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Advice!!

Bonbonbon

I have a phone call with the gp tomorrow, I’m literally terrified i cannot handle phone calls but ive heavily suspected that i am autistic for 5 years now! My therapist also a few months ago brought up her believing i am also autistic, she has helped me finally muster up the courage to speak to a gp, however, historically my gp has been awful with understanding that ive needed support with my mental health and have dismissed me- i am trying to write a script right now but my mind has gone blank! My therapist has made a list of things she has noticed about me that will help support me while speaking to the gp but im just worried it wont be enough? If anyone could give me any advice id really appreciate it! :-)

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  • I still hate phone calls and I remember well when it felt so bad I just couldn't do them, so I sympathise. It took a lot of experience and time to force myself to become better at them. What I used to do was plan out the whole conversation in my head - but both sides of the conversation, with all the various permutations and possibilities. All it did was help me procrastinate indefinitely and get nowhere, because you can't possibly plan out anything like that when half of the conversation is out of your control.

    So although others have suggested planning a script, what I do now is decide what the very first thing to say is. In a phone call to something like a GP or a call centre, it's usually going to be explaining why you called in the first place. Once that is firm in my head, I then have to trust that it becomes a question/answer back and forth, so I'm just responding to the person's next statement/question. And usually this is fine, the biggest fear for me is the initial interaction - once I'm past that I'm committed and I just have to keep going, and I find it was never as bad as I first thought.

    If there are things you feel like you definitely want to say or get across, perhaps plan those out beforehand too so that when the time comes to respond (or you feel like there is a point where it should be brought up), you know what to say and don't have the pressure of being put on the spot. Ultimately I've found (in my own experience - others may feel differently) that you just can't plan out everything so prepare for one or two statements, and then respond to whatever comes next. It sounds scary, yet the other person really won't be as scary as you think.

    I hope it goes well for you.

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  • I still hate phone calls and I remember well when it felt so bad I just couldn't do them, so I sympathise. It took a lot of experience and time to force myself to become better at them. What I used to do was plan out the whole conversation in my head - but both sides of the conversation, with all the various permutations and possibilities. All it did was help me procrastinate indefinitely and get nowhere, because you can't possibly plan out anything like that when half of the conversation is out of your control.

    So although others have suggested planning a script, what I do now is decide what the very first thing to say is. In a phone call to something like a GP or a call centre, it's usually going to be explaining why you called in the first place. Once that is firm in my head, I then have to trust that it becomes a question/answer back and forth, so I'm just responding to the person's next statement/question. And usually this is fine, the biggest fear for me is the initial interaction - once I'm past that I'm committed and I just have to keep going, and I find it was never as bad as I first thought.

    If there are things you feel like you definitely want to say or get across, perhaps plan those out beforehand too so that when the time comes to respond (or you feel like there is a point where it should be brought up), you know what to say and don't have the pressure of being put on the spot. Ultimately I've found (in my own experience - others may feel differently) that you just can't plan out everything so prepare for one or two statements, and then respond to whatever comes next. It sounds scary, yet the other person really won't be as scary as you think.

    I hope it goes well for you.

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