe you may have that condition.
  - lostlogin 11mo ago
    This approach might help some, but it might hinder too. There is a post here about someone who was misdiagnosed and bipolar and that later came up when security clearance was needed for a job.
  - dns_snek 11mo ago
    I think you mean the full diagnostic process? Screening is just the first step in (what should be) a long process to decide whether the full workup makes sense. Screening takes on the order of minutes to an hour and it doesn't come with a diagnosis, the actual diagnostic process should take many hours and several appointments.
  - nico 11mo ago
    > It's not easy to find a psych who does adult Autism screenings, but they're out there And it’s very expensive to get the diagnosis, it can be up to $20k in California
    - ryukoposting 11mo ago
      I paid $150 on crap startup insurance.
  - joquarky 11mo ago
    And then what? Nobody will accommodates you. Suing for ADA violations will cost $20k just for a retainer. And then it's a gamble if you win or not. And the US government wants to aggregate us into a list for who knows what reason.
    - ryukoposting 11mo ago
      In lieu of repeating myself: https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=46178777 https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=46178777 Mental health, like physical health, requires action on your part. If the only thing you're seeking from a diagnosis is accommodations from others, then yeah, you're probably going to be disappointed.
- codelikeawolf 11mo ago
  I'm getting a full neuro-psych screening next month because my therapist suspects I may have OCD. It's a 4-6 hour series of tests/interviews (and probably other stuff, I'll find out). I'm guessing that's what they're referring to?
ZpJuUuNaQ5 11mo ago
I never understood why people, especially americans, are so hyperfocused on "mental health" and wear their pseudoscientific bullshit diagnoses like medals. I agree that there is a small fraction of people that do have mental issues, but it is very likely that most of the people that encourage "therapy" and yap about "mental health" very likely don't have any meaningful issues worth diagnosing and are just unnecessary burden on the medical system. The term "autism" in itself is so overused nowadays that it doesn't mean absolutely anything anymore, the fact that it doesn't have precise, rigorous definition doesn't help either.
- deleted 11mo ago
  [deleted]
- alexashka 11mo ago
  Because it's what has been advertised to teenagers to maximize profit. Western culture is a mental issue beyond repair. It will soon be gone and it will not be missed.
- habinero 11mo ago
  Maybe if you were less angry at people trying their best to live a life that's happier and easier, things might be easier for you.
- orangesilk 11mo ago
  By downvoting we missed out a joke: Lets apply the article to the comment >> I never understood why ... americans ... wear their pseudoscientific bullshit diagnoses like medals. > Borderline Personality Borderline personality disorder involves intense emotional instability, ... and devaluation of others. >Social Communication Disorder ... knowing how much detail to give, adjusting their speaking style for different situations, understanding implied meanings or hints, > B5: Antisocial personality disorder (ASPD): People diagnosed with ASPD show a lack of respect toward others. They generally don’t follow socially accepted rules. > B5: Narcissistic personality disorder (NPD): People diagnosed with NPD have a sense of being better than others... They lack empathy for others --- > I agree that there is a small fraction of people What exactly makes you believe the fraction is small?
thayne 11mo ago
The problem is such screenings are incredibly expensive (at least in the US), and for things like ADHD or Autism, you need a specific screening that is often even more expensive.
- xgulfie 11mo ago
  And even then if you get an autism diagnosis as an adult, this report is effectively all you get, there are no medicines or treatment options that this opens up afaict.
  - thayne 11mo ago
    You may be able to get accommodations from your employer. Maybe.
    - joquarky 11mo ago
      Nope, I've been architecting, creating, and maintaining web apps since 1996 (most recently 12 years at an S&P 500 company), but I can't do live coding interviews to save my life. Nobody will accommodate me in two years of job searching. They don't deny me outright, they just ghost me if I ask to do a "take home" or any other alternative.
  - ryukoposting 11mo ago
    Here are a few ideas to get you started: My spouse's paperwork has helped us change habits around the home to better fit their needs. They're getting better at self-advocacy, in part because it's easier to articulate what exactly feels wrong. Their quality of life was directly improved because we read the paperwork together, and took action based on it.
    - Telaneo 11mo ago
      This is something you can do with a self-diagnosis. If reading the literature on autism gives you processes that improve your life, you don't need the diagnosis to confirm that. The life improvements were the end-goal in the first place. This kind of presupposes that you have suspicions about autism rather than just something in general. If you think you have autism, you're can target that literature anyway regardless of the diagnosis, while if you have no concrete suspicions, you'll be firing blind, and probably miss a lot more than if you could nail it down to one diagnosis. By the time I got mine, I didn't need the processes, since I'd figured those out by myself, so the diagnosis is just a nice piece of paper pointing to a road I've already walked. For ADHD though, that story is very different, since step zero there really should be medication,[1][2] and that is locked behind a diagnosis. [1] https://pmc.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/articles/PMC2515906/ https://pmc.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/articles/PMC2515906/ [2] https://borretti.me/article/notes-on-managing-adhd https://borretti.me/article/notes-on-managing-adhd
listic 11mo ago
> If you think you (or a loved one) may have a psychological condition, go to a psychologist and get a screening. The diagnosis isn't the important part. The value is in the 20-something pages of detailed analysis by a professional. Throughout my entire interaction with psychiatry (years, on and off) I never figured this is a thing. Go figure.

WA 11mo ago

Autism diagnosis has targeted screening questionnaires. So what kind of general purpose screening do you mean?

ryukoposting 11mo ago
Get screened for whatever you think you've got. Think you've got ADHD? Go get an ADHD screening. Autism? It's not easy to find a psych who does adult Autism screenings, but they're out there. OCD? You get the idea. Regardless of whether the conclusion is "yes you have x" or "no you don't have x" the diagnosis will be accompanied by a detailed analysis of your psychological condition. Whether or not you are diagnosed, that analysis will cover the issues that led you to believe you may have that condition.
- lostlogin 11mo ago
  This approach might help some, but it might hinder too. There is a post here about someone who was misdiagnosed and bipolar and that later came up when security clearance was needed for a job.
- dns_snek 11mo ago
  I think you mean the full diagnostic process? Screening is just the first step in (what should be) a long process to decide whether the full workup makes sense. Screening takes on the order of minutes to an hour and it doesn't come with a diagnosis, the actual diagnostic process should take many hours and several appointments.
- nico 11mo ago
  > It's not easy to find a psych who does adult Autism screenings, but they're out there And it’s very expensive to get the diagnosis, it can be up to $20k in California
  - ryukoposting 11mo ago
    I paid $150 on crap startup insurance.
- joquarky 11mo ago
  And then what? Nobody will accommodates you. Suing for ADA violations will cost $20k just for a retainer. And then it's a gamble if you win or not. And the US government wants to aggregate us into a list for who knows what reason.
  - ryukoposting 11mo ago
    In lieu of repeating myself: https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=46178777 https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=46178777 Mental health, like physical health, requires action on your part. If the only thing you're seeking from a diagnosis is accommodations from others, then yeah, you're probably going to be disappointed.
codelikeawolf 11mo ago
I'm getting a full neuro-psych screening next month because my therapist suspects I may have OCD. It's a 4-6 hour series of tests/interviews (and probably other stuff, I'll find out). I'm guessing that's what they're referring to?

ZpJuUuNaQ5 11mo ago

I never understood why people, especially americans, are so hyperfocused on "mental health" and wear their pseudoscientific bullshit diagnoses like medals. I agree that there is a small fraction of people that do have mental issues, but it is very likely that most of the people that encourage "therapy" and yap about "mental health" very likely don't have any meaningful issues worth diagnosing and are just unnecessary burden on the medical system. The term "autism" in itself is so overused nowadays that it doesn't mean absolutely anything anymore, the fact that it doesn't have precise, rigorous definition doesn't help either.

deleted 11mo ago
[deleted]
alexashka 11mo ago
Because it's what has been advertised to teenagers to maximize profit. Western culture is a mental issue beyond repair. It will soon be gone and it will not be missed.
habinero 11mo ago
Maybe if you were less angry at people trying their best to live a life that's happier and easier, things might be easier for you.
orangesilk 11mo ago
By downvoting we missed out a joke: Lets apply the article to the comment >> I never understood why ... americans ... wear their pseudoscientific bullshit diagnoses like medals. > Borderline Personality Borderline personality disorder involves intense emotional instability, ... and devaluation of others. >Social Communication Disorder ... knowing how much detail to give, adjusting their speaking style for different situations, understanding implied meanings or hints, > B5: Antisocial personality disorder (ASPD): People diagnosed with ASPD show a lack of respect toward others. They generally don’t follow socially accepted rules. > B5: Narcissistic personality disorder (NPD): People diagnosed with NPD have a sense of being better than others... They lack empathy for others --- > I agree that there is a small fraction of people What exactly makes you believe the fraction is small?

thayne 11mo ago

The problem is such screenings are incredibly expensive (at least in the US), and for things like ADHD or Autism, you need a specific screening that is often even more expensive.

xgulfie 11mo ago
And even then if you get an autism diagnosis as an adult, this report is effectively all you get, there are no medicines or treatment options that this opens up afaict.
- thayne 11mo ago
  You may be able to get accommodations from your employer. Maybe.
  - joquarky 11mo ago
    Nope, I've been architecting, creating, and maintaining web apps since 1996 (most recently 12 years at an S&P 500 company), but I can't do live coding interviews to save my life. Nobody will accommodate me in two years of job searching. They don't deny me outright, they just ghost me if I ask to do a "take home" or any other alternative.
- ryukoposting 11mo ago
  Here are a few ideas to get you started: My spouse's paperwork has helped us change habits around the home to better fit their needs. They're getting better at self-advocacy, in part because it's easier to articulate what exactly feels wrong. Their quality of life was directly improved because we read the paperwork together, and took action based on it.
  - Telaneo 11mo ago
    This is something you can do with a self-diagnosis. If reading the literature on autism gives you processes that improve your life, you don't need the diagnosis to confirm that. The life improvements were the end-goal in the first place. This kind of presupposes that you have suspicions about autism rather than just something in general. If you think you have autism, you're can target that literature anyway regardless of the diagnosis, while if you have no concrete suspicions, you'll be firing blind, and probably miss a lot more than if you could nail it down to one diagnosis. By the time I got mine, I didn't need the processes, since I'd figured those out by myself, so the diagnosis is just a nice piece of paper pointing to a road I've already walked. For ADHD though, that story is very different, since step zero there really should be medication,[1][2] and that is locked behind a diagnosis. [1] https://pmc.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/articles/PMC2515906/ https://pmc.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/articles/PMC2515906/ [2] https://borretti.me/article/notes-on-managing-adhd https://borretti.me/article/notes-on-managing-adhd

listic 11mo ago

> If you think you (or a loved one) may have a psychological condition, go to a psychologist and get a screening. The diagnosis isn't the important part. The value is in the 20-something pages of detailed analysis by a professional. Throughout my entire interaction with psychiatry (years, on and off) I never figured this is a thing. Go figure.