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?
Hi I am also having trouble at work, despite a report from my psychiatrist, to my employers, having had a panic attack yesterday and being advised not to rely on antidepressants as I have been on them for eighteen years. I am also on a claims casual basis, not a contract and my job is likely to end in mid July, I still suffer from stress and anxiety and feel the lack of support at this present time. The next time I have a crisis I will be referred to Social Services not the Mental Health team, but we as ASD people do need mental health support as well. I also have to care for myself, having no carer and at times life can be tough, so I feel for you in your situation.
I find that the advice from the National Autistic Service was great in dealing with my own mini meltdown at work, go to a quiet place, which I do at lunch time, breathe and relax which also helps with anxiety, stress and panic attacks. I think there are a lot of overlaps with mental health and autism. I am against those who want to empower people by withdrawing any type of psychological support by stating it's just another form of seeing the world. Yes it is but some of us need support and the recent Government would love to cut more funding from support services. Those who advocate that autistic people should be treated the same, don't realise that some of us on the spectrum really struggle as someone who may have hearing difficulties or poor eyesight and stating that everyone is on the spectrum annoys me immensely because anxiety and stress is what I have to cope with everyday and it does not improve as a woman going through the change of life, when hormone levels are affecting me too. In an ideal world we would all accept neuro differences but we don't live in that world yet.
Yes, it’s very hard to manage these difficulties on top of work. For me personally, finding a supportive employer has done me the world of good, though I still have days when I really struggle in work and the mental health problems caused by my former employer haven’t abated as yet. I’m glad you have found some techniques to help you manage your anxiety in work, just make sure not to push yourself too far in this regard - having done it previously, I don’t think it’s worth sacrificing your mental health for any job.
I totally agree that many people with autism also suffer from mental health problems, so relevant support should be there for this. I suppose we just have to hope that one day the world will catch up and be more understanding of the needs of those with autism.
I lost my cool more than once too at these places when I was still in the UK. I wrote a letter of complaint to an MP when still living in the Midlands, unfortunately after moving the MP was on the wrong side. I never thought it would just keep on getting worse in the UK.
That’s clearly where I’m going wrong - I don’t go to pubs, so I don’t find the fellow knitters! Interesting point regarding going deaf, I’m now wondering about that point myself...