New study finds online self-reports may not accurately reflect clinical autism diagnoses. Adults who report high levels of autistic traits through online surveys may not reflect the same social behaviors or clinical profiles as those who have been formally diagnosed with autism spectrum disorder.

[u/somerandomlogic]

https://www.psypost.org/new-study-finds-online-self-reports-may-not-accurately-reflect-clinical-autism-diagnoses/

[u/ManchesterNCP]

Give it time for the self dxers to pipe up. Already seeing comments talking about how the ADOS doesn't notice X and Y demographic.

[u/Overall_Future1087]

I'm so happy seeing the reactions and opinions from the users in that subreddit, it's refreshing.

[u/ManchesterNCP → u/Overall_Future1087]

"um actually many autistic spaces recognise self diagnosis as just as valid as clinical diagnosis"

🤮

Yeah hun, check the demographics of those spaces and see how many self diagnosed people there are and then connect the dots.

[u/Overall_Future1087 → u/ManchesterNCP]

Yeah unfortunately there will be answers of all kind. But the top replies are against self-diagnosis at least

[u/Curious_Dog2528]

No shit

[u/Pristine-Confection3]

They already tried to dismiss this fact be claiming that clinical studies were wrong. People want autism so badly they will dismiss the views of professionals.

[u/ManchesterNCP → u/Pristine-Confection3]

👏Trust 👏 the 👏 science 👏

Unless of course it is in the context of self diagnosis in which case anti-intellectualism is the cause of the day so don't trust scientists and medical professionals and do your TikTok research

[u/Guerilla_Physicist → u/Pristine-Confection3]

I will never understand this. If they want autism so badly I would gladly let them have mine. Wish I could.

[u/TeaDependant]

Facinating study! This makes sense on quite a few levels.

Those who are socially anxious can read and understand social situations, but it is their anxiety causing barriers.

For those of us who are autistic, we cannot perceive the social context or expressions.

There is some overlap in end results, but there is nuance and the anxious group who are not autistic I expect will not have other autistic traits.

But basically there's an abundance of those who are working backwards, seeing they have social difficulties and find a reason for it so they land on autism.

It kind of makes sense, as people feel an iron-clad "it's X and cannot be changed" is open to less scrutiny (or fear of scrutiny, per anxiety disorders) than being told you're "socially anxious" which has a less serious tone even if there's a severe impact for the person.

But it would explain why autism spaces are so excessively under pressure from non-autistics believing they're autistic.

[u/Sensitive-Fishing334]

Omggggg, who would have thought!

[u/Sad-Adhesiveness-979]

Thanks for posting this! I participated in this study. They said it was to test using video games to teach social skills. I think the real purpose for the study is much better.

[u/NoBackupCodes → u/Sad-Adhesiveness-979]

Is that ethical to lie as to the purpose of a study?

Unless this was meta study using the data from other study.

[u/Sad-Adhesiveness-979 → u/NoBackupCodes]

I don't know how ethical it is but I have participated in a few studies. In my experience a few have lied to get more realistic results. If they are looking for something specific, it affects your actions. Usually there's a debrief afterwards revealing the real purpose of the study and allowing you to opt out.

[u/ParParChonkyCat22]

I accidently posted the wrong link but this should be the right one to this article its very good. I've seen many people who self diagnosed online who were diagnosed with social anxiety and people who shows anxiety towards the day of evaluation. https://www.nature.com/articles/s44220-025-00385-8

[u/Murky-South9706]

Right but this doesn't necessarily mean they're not autistic. The study itself says it could possibly reflect different presentations of autism. However, it does obviously reinforce that relying on self-reporting alone is a bad idea, which further discredits self-dx which probably 8 or 9/10 times is bullshit obviously.

[u/NoBackupCodes → u/Murky-South9706]

Also many mental conditions just overlap so you could easily collect 5 conditions if you spent long enough and they asked every question from every assessment.

[u/Murky-South9706 → u/NoBackupCodes]

Possibly, that's why actual neuropsych tests plus in-person interviews are important

[u/Appropriate_Luck8668]

Wow, really?! No shit Sherlock!