Published on 12, July, 2020
Hi,
Prior to my autism diagnosis I had around 8 sessions with a CBT therapist which I think did more harm than good. It was as a result of this that I saw a psychiatrist which set me on my journey to a diagnosis.
Since then I have been seeing a therapist who uses a “people centred approach”, which seems to largely involve her asking me how I feel about things.
I’ve had around a dozen sessions now and while the first few were cathartic, I now feel I’m at an impasse. This approach isn’t helping me find any solutions or move my life forward and I’m starting to panic a little, feeling that there is no hope.
Have any of you had a more positive experience of therapy, and if so was it a specific kind of therapy?
i got reffered to a work therapy thing through my work, but that was useless and i didnt want to speak to them anyway, talking doesnt work.
I saw a YouTube video recently that said the entire therapy industry is really designed for women. Talking about feelings is of less value to men. What we need is concrete action and solutions.
I’m minded to agree.
Actions and solutions is what I tend to seek too and standard therapy doesn't provide that. Like you, every time I have had a course of CBT it's done more harm than good.
However I don't agree that the generalisation about therapy being designed for women can be applied to the autistic population. According to research between 50-85% of autistic people have Alexithymia, difficulties in identifying and describing feelings. Therefore talking about feelings and emotions becomes extremely difficult, no matter what gender.
https://neuroclastic.com/alexithymia-and-autism-what-its-like-to-not-know-how-you-feel/