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/mvea]

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

[u/Emu1981]

So now taking those tests it feels like ive had years of practice masking and its very hard to answer them accurately.

And a good psychiatrist will be able to tell what is masking behaviours and what is not masking behaviours. Personally I have never seen a psychiatrist to get a diagnosis because I don't want to waste the money to get a diagnosis that I don't see any sort of benefits from.

If I got a diagnosis 40 odd years ago and got the same sort of supports that my kids with ASD get these days then chances are that my life would have gone down a very different track though. However, since I was never a troublemaker then I was pretty much ignored even though I absolutely struggled with social situations. When I hit highschool I had learned enough masking behaviours to basically become a popular kid but that ended up with me having a massive burnout near the end of high school.