Adapted CBT therapy that worked

I guess it might depend on whether you think anything you experience is actually rooted in what you think or whether it's rooted in any of your autism's core features.

Before I worked out I was autistic and was properly diagnosed I had years of CBT and other talking therapies to deal with my medical phobias. They didn't work, I was blamed and thrown in the MH bin for not changing what I think and getting better and my meltdowns in medical context and under health related stresses misunderstood and I was labbled EUPD (utter BS).

Throughout it all I was being told I was having panic attacks and needed to 'control my emotions', whilst I was repeatedly describing what I now know are shutdowns and melt downs and an inability to communicate physical experience to medical staff. I kept saying over and over that whilst I followed CBT logic it did NOT match anything I was experiencing. I was being gaslighted. My reality denied and it did me more harm than good.

Now that I'm having to shell out thousands to get the NHS to clear up my diagnostic position for my own safety; a shutdown or a melt down is not a histrionic tantrum and it won't help me deal with the medical anxiety if medical staff view it that way, the private clinical psychologist I saw with expertise in both pds and autism voiced exactly the conclusion I came to the day I realised I was on the Spectrum: my experience IS real and no psychological therapy would work because the problem is in my neurology and what I 'think' is irrelevant.

So, if your problem is to do with something like that: your sensory system or some other core feature of your autism, you need something other than talking therapy or meds. Luke Beardon points out that autism + environment = outcome. You need some way to adapt the environment or the way things are done to cope. I'd recommend his little book on avoiding anxiety in autistic adults btw.

BUT that is not to say that adverse experience can't leave autistic people with psychological traumas and scares that talking therapies can help with. And there, yes indeed, you'd need a therapist with a solid understanding of autism who is capable of adapting to your need.

https://www.bacp.co.uk/about-therapy/how-to-find-a-therapist/?gclid=Cj0KCQjwyYKUBhDJARIsAMj9lkFNCNW6jq3ANTRnZZFbTK_SDjMV_Z4FIHdqXoTzHb8yuUORvS4RY5EaAkANEALw_wcB

This is the website of registered therapists in the uk. If you think anything about your problems might lie in your thinking, I'd recommend trawling that for someone with a back ground in autism.

Of course, for many, and you will know if you dissect the issues you face, the answer can be a bit of both: reasonable adjustments + autism informed therapy. I have a good person centred counsellor now, who got some extra training in autism when I realised I was autistic and who was treating 'as if' even ahead of my official diagnosis. He helps shave a tad off the medical anxiety ahead of my appointments, but the real solution will lie in the understanding and adaptations I now get from health care professionals. The more positive experience I have, after a life time of negative ones, the more I'll learn to relax and built trust with them.

I guess it might depend on whether you think anything you experience is actually rooted in what you think or whether it's rooted in any of your autism's core features.

Before I worked out I was autistic and was properly diagnosed I had years of CBT and other talking therapies to deal with my medical phobias. They didn't work, I was blamed and thrown in the MH bin for not changing what I think and getting better and my meltdowns in medical context and under health related stresses misunderstood and I was labbled EUPD (utter BS).

Throughout it all I was being told I was having panic attacks and needed to 'control my emotions', whilst I was repeatedly describing what I now know are shutdowns and melt downs and an inability to communicate physical experience to medical staff. I kept saying over and over that whilst I followed CBT logic it did NOT match anything I was experiencing. I was being gaslighted. My reality denied and it did me more harm than good.

Now that I'm having to shell out thousands to get the NHS to clear up my diagnostic position for my own safety; a shutdown or a melt down is not a histrionic tantrum and it won't help me deal with the medical anxiety if medical staff view it that way, the private clinical psychologist I saw with expertise in both pds and autism voiced exactly the conclusion I came to the day I realised I was on the Spectrum: my experience IS real and no psychological therapy would work because the problem is in my neurology and what I 'think' is irrelevant.

So, if your problem is to do with something like that: your sensory system or some other core feature of your autism, you need something other than talking therapy or meds. Luke Beardon points out that autism + environment = outcome. You need some way to adapt the environment or the way things are done to cope. I'd recommend his little book on avoiding anxiety in autistic adults btw.

BUT that is not to say that adverse experience can't leave autistic people with psychological traumas and scares that talking therapies can help with. And there, yes indeed, you'd need a therapist with a solid understanding of autism who is capable of adapting to your need.

https://www.bacp.co.uk/about-therapy/how-to-find-a-therapist/?gclid=Cj0KCQjwyYKUBhDJARIsAMj9lkFNCNW6jq3ANTRnZZFbTK_SDjMV_Z4FIHdqXoTzHb8yuUORvS4RY5EaAkANEALw_wcB

This is the website of registered therapists in the uk. If you think anything about your problems might lie in your thinking, I'd recommend trawling that for someone with a back ground in autism.

Of course, for many, and you will know if you dissect the issues you face, the answer can be a bit of both: reasonable adjustments + autism informed therapy. I have a good person centred counsellor now, who got some extra training in autism when I realised I was autistic and who was treating 'as if' even ahead of my official diagnosis. He helps shave a tad off the medical anxiety ahead of my appointments, but the real solution will lie in the understanding and adaptations I now get from health care professionals. The more positive experience I have, after a life time of negative ones, the more I'll learn to relax and built trust with them.

Thank you for sharing this. I have a long list of things I want to be better equipped to deal with. I am not sure which stems from autism, which from trauma and which from both. The two can't be separated and dealt with on their own. So yeah, someone who understands both would fit me best. It sometimes takes me days, or sometimes years to figure out something wrong/awful has happened. So I am fearful of mistreatment, misunderstanding, mis... this, mis... that. It's like I can't process even the most obvious things. Trust takes years to build with me and slowly comes progress, which I'm not sure is a great situation, considering how much these sessions would cost. 

Hi Dawn - can I ask how your therapist helps you with your anxiety before medical appointments? I have a real problem with this but I cannot afford to pay for a private therapist. What advice does he give you? At this point I can’t bear to go anywhere NEAR a doctor’s surgery or hospital. I recently had to cancel an appointment for a scan at a hospital because of this. Can you share any strategies that have helped you? Thanks