Psychologists/counselors are a waste of time

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I don't find them to be of much help either, even my current therapist doesn't seem to helpful....I end up feeling frusterated during the therapy sessions with no noticable lasting benefit of any kind. I mean she's trying but just not so sure she has an approach that can help.

The way I see it, older and more experienced aspies should mentor younger aspies. Relegating this "responsibility" to some "professionals" can be as pointless as it can be counterproductive.
After all it's about finding yourself in the world you live in with the mind and body that you possess.
You might see and taste an apple, while your therapist might see and taste an orange. They're still fruits, but qualitatively there is definitely a perceptible difference.
Even though many of us might seem or downright are irresponsible to the outside world, we have an insight about that world that often appears but is not entirely "contradictory" to the general population's.
This can lead to many internal and external conflicts that should be explained and helped to deal with by people who had a similar experience and therefore will have an easier time corresponding an appropriate "soulution" to a specific problem.
It doesn't solve your problems when your therapists think you'll be resting on your laurels if you follow their advice and drink their magic potions, when in fact you will find yourself laying on a bed of thorns having your body and mind twisted with poisons.
Still, the hardest and most important part about the whole thing is your own motivation.

Regarding mental health professioanls and countless negative experience I've had with them; I maintained a pretty posititive opinion for as long as I could. This is where I can be stubborn and blind at the same time. I had it in my head that people in those professions really and truly wanted to help, and all of my negative experiences were not swaying that opinion by much. I also had trouble seeing the forest because all of the trees were in my way. a bunch of self righteous (prima donna is a nice way to put it. I like that ; ) ) people who were drawn to the helping professions for the worst reasons. They want to kno everyone's business and tell them what to do. They want to manipulate and control others and feel above everyone else.

I went to college with a bunch of them, and it turned my stomach to see some of them delight in learning how to manipulate by saying the right thing in just the right way. I also worked with the most controlling and dominating person that I've ever seen, and she was a social worker. In grad school the nice, genuine professors were the ones interested in research and not "practicing." And same with my peers. The research oriented students were the ones who were nice and actually wanted to help people and society. And I repeatedly learned that lesson the hard way.

So yeah, I agree. The profession kind of sucks, and I wish i'd gone to school for something else.

But then it is rather funny to me that I work with a bunch of counselors and not a single one of them sees that I hav aspergers. And rather fitting when I show signs of depression and not a single one of them expresses any concern.

I've done searches in the past about how autistic folk were treated in the past. There's little to nothing. It's like there wasn't any autism until the beginning of the 20th century.

I remember that early 60's that in the upper corner on the front page was a daily horoscope, and inside the paper was a detailed horoscope for every sign. People have been going to astrologers for thousands of years, and that astrologers knew what is going on here. Everything was written in the stars, but you needed an education to understand it. Astrologers could give people a personal diagnosis, and they could give them instructions on how to get the future to work out better for them. I think that psychiatrists are the same as astrologers. People want a diagnosis. They need someone to tell them what is going on, who they "are", and how to make the future work out.

I had about 6 months of counseling where the only thing the therapist ever said was "tell me whats on your mind?", even when I told her what was on my mind the only response from her was to ask me "whats on your mind".

I expect she had to go to University for 5 years to learn how to do this, I also suspect she got paid a huge amount of money to do this as well, no wonder the NHS is broke.

I might suggest to the NHS that they sack their therapists and just write, "Tell me whats on your mind" on a piece of cardboard which they could hang around a dogs neck, at least the patient could stroke the dog which would at least be a bit therapeutic and all they would have to give the dog is a couple of cans of Chum each day and maybe a bonio or two.

i didn't ever say that ALL therapists are effective, or that every experience would be a perfect one. if one therapist doesn't work out, a person can try another one. but blaming the institution itself is not really a fair point, because it can and does work for a lot of people (studies have demonstrated this). even the OP attended one kind of therapy (CBT) and had some success.

but if a person is absolutely certain it won't work... surprise, surprise... it won't. if you do want it to work, there is at least a good chance that it can help.

My doctor advised myself and my mother to do counseling as both of us had anxiety but it didn't really work for us as the counselor wasn't very helpful so we have decided not to do anymore counseling.

I found therapy useful, but I never went into it thinking that it was going to solve my problems.

I just required an objective POV concerning my behavior, and that's what they gave me.

In total, I've found psychiatrists to be more helpful than psychologists. Drugs > talking.

Largely I don't think therapy and counselling do help people with ASCs.

For instance, my youngest daughter has HFA, she was referred for help with her anxiety. They told me that all there was on offer was a group for same age children for talking about worries. She was adamant she didn't want to go and I knew it would be of no help for her anyway. Firstly, being a group setting she would not feel comfortable, but mostly, her anxiety is because having autism means she has an obsessive thinking style and is always on high alert. That is just how she is, her coming up with worries is not so much about the worries for the most part, but how she can't stop that way of thinking. All the talking in the world won't change that. And the group wasn't even for autistic children, just children with anxiety.

I have had various counselling and therapy in the past. Not any of it helped me at all. I thought they could help me and that I'd come out feeling better but I didn't. For 99% of the time I didn't know I had AS. Now I do, I recognise that this is why. All the talking in the world won't help me either. I am highly self-analytical and know far more about myself than any counsellor or therapist could learn. They try to fit your behaviours into a model that they have learned and I don't think it works at all for people with ASCs. We are wired differently, we see the world differently, our negative experiences are based on realities that we go through not a result of some mental illness that makes us view the world from a skewed perspective. Talking about how I feel becomes boring, and actually in the end annoying. It's circular and without resolution, this is why its pointless. Counsellors and therapists cannot change your practical experiences of life, and this is probably what most of us are challenged with, and that is what feeds into our mental states and brings co-morbidities such as anxiety and depression.

The one thing a counsellor did do for me, and I will commend her for that, was that she said one thing that made me recognise my strengths. I had been so mired down in depression because of what I felt were my failures, and an unsupportive husband that added to them that I couldn't see the things I had to be proud of. It stuck with me what she said and I will always remember her words (even if I can't remember her face or her name).

I sometimes struggle with depression and thoughts of suicide. I have not yet tried antidepressants, but they are kind of my ace in the hole. My personal plan is 5 months, potentially 5 antidepressants, and that's merely my Vegas over-under! (50% chance of working) Because not a doctor in the world can predict which antidepressant will work for which patient. And that's just where the science currently is. In a respectable sense, it is trial and error.

And I do like people sharing their life experience that they have had bad experiences, particularly with SSRIs (Selective Serotonin Reuptake Inhibitors). Basically, I just think that if things get bad, it's a chance worth taking. And hopefully, I'll be more ready to quit and more ready to stand up to a doctor who says "Just give it a little more time" and "the bad symptoms will settle," almost as if he or she is a wooden puppet---which I understand doctors do say. And without sincerely listening to how bad.

And I understand it's important to step down from an antidepressant in stages. Although perhaps less important if I'm switching from one to another, and yes, if the time comes, I'd very much like to have a doctor's imput about this. And I think I'll actuallly have a better chance with a generalist like a family practitioner or internist, who is less likely to have their ego all wrapped up in a particular recommendation. Although a doctor who's a generalist may only be a so-so listener, too.

I guess it all depends on the person as to what works for them - for me having a counsellor was very useful and I would put that mostly down to me being open and trusting her (often going beyond what I would usually tell people in general) so she can really understand me.

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