Therapist's opinion

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So after my therapist was like "maybe" about Aspergers a couple weeks ago, today I asked him if I should bring it up to the psychologist.
His response was pretty much yes, you have Asperger's, but you shouldn't bring it up because why would you want another DX on top of the one you already have, and I couldn't take pills for it anyway, and I don't seem to have many bad problems with it except from a couple minor things he noticed. He did say he would start some social skills therapy I still need, which I guess is a good thing.

So umm... what do you think about his opinion on this? Should a DX be sought if it's not really that important?

theapist?

hmmmm
my immediate reaction is to say that the therapist is preventing you from getting a diagnosis from a shrink to avoid losing couch time with you. ( and money)


presumably the therapist isnt a shrink?

a qualified one anyway?

All I know is he works with Aspie children at least. He wouldn't loose money no matter what my DX is, because I have a DX anyway of Bipolar and I would see the therapist /psychologist anyway. he pretty much said that Bipolar was my main issue right there and not the Asperger's.

ok that helps but let me try an analogy here.


if you had a sick dog.....you wouldnt take it to someone who "works with animals"
you would expect to take it to a qualified vet.

there is a cottage industry growing up and surrounding autism that is, in myopinion dangerous.

as you can get pseudo paraprofessionals seeing advising, diagnosing and charging those with As for their time.

you are entitled to question adn ask for their qualifications.

im wary . with the information suplied i am wary.

I agree with donkey. I also would like to point out, they might be worried someone more qualified to give an official diagnosis might disagree with them.

Hmm... 379 posts, joined in November, adult, articulate...
You are probably more qualified to make that judgment than he is.
Which do YOU think is more important, and would you benefit from a diagnosis?

I'd think understanding the Asperger's would help you deal with the bipolar; but that's just me. I got a lot of benefit from that myself. Whether you need a diagnosis for understanding Asperger's better (and thus understanding yourself better) is another question--and I'd say "probably not". If your therapist is right and you're not having major issues just from Asperger's, and since the main guy treating you is aware of and knowledgeable about AS, you might not need to worry about it being on your record. Should you switch therapists, though, you might want to get a written statement about the possibility of AS from this one.

Or he could actually be concerned about the repercussions of diagnosis for the patient. Some therapists actually *do* have their patient's best interests at heart, you know. My parents for instance (both psychologists), were concerned about the effect of the insurance company finding out that my diagnosis had involved a differential between NLD and AS (they didn't want the insurance company hearing the words Asperger syndrome). Were my parents being compensated in any way for giving that advice? Definitely not. They weren't treating or diagnosing me for one thing (they don't have the expertise to diagnose NLD), and wouldn't have charged me even if they were.

It just goes to show that therapists may have reasons for advising against an official diagnosis *other* than cupidity, despite the fact that people on this board love to hate on therapists. I find this extremely annoying because I've known a *lot* of psychologists (it happens when most of your parents' friends are psychologists), and all of them are intelligent, caring people who only want the best for their patients. They are not money-grubbing half-wits like many people here seem to believe.

seriously.. what kind of therapist is this ? He is counselling you on everything from bipolar ( isn't that a psychatrist's job or a psychotherapist ? qualified ) to social skills ? That to me is Speech Language Therapy's area or psychologist - depending on your issues. That's four different professions right there.

He says you have AS but does not think you should go to someone that can actually give you a qualified answer ? If he is not qualified to give you a diagnosis then he should not be saying he thinks you have AS.

Tread carefully.......

It might be important information for your psychologist. What reasonable therapist would recommend hiding things from a real doctor who's more qualified anyway?

Then again, the psychologist will almost certainly notice it anyway, unless you have hardly any symptoms.

some therapists is a lose term as anyone these days can call tehmselves therapists.

this is my point, i am pushing to see a psychologist away from a "therapist."
and if i saw any professional who chose to withold a diagnosis from me for my "benefit"
then i would be very annoyed.

Why would the insurance company's knowledge matter?

I also had my psychologist saying that it was a bad thing to get a label, as it was some kind of taboo, as if being an aspie is something bad. I was very annoyed with her.
I do have a brain injury because of an accident I had, so therefore I had long neuro psychological tests and apparently As issues might show up with these tests. I hope in a way it does, so I can have something to hold on to when I want to be tested on As.
I already experienced that I need different techniques with the healing process of a brain injury than nts, so I think it would be handy to know (not just for me) so some therapies can be adjusted. It would save me some time and energy.

Health systems are different in each country, but I do see regularly that getting an As test is very difficult. They do dis courage you, especially when you are an adult and do not have massive social behavior problems. I wonder if this some sort of policy.

Ok, I get the part that society in general might be prejudice, meaning that the individual shrink is ignorant and has a bad attitude. (Ask me if I care.)

Ok, I get the part that they don't want to pay for it. But once a diagnosis is made, why does the knowledge of the insurance company matter?

Well, here's one thing that might be a factor. I'm much in the same situation so I'll use my own example. I have a diagnosis of bipolar, although it doesn't fit other than recurring depression.

My depression is caused by too many years of dealing with undiagnosed aspie, not bipolar disorder. Therapy can help deal with all this. But, here's the kicker.

I need insurance to cover therapy (when I had insurance). This plan will cover 20 visits per year in general circumstances. There is no limitation to the number of visits for severe mental illness such as bipolar disorder. Autism is not considered a severe mental illness, so you're back to the limit.

So, if I need extensive therapy it's to my advantage to leave the diagnosis of bipolar disorder in place and not confuse the issue for the insurance company.

Unless there's some real advantage to diagnosis I'm going to leave it be. I know what I am. Good enough. The only way that would change is if I needed specific accommodations at work.

That makes sense.