Recently, I have had some experiences where I really have gone down the tubes. Although my ability to function may be similar to where it was before, due to increased expectations I have now entered the world of non-functionality, labels, tests, psychologists, and medications. At this point I am unsure of how to proceed. The symptoms I have are mostly in the realm of poor executive functioning which I have always had: difficulties following instructions, planning, being highly disorganized, inattention during conversations resulting in muted reactions or even not hearing what someone said. Mainly my problems result from inattention/poor executive functioning. However, my shrink seems to be pushing for an autism diagnosis because I made a comment about an employer commenting on my "missing social cues" which were basically things like missing what was said, problems with directions, rarely having problems with explaining myself, being slightly disruptive, etc. I do not have any significant difficulties with things like reading faces, body language, recognizing people, understanding tone of voice, etc. She never came right out and said autism but made comments such as "what would you do if a person was crying, would you notice?" and stuff like that. These questions were not difficult for me and I wonder to some extent if I was misleading in my description of symptoms and she is barking up the wrong tree. I am entirely new to the process of psychology and diagnoses of a psychiatric nature so how do you navigate a situation like this? Maybe she isn't barking up the wrong tree, but do the things I described experiencing sound like autism? or does it sound more like what my mother (who has a degree in psychology) and myself (who has taken some classes in psychology) think sound like poor executive functioning probably stemming from inattentiveness and disorganization. Another key thing to note is that I have no routines or rituals and don't really even have a sense of basic order which is the problem. My apartment looks like an animal lives here most of the time and I have no specific pattern for doing things which has led me to have difficulties with functioning