If you need urgent support, call 999 or go to your nearest A&E. To contact our Crisis Messenger (open 24/7) text THEMIX to 85258.
Read the community guidelines before posting ✨
Options
Psychiatrist assessment - what happens?
Former Member
Posts: 1,876,323 The Mix Honorary Guru
I went to the doctors a few weeks ago and finally asked about being assessed for Autism. He explained that (I know this anyway) many of the symptoms I have may be down to other conditions I have.
I received a letter on Friday about an assessment by a psychiatrist. What can I expect? Do I have to bring someone with me?
I received a letter on Friday about an assessment by a psychiatrist. What can I expect? Do I have to bring someone with me?
0
Comments
They just sort of ask loads of questions about how you are/what your emotions are like, whether you sleep and eat properly etc, and write stuff down, and they ask similar things a lot. I guess it's to check you give consistent answers. I wanted to take someone with me when they were doing my assessment for medication, and they said that I could take someone to stay in the waiting room, but that they'd want to speak to me alone.
I'd recommend taking someone to be there after because it's always comforting knowing that if you get upset or anything that they are there.
Some of the questions they asked me were quite triggering (about things that happened in my past etc.) so if that's something that could affect you please be aware, and make sure you have somewhere to go after the assessments over. I wouldn't recommend being alone, even if you don't self harm or anything it is quite a draining experience!
Hope it all goes well x
assessment for ASD is a bit different to a general psychiatric assessment. the most common one at the moment is the ADOS but there is also the 3Di (usually used with children) and the DISCO . the ADOS involves various tasks/exercises whereas the others are interview-based. it's less about you telling the psychiatrist your life history and more about them assessing your abilities in terms of the triad of impairments. there will probably also be a mountain of questionnaires for you to fill in.
if you have a general assessment first before the ASD assessment then it will be along the lines of what broken angel has described where your general current and historical mental health will be investigated, but if you are taken straight to the ASD assessment then they will probably offer a combination of semi-structured interviews, observations of your behaviour and ADOS exercises.
They are there to help you get the support you need rather than to label you up. View them like an OT rather than like a normal psych