Many people with autism thought they were bad all their lives until they were properly diagnosed. What are the features of accepting the truth about your disorder in adulthood and why is it “better late than never”?
Sometimes clarity in understanding one’s own innate characteristics removes a heavy burden from a person. Something that had no name and brought a lot of difficulties to life and communication with others, may be based on medical reasons. Knowing about them, both the person himself and his relatives begin to navigate the situation and understand how to build relationships with the outside world – and sometimes with the inner one.
Another approach
My friend has always been, as they say, strange. Friends and even relatives considered him insensitive, unkind and lazy. Without directly encountering such manifestations of his character, I probably, like the rest, remembered the stigma that was placed on him by those whose expectations he did not live up to.
And only after almost 20 years of knowing him, after several years of studying psychology and reading many publications on the topic, a hunch dawned on me: perhaps he has ASD – an autism spectrum disorder. Asperger’s Syndrome or something else – of course, it was neither my task nor my right to make a diagnosis. But this idea suggested how to build communication with him while working on a joint project. And everything went perfectly. I do not agree with any of the negative assessments given to him, and I feel compassion for a person who has to live with the feeling that he is “not like that.”
A label for life
Many people over 50 who are diagnosed with autism at the end of their lives have grown up believing they are bad. These are the findings of a new study from Anglia Ruskin University, published in the journal Health Psychology and Behavioral Medicine. A group of university researchers interviewed nine people aged 52 to 54. Some of the participants said that in childhood they had no friends, they felt isolated. As adults, they still couldn’t understand why people treated them so differently. Some have been treated for anxiety and depression.
Dr. Steven Stagg, Senior Lecturer in Psychology at Anglia Ruskin University and lead author of the study, said: “I was deeply affected by one of the aspects that emerged from the conversations with the project participants. The fact is that these people grew up believing themselves to be bad. They called themselves strangers and “not people.” It’s very hard to live with.”
This is the first study of its kind to examine the phenomenon of midlife diagnosis. Scientists also believe that it can bring great benefits to people. Participants often described it as a “eureka” moment that brought them relief. A deeper and clearer understanding of their own characteristics allowed them to understand why other people reacted negatively to them.
Improving the literacy of specialists
In some areas, the science of the mind is advancing so rapidly that today there are entire generations of people who grew up at a time when autism was poorly recognized. Now specialists have great opportunities and knowledge in identifying autism spectrum disorders, and this makes it possible to diagnose not only young people, but also those who have lived most of their lives with a sense of their strangeness or alienation from society.
The authors of the study are convinced that it is necessary to educate those who can help people with ASD, or at least refer them to a specialist. “Physicians and healthcare professionals should be well aware of the possible signs of autism. Often people are diagnosed with depression, anxiety or other mental disorders, and autism is not on this list, ”the scientists comment.
They also note that more work needs to be done to support adults and the elderly once they have been diagnosed. Such changes in knowledge about oneself and one’s mental characteristics can become a significant “shake-up” for an adult, mature person. And, along with the relief that understanding brings, looking back at his life, he can have many other emotions that psychotherapy can help to cope with.
This article is based on a study published in the journal Health Psychology and Behavioral Medicine.