For starters I wanna say that I've been diagnosed high-functioning* Asperger's for the majority of my life. And so I might not have many things in common with either ASD people or "normal" people.

But, on to my question. I looked for this subreddit because this was a question that popped into my head that I don't know I could really get answered anywhere else.

I have respect for psychology, psychologists, psychiatrists, and counselors. They help thousands - millions - of people everday and their work cannot be overstated.

However, I can't help but shake the feeling that psychology can be and might increasingly be out of touch with the needs of Asperger's people and other ASD people. The biggest thing that made me start thinking this was the removal of Asperger's from the American DSM-5 along with a lot of other diagnostic terms that used to be common distinguishers.

However, the thing that really sparked this question and post was a post that went across my /r/all about Asperger's possibly being more common than it has traditionally been seen as. Now, this may have been dubiously researched but, it's raised questions for me. Again, a lot of which have been swirling around in my mind for a while.

• Is psychology actually doing it's job correctly of providing help and care to people?

• Are we overdiagnosing? Not just Apserger's, but other stuff as well. And also, are these diagnoses always helpful?

• Are treatments actually correct for these illnesses and disorders?

• Are criteria actually taking into account the experiences of patients and sufferers and using these to inform definitions and treatments in a way that is adequate and sensible?

And finally,

• Does anyone else sometimes have trouble trusting* that psychologists and psychiatrists actually 'get' or understand them?

Sorry for this being my first post here. It might be a bit of a long and tricky to sort out one.