I had my first psychosis in 2010, and was seeing consultants and professionals on and off since around 2004 when I was having CBT with a trainee therapist for social phobia. How come it took this long and a qualified psychologist and psychiatrist to tell me I needed an assessment for autism. I never usually see the same consultant more than once but I saw my last one two times. He was the one who suggested it. Have I been masking well, or is it because it just wasn’t diagnosed back then.?
I still don’t have full answers … he said he’d review my sz diagnosis after getting confirmation of my autism diagnosis.
If I understand well, autism exists since early childhood, it does not develop later in life. However, there are many degrees on the autism spectrum. Some people learn coping mechanisms. They don’t know they are autistic, they just want to be more like others around them.
