Autism

It depends, you might get disability support. In Europe of course. But if you've already got that there is no added benefit there additionally.

However, it might be great to know and get the world off your back even if it's only or maybe especially for yourself. Have a look at the comic 'hidden differences', I thought it shows that point quite well.

I'd love to get the diagnosis, but sadly in my (EU) country it's almost impossible as an adult and I already paid money myself for this. So I am happy just knowing.

Depends on your country, I guess. If your country has additional benefits, rights or support to offer then you need an official diagnosis to access them. That's the case over here in Sweden. If you're American though then sure, I assume that part of healthcare and social security is completely absent.

Ultimately though yes, much like the definitions for personality disorders, the dividing line is generally whether it negatively impacts your day to day functioning. If you don't feel any negative impacts on your life as a result of how you are then you don't "need" a diagnosis.

It could still help you understand yourself better though.

On most days, the piece of paper is just that; paper. But if you need medication, psychological counseling, or an accommodation for work or school, that piece of paper can be quite useful. On average, I feel like it is better to have it and not need it, rather than to need it and not have it.

ADHD diagnosis helped me get meds and they have made a big difference for me.

Autism diagnosis makes it so you can request a GDB (Grad Der Behinderung) in Germany which gives you certain benefits. I didn't make my autism diagnosis "official" with my healthcare provider tho as I am aware of potential stigmata regarding potential future fascist governments. Also I have heard some horror stories about autistic people being denied gender affirming surgery.

Depends entirely on how much you struggle. Diagnosis is useful for knowing what kind of help to get. If you don't struggle, but only see some kind of behavior patterns that might occasionally cause problems, you can just try to address those individually.

I have a diagnosis for BPD, which was useful for getting treatment and ultimately, financial support. These days however I don't agree with the diagnosis and rather think I'm somewhere in the BPD/C-PTSD/Autism neighborhood but I don't really need a clinical diagnosis for any practical purposes.

These are all just words that people made up, that reflect a cluster of patterns with great variability between individuals. They're not absolute truths. Just tools to help navigate whatever system one finds themselves in.

Nested parens? Yup, you're on the spectrum.

So am I, didn't realize until I was old. No need for me to get a diagnosis; I have also settled into my ways. I just understand them a bit better now, and I'm okay with "being who I am". However, a lot of that came because my kids got diagnoses.

If you're young(ish), and don't have a solid clinical understanding of how autism can manifest, a diagnosis for you might be useful - but you can also acquire that additional information independently. Just make sure you're researching at legitimate sources and not what randos on the internet say.

Concentration camps. Probably.

If your "otherness" neither bothers/harms you nor the people around you, there is no need to treat it.

There are a bunch of reasons not to but I won't dwell on those. I pursued a diagnosis for two main reasons:

One: ADHD meds saved my life. After trying to treat the wrong thing for 20+ years I appear to finally be going in the right direction and I thought if it could be confirmed as autism that would be helpful in directing my approach to unfucking myself.

Two: want to pursue accommodations at work. I hadn't realized that I had near ideal working conditions for most of my career so far...by accident. I'm not so concerned about the accommodations being granted - my work has been trying to keep me happy for a while now - but more to justify the requests?

Some of the stuff I am thinking of asking for is career limiting. And that's fine! I'm mid career and I'm not interested in more formal leadership roles than I have now, and am only performing this current leadership role to support the development of the next generation. But I know it will be seen as me not believing in myself.

Sure, I could do some of this stuff, but only to the detriment of my health and I need to stop redlining myself constantly. With the diagnosis I can say, "Look, I have a literal disability. I know it just looks like a stutter, stubbornness and sometimes getting overwhelmed but it's more than that and the only way to get better is to stop pushing myself so much."

Talking to a psychologist might help you to understand yourself better and maybe help you develop strategies to cope better with certain situations. So it may well be worth it. If certainly not a silver bullet that will "cure" you, but it might be useful. Whether that's worth the hassle to you, is entirely your decision.

Being told I'm on the spectrum, by a medical person was like.

Oh

I'm not a weirdo for no reason. I'm not being picky because I can't stand certain fabrics. I'm not being an asshole (...debateable) for being overstimulated without words to explain it. Those other children were being dicks to me, it wasn't just me being sensitive.

A relief. Not much of one, but I cling to it.

A formal diagnosis can help you get meds, which could help. But it won't change how mustard tastes. It's up to you.

I also wouldn’t say, that they cause any sort of “day to day problems” for myself.

Well then you wouldn't qualify a diagnosis. A competent diagnostician would say that you do not have ADHD or Autism. You may have some neurodivergent tendencies without being categorically classified into one of the diagnostically-labelled neurotypes.

But I guess your question is why to do it at all? Getting a diagnosis helped me focus on exactly where to put my efforts toward managing my life. Very worth it for me. Suspecting I was autistic was all well and good, but the idea that 'maybe I wasn't' was a bit of an obstacle to moving ahead with certain changes.

There also exist mental problems like being a dismissive avoidant(DA) attachment that can masquerade as autism, so making sure that it is not something else that can be treated away can be beneficial, you might even be a DA and have autism. So getting the DA treated would most likely help you in every day life

For me, it was access to “free” Medikinet (paid by mandatory health insurance)