kerr9000 wrote:From my experience the time you wait is wildly different depending on all kinds of things where you live, the issue you have, how bad its perceived you are. When I was waiting for PTSD therapy I was seen by a therapist after two months but he saw me for 5 minutes then said he wouldn't see me, apparently he was a regular therapist and I required a trauma therapist. A friend of mine wanted to transition and saw a therapist after about a month but I've known people who have waited a year.
When I was young it was suggested I was possibly autistic, it was never really pushed though, I was essentially left with a verdict of well you could be, this January it was decided I should see someone about that and be assessed my GP started the ball rolling , apparently I have to wait till October and in October I'll get a letter with an appointment, I went down this alley as I was struggling and thought it would give me some answers and some peace but now it's been so long its kind of not bothering me but I'm still going to see it through cause knowing my luck if I dropped it things would change.
I have a similar story. My dad despite being a neurologist/psysiologist professor ignored it up until very recently years after I got my own diagnosis sorted out as I desperately needed help at uni. It did take about a year for me but the stickler was being sent an appointment letter for neurobehavioral clinic with actual relevant professor to look at me, while I was away seeing my grandad with cancer, the letter after waiting years was like "see you next week" subsequently I missed it and 8 years later it's never been followed up. But I still got a diagnosis of ASD along the way from a psychologist doctor, and received various support over the years, it's still a battle though as a lot of places want money. Before that I got an educational psychologist report that said I was 98% likely to be autistic which may have helped the process but it cost £600, we got it down to £420 after saying well it was too much for my mum. That was funny because when I applied for disabled student allowance to get help with my studies they told me no because it had to say I was 100% autistic, not 98% i.e. Partially, it has to be a concrete diagnosis even though the test was the same DSMIV criteria!! Despite the report saying I had about 4 specific learning difficulties (SpLDs, nowadays it is not about fitting a specific diagnostic criteria like dyslexia or dyspraxia for example which are more common but the specific problems within a spectrum, so that was just plain wrong). Consequently I lost about 6-12 months of support I was eligible for and needed. Good luck man it will help you in the long run even if just to understand yourself a bit better and know you are not alone being different. It was more work but it also meant I could claim PIP which is not assessed based on income and can help with things like cost of counselling or seeing a specialist from time to time or just subsiding the income I lose because I cannot hold down a "normal" job in an office etc. (despite trying numerous times and getting no help with that).