Find a therapist to help with autism

Think of diagnosis as one point in an ongoing process, not an end point.

Withdrawing after diagnosis is part of healing—it won't be this way forever.

Unmasking is unique to you. Take it slowly, one small safe change at a time.

I spend a lot of time talking to clients who are coming to terms with their autism diagnosis. For many, the initial act of working up to an assessment and receiving confirmation that they are autistic comes with a massive sense of relief. It brings answers, it explains past experiences, and it provides a sense of permission to start changing their lives as they move forward. This is backed up by research into the experiences of women diagnosed as autistic1.

That initial sense of relief, though, often comes and goes, and post-diagnosis autistic adults often struggle with their identity. They might feel pressured into creating a different type of life, but they don’t know what that life looks like. And many people feel a sense of exhaustion and confusion, along with a sense of finding things harder than they were prior to a diagnosis.

When someone finds out they’re autistic, social situations often feel harder. The pressure of keeping going to work becomes too much and sensory processing issues feel more impactful. This can feel worrying and disconcerting, particularly when people were expecting their diagnosis to make their lives feel better—not more challenging.

Here are five tips to get through the initial stages after a diagnosis.

1. Think of it as a process

There’s such a lead-up to a diagnosis that it can........

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