This is potentially relevant to anyone who has ever been/still is self-diagnosed.

So I thought I’d share this in case it helped any newly self-dxers out there understand their reasons for their self-dx more.

I know, for me, imposter syndrome keeps me from dealing with my needs properly. So it has become an important part of my journey to diary everything over the last year and categorise in my own words.

The causes/symptoms that I feel affect my daily life can be broken into 4 categories - hyperfixation, cognitive load, self isolation and masking/unmasking. There is obviously a lot of cross over and often something in one category can be a cause/symptom of everything in another. For instance, something in the self-isolation category can often be caused by hyperfixation or cognitive load.

From there I can identify my main worry/focus from each category -

Hyperfixation - deeply into music, my head is literally never empty of it.

Cognitive load - emotions are so big, I force them small.

Self-isolation - I instinctively go through tough things, completely alone.

Masking/unmasking - people pleasing (this obviously crosses over into other areas/problems)

My (personal) research is by no means finished (I don’t think I’ll be keen to stop, hello new special interest!) but I thought I’d share in case this helped other self-dxers out there. It can be an even lonelier world within the lonely world of autism, and sharing things often helps 💜