Autism and therapy question

I'm 31, male and was diagnosed with autism last year. Though I find Asperger's fits me better, but anyway... I've thought for a while that seeing a psychiatrist would help me with my depression, feelings of self worth and suicide. I even saw a haematologist last week about a blood clotting disorder I have who strongly advised I see a psychiatrist. However, I have a classmate on my college course who has autism and who's off ill due to her depression and anxiety etc. When I suggested to them about seeing a councillor or therapist, she said that they wouldn't work because she has autism. Is this the case for autistic people? Does counselling/therapy not work for people on the spectrum...? It would make sense considering our brains are hardwired differently, therefore making it unlikely that changing our mindset would be effective, or is this just someone who's been misguided...? I imagine seeing a psychiatrist would help in the sense of having someone to talk to and unload my problems onto, but that's probably as far as it'll go.

Thanks

Trogluddite over 7 years ago

I'm very flattered to see that the previous poster has pointed you at my old post about therapy experiences.

The only thing that I would add to that, is that there's no harm in giving it a go. The stuff that I wrote there may give you some idea for how to describe your autistic traits to the therapist, and how you might guide them if you think that what they're doing isn't working very well. At the end of the day, even for non-autistic people, how effective therapy is depends a lot on the particular relationship that you and the therapist have - some combinations just don't work, and others might even if the therapist doesn't have autism training but is sufficiently adaptable and will listen to your suggestions.
NAS36609 over 7 years ago

It’s not so much the case that all therapies don’t work, but that most mainstream psychological therapies such as CBT need to be adapted in order to suit the autistic mind and therefore have the desired effect. This anecdotal evidence from a fellow forum members’s experiences may help to explain why things need to be adapted:

https://community.autism.org.uk/f/health-and-wellbeing/13494/that-s-the-kind-of-cbt-for-me/83657#83657

Also, this presentation from a specialist service may help with understanding where mainstream mental health services may go wrong when seeing individuals with autism:

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=SdlRaEjKbvs

I myself have been misdiagnosed previously due to the psychiatrist I saw not understanding the traits of autism. This meant I was mistreated and labelled with a personality disorder when I didn’t have one (latterly confirmed by a consultant psychologist who specialised in said disorder, after I categorically said I didn’t meet the diagnostic criteria). Basically, if the professionals involved don’t understand autism they can cause you more harm than good. It therefore is advisable to seek mental health support from a professional who does understand autism.

Psychiatrists are usually interested in diagnosis and then psychologists deliver therapies (i.e. it’s the psychologists you spend more time talking to, though usually they want to deliver structured therapy, not simply talk about your difficulties). A counsellor may be better if you want to simply talk and offload. I recommend that you speak to your GP about your difficulties and what you want in terms of help, highlighting that you have autism, and they should be able to talk through referral options with you.