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Therapy

Expecto_Patronum

I'm not asking for medical advice, I'm just interested in experiences. I have recently started therapy again but I don't think it's going that well. We have agreed that CBT is not the right fit for me. So she is looking at other things that could help but so far none of it feels like it's the right thing. I feel like I'm just saying no to everything and it's wasting sessions but I don't know how to engage with something that just doesn't feel right.

So people, particularly if you have AuDHD, what therapies have you tried that are NOT CBT. Did they work? What did you find useful? What did you find wasn't useful? Did you really have to push yourself to get anywhere with it? 

I obviously want to do whatever I can to improve my anxiety and depression and have better coping skills but so far I just don't see anything I'm being offered as useful but I have no clue what would be useful.

Obviously I know that none of you can tell me what is useful. I'm just interested to hear other people's experiences so I can see if they are a) similar to mine and b) if there's anything other people have tried that I think sounds helpful and could suggest to my therapist. 

Thanks in advance.

Parents

  • I've had A.C.T therapy (acceptance and commitment therapy). I found it useful as an autistic adult because it's about living a life in line with values that create a meaningful one.

    I'm also a therapist so have a foot on both sides of the experience. I honestly don't think therapy is that useful for ASD/ auDHDers. The premise of talking therapies is to return someone to a state which is defined by neurotypicals as one which will cause the least challenges. Hence we all tend to find CBT mega frustrating.

    I've realised that it's useful to see if creating an ASD (in my case) friendly life makes the difference first. Took me ages to answer the question 'do I get depressed or do I get burnout and meltdowns because my life is not user friendly for my ASD brain?'. 

    That said, the incidence of co-occurring conditions in our community is high. Unfortunately I don't think most therapists are able to spot the difference between burnout and depression. Just finished a really good book by Steph Jones called the Autistic Survival Guide to Therapy. Deals with all of these topics. She's autistic and a therapist. I recommend it to all my colleagues now.

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  • I've had A.C.T therapy (acceptance and commitment therapy). I found it useful as an autistic adult because it's about living a life in line with values that create a meaningful one.

    I'm also a therapist so have a foot on both sides of the experience. I honestly don't think therapy is that useful for ASD/ auDHDers. The premise of talking therapies is to return someone to a state which is defined by neurotypicals as one which will cause the least challenges. Hence we all tend to find CBT mega frustrating.

    I've realised that it's useful to see if creating an ASD (in my case) friendly life makes the difference first. Took me ages to answer the question 'do I get depressed or do I get burnout and meltdowns because my life is not user friendly for my ASD brain?'. 

    That said, the incidence of co-occurring conditions in our community is high. Unfortunately I don't think most therapists are able to spot the difference between burnout and depression. Just finished a really good book by Steph Jones called the Autistic Survival Guide to Therapy. Deals with all of these topics. She's autistic and a therapist. I recommend it to all my colleagues now.

Children
  • in reply to Somewhat damaged..

    I think I agree that therapy potentially isn't very useful for me. I don't think talking therapy has much chance of working but I'm also aware that that mindset will limit it's chances of working too.

    I have made changes to my life to make to more audhd friendly which has helped but there are areas of my life where that is difficult to do. For example, I struggle with keeping on top of every day housework and find this overwhelming but I can't afford a cleaner and I don't qualify for PIP so it's difficult to help with that. Pretty much anything I do in life does cause me anxiety but doing nothing doesn't help my mental state either so it's a difficult one. I also really struggle socially and limit this because I find it so difficult but I do crave some sort of social interaction. Because I find it difficult I've spent most of my life being rejected and feel this rejection really badly (common with neurodivergency I know) and it's these feelings that I really struggle with and are a huge trigger for my low mood.

    Thanks for your reply. It's so useful to get an answer from someone who can see both sides.

  • in reply to Somewhat damaged..
    Somewhat damaged.. said:
    Just finished a really good book by Steph Jones called the Autistic Survival Guide to Therapy. Deals with all of these topics. She's autistic and a therapist. I recommend it to all my colleagues now.

    I also found it immensely helpful, and I recommend it here regularly - as I did a few days ago in this thread, for example.