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And the verdict is....*drum roll*
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<blockquote data-quote="Marguerite" data-source="post: 420131" data-attributes="member: 1991"><p>OK, I have a few problems with this.</p><p></p><p>First, you do not get a diagnosis. I presume because you are an adult. Well, we have a friend here who has recently been diagnosed Aspie, as an adult. We've suspected it for years, he is a classic.</p><p></p><p>Second, the "early onset dysthymia" - it goes hand in hand with trying to grow up with something like Asperger's. I also got diagnosed with dysthymia in 1997. It was a few days after we had seen the pediatrician for the first time, the one who that day looked at all the repots we had gathered on all the kids and said, "difficult child 3 has autism. difficult child 1 has Asperger's Syndrome. easy child 2/difficult child 2 has Asperger's traits but not enough for a diagnosis. All three have ADHD on top of it all." Then we walked out of there, in shock, and had not even turned the corner when my mobile phone rang - my specialist saying, "You are supposed to be in hospital, a bed is waiting for you. We have tests to run." </p><p>So while husband & I were trying to come to terms with the various diagnoses, we were separated. He had to be house parent, taking time off work, while I was stuck in hospital for three weeks. When the psychiatrist assessed me the day after I was admitted, he commented that my mood was down and that this meant a diagnosis of dysthymia. I got very angry with him - I had every reason to be feeling down! The hospital psychologist who I also knew, came in to visit me while I was still seething. She supported me over this, I never had to see that idiot shrink again. But I suspect the label is still in my file.</p><p></p><p>So when there is a valid reason for some level of depression or mood lowering, I think it should be considered first before someone hands out a psychiatric label which implies the condition is existing purely in isolation, with no cause. Because a cause can be managed.</p><p></p><p>If you know there are a number of possible reasons for whatever is troubling your child, it is easier to do something about it. But labels can stifle us, cramp our style and make us think, "This is how it is."</p><p></p><p>I can look back on my childhood and freely admit I was depressed and anxious. I can also find reasons. If I had been assessed for these things, they would have been found. In tis day and age, I would probably be medicated. But back then - life was hard for me, in a lot of little ways. I was not coping too well. But I learned to cope and it helps me now. However, I wish I had not had to endure it.</p><p></p><p>But there were always reasons. it is hard to not feel anxious when you know, and are told in many little ways every day, that your mother could die at any minute and if she gets too stressed it can cause it. No wonder I was anxious, subservient, depressed. Always different, so school bullying was also an issue. No skills to handle it because my upbringing was so different and so conservative. </p><p></p><p>It taught me a lot about what NOT to do with my own kids.</p><p></p><p>Don't get me wrong. I loved my mother. It was not her fault that I was anxious about her, she never used that sort of emotional blackmail on me. It was the other adults in my life, making well-intentioned but damaging remarks. And as it happened, my mother lived to see difficult child 3. She never knew he was autistic, but she did see the early signs of problems. I know she would have been supportive, she was always a very wise woman.</p><p></p><p>So be careful of the labels, and use them administratively, but don't lock yourselves into them. If you know what I mean. Life has far more opportunities for each of us than the labels often allow us to be.</p><p></p><p>Marg</p></blockquote><p></p>
[QUOTE="Marguerite, post: 420131, member: 1991"] OK, I have a few problems with this. First, you do not get a diagnosis. I presume because you are an adult. Well, we have a friend here who has recently been diagnosed Aspie, as an adult. We've suspected it for years, he is a classic. Second, the "early onset dysthymia" - it goes hand in hand with trying to grow up with something like Asperger's. I also got diagnosed with dysthymia in 1997. It was a few days after we had seen the pediatrician for the first time, the one who that day looked at all the repots we had gathered on all the kids and said, "difficult child 3 has autism. difficult child 1 has Asperger's Syndrome. easy child 2/difficult child 2 has Asperger's traits but not enough for a diagnosis. All three have ADHD on top of it all." Then we walked out of there, in shock, and had not even turned the corner when my mobile phone rang - my specialist saying, "You are supposed to be in hospital, a bed is waiting for you. We have tests to run." So while husband & I were trying to come to terms with the various diagnoses, we were separated. He had to be house parent, taking time off work, while I was stuck in hospital for three weeks. When the psychiatrist assessed me the day after I was admitted, he commented that my mood was down and that this meant a diagnosis of dysthymia. I got very angry with him - I had every reason to be feeling down! The hospital psychologist who I also knew, came in to visit me while I was still seething. She supported me over this, I never had to see that idiot shrink again. But I suspect the label is still in my file. So when there is a valid reason for some level of depression or mood lowering, I think it should be considered first before someone hands out a psychiatric label which implies the condition is existing purely in isolation, with no cause. Because a cause can be managed. If you know there are a number of possible reasons for whatever is troubling your child, it is easier to do something about it. But labels can stifle us, cramp our style and make us think, "This is how it is." I can look back on my childhood and freely admit I was depressed and anxious. I can also find reasons. If I had been assessed for these things, they would have been found. In tis day and age, I would probably be medicated. But back then - life was hard for me, in a lot of little ways. I was not coping too well. But I learned to cope and it helps me now. However, I wish I had not had to endure it. But there were always reasons. it is hard to not feel anxious when you know, and are told in many little ways every day, that your mother could die at any minute and if she gets too stressed it can cause it. No wonder I was anxious, subservient, depressed. Always different, so school bullying was also an issue. No skills to handle it because my upbringing was so different and so conservative. It taught me a lot about what NOT to do with my own kids. Don't get me wrong. I loved my mother. It was not her fault that I was anxious about her, she never used that sort of emotional blackmail on me. It was the other adults in my life, making well-intentioned but damaging remarks. And as it happened, my mother lived to see difficult child 3. She never knew he was autistic, but she did see the early signs of problems. I know she would have been supportive, she was always a very wise woman. So be careful of the labels, and use them administratively, but don't lock yourselves into them. If you know what I mean. Life has far more opportunities for each of us than the labels often allow us to be. Marg [/QUOTE]
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