Psychologists often don't 'get' autism, my own experience exemplifies this

longman said:

Ah now you've hit on the greatest mystery of all - at least in respect of this discussion forum. Do any of the autism "experts" read these discussions?  Or are we just reading each other's observations.

There has always been a certain bizarre impression of medical experts that the one group of people they wouldn't ask for an opinion are the people that have got the condition!

So I rather suspect they feel they've nothing to gain.

Unless the moderators feel inclined to tell us otherwise........

despite what doctors say about the net, THEY use it the same as we do, and for their job as well as socialising etc, so yes i think someone eventually gets to read comments, etc, things are done a lot more over the net nowadays so its a huge part of how people get information

but does that mean they will take it on board, not usually,at least i dont think so,  not unless they get paid extra   whch is whats important to a lot of people in the health field, but any that do care enough to read all these peoples views and experiences and then use it are the ones we need in the health system, not the former 

Ah now you've hit on the greatest mystery of all - at least in respect of this discussion forum. Do any of the autism "experts" read these discussions?  Or are we just reading each other's observations.

There has always been a certain bizarre impression of medical experts that the one group of people they wouldn't ask for an opinion are the people that have got the condition!

So I rather suspect they feel they've nothing to gain.

Unless the moderators feel inclined to tell us otherwise........

longman said:

It is also because "learned understanding" (as distinct from real contact experience) is gained from clinical contexts: people referred to psychiatrists/psychologists etc who have real difficulties on account of their autistic spectrum disorder. They are not seeing people or reading about people who aren't attending clinics.

It is quite clear that most specialists treat the resultant problems not the cause. There are plenty of accounts of people being treated for depression or anxiety or OCD being told that they aren't trying, if they still report problems. Because - clearly unknown to these "professionals" - you cannot cure the actual autisim related problems.

The sad fact is they know little about the social difficulties or the misunderstandings and exclusions that result. Nor do they understand about environmental stresses, the way the brain processes some environmental inputs and distorts or amplifies these inputs. People on the spectrum can hear, see and smell normally, but the way the brain then processes the information atypically, is simply not known about.

So to them treating the depression or anxiety or OCD that largely RESULTS from having these initial problems, seems to their narrow vision, all there is to the problem.

Tragically, despite various campaigns to inform them that there is more to it than this, fails to penetrate. I know clinicians are overwhelmed by information and have little time to take in long wordy guidance documents. It should be the responsibility of professional bodies to inform their members with well-written effective synthesis (ie informative articles) that they can digest.

There seems to be a massive failure by professionals to take autism seriously. There is also still an assumption that people with social difficulties are merely inadequate or immature, or wasting time etc (as was widely applied in the 70s, 80s and 90s to young people and adults who didn't seem to cope well, but did not have an obvious pychosis).

There really is no excuse in 2012 for this appallingly unprofessional level of ignorance. If your consultant cannot connect addressing your OCD issues with the primary problems you face with aspergers, my own viewpoint (may not go down well) is that he shouldn't be let loose on patients - suspended or struck off.  But reality shows little change in this respect.

As to fear of dogs, people on the spectrum may have sensivity to loud nouse, complex or sudden movement, and unpredictability of behaviour of things in their environment. Dogs are a very good illustration of a hurtful occurrence in the perceived environment of someone with an autistic spectrum disorder. So this is not conventional phobia, it is real fear of hurtful sensory overload. If your clinician doesn't understand that, he/she is basically useless.

I am tired of reading about the gross inadequacy of training and understanding by professionals paid to help people on the spectrum. It is time for NAS to get tough with the professionals.

So true. It is almost as if the Aspergers is not relevant, because my Asperger's syndrome was rarely referred to, despite my Autism trained support worker being with me. The psychologist KNEW I have Aspergers, but ignored it!.

A previous psychologist did want to know, but she left, and as I said in a previous post, all the best people seem to leave

It is also because "learned understanding" (as distinct from real contact experience) is gained from clinical contexts: people referred to psychiatrists/psychologists etc who have real difficulties on account of their autistic spectrum disorder. They are not seeing people or reading about people who aren't attending clinics.

It is quite clear that most specialists treat the resultant problems not the cause. There are plenty of accounts of people being treated for depression or anxiety or OCD being told that they aren't trying, if they still report problems. Because - clearly unknown to these "professionals" - you cannot cure the actual autisim related problems.

The sad fact is they know little about the social difficulties or the misunderstandings and exclusions that result. Nor do they understand about environmental stresses, the way the brain processes some environmental inputs and distorts or amplifies these inputs. People on the spectrum can hear, see and smell normally, but the way the brain then processes the information atypically, is simply not known about.

So to them treating the depression or anxiety or OCD that largely RESULTS from having these initial problems, seems to their narrow vision, all there is to the problem.

Tragically, despite various campaigns to inform them that there is more to it than this, fails to penetrate. I know clinicians are overwhelmed by information and have little time to take in long wordy guidance documents. It should be the responsibility of professional bodies to inform their members with well-written effective synthesis (ie informative articles) that they can digest.

There seems to be a massive failure by professionals to take autism seriously. There is also still an assumption that people with social difficulties are merely inadequate or immature, or wasting time etc (as was widely applied in the 70s, 80s and 90s to young people and adults who didn't seem to cope well, but did not have an obvious pychosis).

There really is no excuse in 2012 for this appallingly unprofessional level of ignorance. If your consultant cannot connect addressing your OCD issues with the primary problems you face with aspergers, my own viewpoint (may not go down well) is that he shouldn't be let loose on patients - suspended or struck off.  But reality shows little change in this respect.

As to fear of dogs, people on the spectrum may have sensivity to loud nouse, complex or sudden movement, and unpredictability of behaviour of things in their environment. Dogs are a very good illustration of a hurtful occurrence in the perceived environment of someone with an autistic spectrum disorder. So this is not conventional phobia, it is real fear of hurtful sensory overload. If your clinician doesn't understand that, he/she is basically useless.

I am tired of reading about the gross inadequacy of training and understanding by professionals paid to help people on the spectrum. It is time for NAS to get tough with the professionals.

Hope said:

I have finished a course of CBT for my phobias and OCD. The CBT was quite useful in places, particularly the information on how to fill in thought charts and anxiety ratings, which have given me something to focus on, and they do help me in working around my anxieties.

However, at the end of the day I still have phobias and OCD. My psychologist has failed to 'cure' them.complex.

The psychologist just did not seem to understand autism that well.

 

i think you are right, i doubt a lot of psychologists understand autism very well, its still a releativly 'new' issue to them so they dont know about it and its left to autistic specialists to help people with autism

psychologists cant "cure" phobias, they are able to help you figure out why you do it and then try to find a 'better way' for you to cope with it

buty you stil have to do the work for that 

its brilliant you find cbt good for you in some ways and its helped you work around anxieties, but you still have a long way to go , phobias are hard to beat, id say they are the hardest to be honest, because they usually stem from places we cant remember, so its not as easy as figuring out why you have that fear and accpeting it

i think the psychologist saying your phobia of dogs is " a simple one" is obviously a very unproffessional and unhelpful thing to say, especially taking into account your autism, but like i said, psychologists dontknow anything about autism, its many and varied symptoms or how it affects a persons life, so in reality her comments onthat are not worth taking on board

There is a problem in trying to cure OCD in people like me. The reason I have OCD cannot be seperated from my Asperger's. My OCD is like a mental tic, it is undoubtably neurological in origin. So many people feel guilty when their OCD seems so ineradicable. I have often felt guilty myself. But if you see it a brain issue, then we are hardly to blame for finding it hard to resist checking or washing. These problems can be eased with the right support, and what we really need are more psychologists who have had proper training in autism, who are experts in autism AND OCD!