[vek84]

Our marriage therapist said it's possible for DH to have MANY diagnostic criteria for Aspergers and not be diagnosed in the end...

What is the reasoning behind this? He is not functioning normally and has many, many of the criteria.

We haven't seen a diagnostician yet, but I'm wondering why she said this. Is it common?

Originally Posted by vek84

Our marriage therapist said it's possible for DH to have MANY diagnostic criteria for Aspergers and not be diagnosed in the end...

What is the reasoning behind this? He is not functioning normally and has many, many of the criteria.

We haven't seen a diagnostician yet, but I'm wondering why she said this. Is it common?

Unless the criteria met severely overlap with criteria from other disorders in the DSM IV/V, it shouldn't happen. Maybe she means that only some (and not all) of the criteria are being met, which might lead to no diagnosis, or not Asperger's being diagnosed, but something else with similar criteria. Maybe she is implying she is not imminently qualified to give the Asperger's diagnosis herself and is directing you to what you have thought of already - a diagnostician. The thing is, there is no "Asperger's" anymore as such, it now all falls under autism spectrum disorder (ASD).

It's truly difficult, because you cannot really say whether someone truly meets the criteria or not. For example, not showing empathy could mean he doesn't feel it or it could mean he feels it and cannot express it. How does he know when or if he feels empathy? How does an observer know? How much must he feel before it "registers": (a) with him as something significant enough in order to say "yes, I feel something", (b) with others as something significant enough in order to say "yes, he shows something"? A pervasive lack of social interaction skills? A little bit may go a long way in some places/with some people/certain environments, be it lack of skills or enough skills to get by anyway.

With that being said though, generally speaking, the criteria are pretty spot-on and if clearly present, then I can't see there being an issue with the diagnosis.