Page 1 of 1 [ 9 posts ] 

firemonkey
Veteran
Veteran

User avatar

Joined: 23 Mar 2015
Gender: Male
Posts: 5,850
Location: Calne,England

24 Sep 2025, 3:54 am

Quote:
Therapy is a place to be heard and understood, yet for many autistic adults, building a sense of psychological sanctuary can be tricky. Mental health support is especially important due to heightened prevalence of depression, anxiety, and suicidality in the autistic population (O’Nions et al., 2024).


https://www.nationalelfservice.net/lear ... s-therapy/


_________________
Socially drifted middle class


Tamaya
Veteran
Veteran

Joined: 8 May 2025
Age: 36
Gender: Female
Posts: 2,653
Location: England

24 Sep 2025, 6:27 am

The idea of therapy seems to be to make the person see things through a more logical perspective, which I thought would be easy for most autistics, since we're supposed to be more logical than NTs.

I struggle with seeing most things through a logical perspective, as I think very irrationally in emotions, and people throwing logic at me doesn't ever make a dent in my anxiety.

On another forum every problem I had was met with ''have you tried therapy?'' every single time and it was really irritating. I told them that therapy wouldn't work for my Emetophobia, but they insisted, pulling the ''but how do you know if you haven't tried?'' technique. So I went for therapy, and just as I knew already, it didn't work. The therapist was nice, but kept setting homework and expected me to keep notes, which I found difficult to remember to do. Then she'd tell me off like a schoolteacher if I failed to meet these demands. I knew I wasn't getting anywhere really with it anyway, so I quit.


_________________
My diagnosis story and why it was a traumatic experience for me:
viewtopic.php?f=35&t=416910&start=1056#p9695026

Please notify me if there's a spelling mistake or an obvious autocorrect error in my posts.


firemonkey
Veteran
Veteran

User avatar

Joined: 23 Mar 2015
Gender: Male
Posts: 5,850
Location: Calne,England

25 Sep 2025, 3:39 am

Thanks for replying. If anyone else had posted this article it would've got more response.


_________________
Socially drifted middle class


MartineRomy
Sea Gull
Sea Gull

User avatar

Joined: 24 Sep 2025
Age: 50
Gender: Female
Posts: 213
Location: Belgium

25 Sep 2025, 4:16 am

firemonkey wrote:
Thanks for replying. If anyone else had posted this article it would've got more response.

Don't know many people here yet and trying not to post too negative on really positive news/research...

Unfortunately my experience with therapists and 'auti pros' is mixed, not because they were all very bad but I'm not an easy patient. Some do have their standard questions, checkboxes and not much else making you think about who the one with communications issues is. They are not all that bad (now I should learn to practice what I preach...).

I have had a psychologist (for non-auti things) suggest I needed someone as in result 2 "communication needs" because I tend to say 'ok' when they ask me how it is going and it takes effort from both to get things going. Unfortunately those exist only for children. Might be local (all registered auti people in my area are children only)

As many researches (I participated in auti research for a while) it feels so obvious, a repeat of studies before and nothing will happen. (it does, but very slow... for the next generation)



BTDT
Veteran
Veteran

User avatar

Joined: 26 Jul 2010
Age: 63
Gender: Non-binary
Posts: 8,488

25 Sep 2025, 5:00 am

The problem with therapy is that there is a bias by normal people to make you normal, so what you get is CONVERSION THERAPY! Yes, I was screaming.

Never worked for converting gays to straight.

What you need is therapy by Autistics to undo damaging masking habits that sap us of energy and creativity.



firemonkey
Veteran
Veteran

User avatar

Joined: 23 Mar 2015
Gender: Male
Posts: 5,850
Location: Calne,England

25 Sep 2025, 5:26 am

Some very good points have been made. I'll probably be seen as dumb for saying this, but I struggle with the thoughts, feelings, and actions approach. Then there's the need to respond, to questions asked, in ways that are relevant for me - but don't fit in with how I'm expected to respond.


_________________
Socially drifted middle class


Mikurotoro92
Veteran
Veteran

Joined: 30 Aug 2022
Age: 33
Gender: Female
Posts: 2,081
Location: Mushroom Kingdom or Bikini Bottom

25 Sep 2025, 6:00 am

Therapy can be helpful, I have my own therapist

My neighbor Anita was the one who originally suggested therapy because she wanted to help me find love and reach the goal of marriage!! !



nick007
Veteran
Veteran

User avatar

Joined: 4 May 2010
Gender: Male
Posts: 28,552
Location: was Louisiana but now Vermont in capitalistic military dictatorship called USA

25 Sep 2025, 1:32 pm

Tamaya wrote:
The idea of therapy seems to be to make the person see things through a more logical perspective, which I thought would be easy for most autistics, since we're supposed to be more logical than NTs.

I struggle with seeing most things through a logical perspective, as I think very irrationally in emotions, and people throwing logic at me doesn't ever make a dent in my anxiety.

On another forum every problem I had was met with ''have you tried therapy?'' every single time and it was really irritating. I told them that therapy wouldn't work for my Emetophobia, but they insisted, pulling the ''but how do you know if you haven't tried?'' technique. So I went for therapy, and just as I knew already, it didn't work. The therapist was nice, but kept setting homework and expected me to keep notes, which I found difficult to remember to do. Then she'd tell me off like a schoolteacher if I failed to meet these demands. I knew I wasn't getting anywhere really with it anyway, so I quit.
My girlfriend is very likely on the spectrum & is like that as well. Using logic on her when she's upset can come off as a personal attack & turns into her getting very defensive or shutting down. She's dealt with a few various counselors & for about the last decade has been seeing a psychiatrist. Those professionals seem to have major problems understanding her issues & the way she thinks. They expect that she's currently more functional than what she is. Her first or second counselor recommended Cass apply for SSI & said that she would make Cass seem a bit worse to make sure she'd qualify & the way the counselor described Cass was how Cass actually was. Counselors have tried giving Cass homework tasks that possibly could have helped if she kept up with it. However her counselors didn't ask about it during her appointments & just assumed Cass was keeping up with it so Cass quickly stopped bothering to do it. She needs directing with most anything & needs some pressure to motivate her. She tried emailing one of her counselors to explain her thought process & what might work or not work for her & the counselor took it as a personal attack & said that she wasn't gonna be her counselor anymore.

I'm the opposite of you Tamaya with this. When I'm feeling anxious or stressed it majorly helps for me to have a realistic plan in place that could better manage what I'm feeling anxious about. I tried therapy a little & I've dealt with psychiatrists a bit more as well. The professionals I've dealt with seem to get the causes & effects of things mixed up for me. I started tying to analyze myself & posting about things online to learn why I'm the way I am. I figured out that I do have certain triggers & addressing those triggers majorly helps prevent that emotional spiral from starting. I'm straightforward & want to fix or stop the things that bother me instead of changing my thought process to feel better about them. I've had much better luck managing things after I started researching meds to manage specific issues & triggers & then asking to try specific meds instead of just letting my psychiatrist & doctors guessing about what to do. I trust myself, my experiences, & my research aLOT more than I trust psychs & docs to know what's best for me.


_________________
"I don't have an anger problem, I have an idiot problem!"
~King Of The Hill


"Hear all, trust nothing"
~Ferengi Rule Of Acquisition #190
https://memory-alpha.fandom.com/wiki/Ru ... cquisition


CockneyRebel
Veteran
Veteran

User avatar

Joined: 17 Jul 2004
Age: 51
Gender: Male
Posts: 121,054
Location: In my own little country

26 Sep 2025, 11:24 am

I'm glad that my parents didn't put me through therapy and that I was allowed to be a kid. I went to a developmental pre-school and that's what helped me.


_________________
The Family Schlager