Published on 12, July, 2020
I have suffered from significant depression and anxiety for the last few years, which came about due to the treatment I endured by a former employer. During this period I have struggled to get any help from mental health services at all - I am just passed from one service to the next and none of the professionals appear to understand me due to my autism. All I keep hearing is 'well that's not my area' or 'I don't specialise in that' when I ask to see someone who can treat my mental health problems and understand my autism. When I asked if adjusted CBT was available in my area (such that is appropriate for someone with autism), the answer was a straight no. Further, I get 'well we can't guarantee the same person would see you all the time, could you cope with that?' and 'well you're going to have to have a degree of flexibility and willingness to change and obviously that is going to be hard for you given your autism.' In other words, mental health services are very negative about my autism and they are unwilling to understand how it affects me because they only deal with the mental health side of things.
A few weeks ago I had a very difficult episode with my ongoing mental health and I ended up in hospital as a result. This led to me being referred to CMHT once again. Then yesterday, following a visit to my GP where I unexpectedly found out my referral to CMHT had been rejected (which nobody cared to tell me about), so I spent 6 hours chasing around 4 different mental health services because each was saying the other should be seeing me and communicating with me about what is happening, only to be ultimately told following another assessment that CMHT is the most appropriate team for me and I will be re-referred to them. Added on was the fact that if I wanted to see someone who would understand my mental health and my autism, then I would have to go privately because CMHT don't have these services.
This all just seems like utter madness to me, and it has been going on like this for years - nobody in mental health wants to deal with me because they don't understand the autism, but then services for autism say that mental health is not something they deal with. Why, just why, isn't there somebody, somewhere, that can understand both?! As my autism is a fundamental part of me, then I believe it is imperative that anybody assessing or treating my mental health understands it and how it affects me. If they can't do that, then I don't believe they can help me as they can't even begin to understand my thinking. What do you guys think? Am I being too demanding here?
As someone who is still suffering serious mental health issues because of the way I was treated at work, I can sympathise.
I also find it strange that I keep going to my GP and they just keep giving me sick notes so that I can get benefits (I ultimately lost my job due to discrimination and bullying), but they have never offered me any actual treatment. When I asked about this the last time, saying that my stress-related headaches were getting really bad and painkillers no longer made any difference, I was told that I could go on antidepressants (though I have not been prescribed anything yet) and I was referred to a stress management course involving CBT. I'll give the course a try, but I do not understand why I couldn't continue with the same psychiatrist who diagnosed me, or something like that. I don't want to take drugs because I really don't see how that's going to help me, when my problem arises from how others treat me, and not from some chemical imbalance or whatever.
Of course mental health professionals should understand ASD. It's in the flipping DSM-V as a "mental disorder", not that I particularly agree with that, but it's definitely not a physical condition. The trouble is that people in the healthcare community just don't want to put in the effort of treating someone with more than one thing "wrong" with them because that would require too much effort. After all, GP appointments are limited to 10 minutes because they only want to treat people one symptom at a time. Therefore, anyone with ASD along with anything else is just too much trouble.
DragonCat16 said:I don't want to take drugs because I really don't see how that's going to help me, when my problem arises from how others treat me, and not from some chemical imbalance or whatever.
I feel much the same about them. I did forget to mention that I’m offered antidepressants every time I see my GP despite me making clear that I don’t want them and explaining why. At the end of the day, like you say, a pill can’t magically fix everything that has been done to me by others that made me feel that way in the first place!
I’m sorry you are having your own difficulties in this area, as I say I think it’s mad that nobody wants to deal with mental health problems plus ASD. I’ve even sent an email to the NAS asking what they are doing about this issue, but all I’ve received so far is information regarding how they are making sure GPs are more aware of ASD, which whilst good doesn’t address the mental health side of things. I’ll keep trying...