Therapy

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.

  • 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.

Reply Children
No Data