Published on 12, July, 2020
Hi
Has anyone else out there been diagnosed with both aspergers and personality disorder. I suffer from depression and had a challenging upbringing and was diagnosed with personality disorder 3 and half years ago, recently i was assessed by the personality disorder people to say I had aspergers traits although they wont/cant give me a proper diagnosis.
I was told that people with aspergers should not have psychotherapy , in fact it was dangerous. I feel that i am being treated as if having aspergers means that my experiences in childhood can not affect me as my brain works different.
The whole thing has been really unpleasant experience. I was bullied for the first 2 and half years of group therapy by 2 women, the staff didnt believe me, even though some of it was going on in front of them. It was only when these two unpleasant women left that other members of the group spoke out as they were scared of being bullied themselves.
I have found myself feeling an outsider, the psychiatrists idea of someone with aspergers is the big bang theory.
Actually the whole experience has been unpleasant , of the 3 and half years I have been going 3 years have been dealing with bullies. because I am stupid and have to keep to routines, I kept going back. I kept hoping things would get better.
I have only just started to deal with the aspergers and also my past, but i feel so angry that I leave in 6 months and have not dealt with a lot of issuses other than survive.
Am I on my own with aspergers and personality issues
I can uderstand your fustration in many ways. I am feeling a little overwhealmed by other people's opionons about the correct diagnosis for me. I also feel that my psychiatrist doesn't understnad Aspergers at all. The fact you were bullied in therapy is appalling. I am sorry that that happened to you. people are always telling me that becasue I have aspergers I don't have empathy/ understand others feelings but I do actually care about other people and I know that would not be a nice thing to happen.
Can I ask what problems you have with your mental health?
I have a diagnosis of Aspergers (diagnosed as a child) and I have stryuggled since childhood with social skills, mangaing my emotions and other behavoiral issues like needing a lot of routines.
I have also had other mental health problems since I was a teenager including depression, self harm and episodes of psychosis. I have recently been diagnosed with emotionaly unstable personality disorder (BPD). I disagree for the following reasons
- My difficulties are not contant. I have times when I get depressed then I develop psychotic symptoms, then I get medication and get better and the depression and psychosis go away. I feel if this was a personality disorder it would be more constnat.
- I feel my problems with relationships and controlling my emotions are explainable by my aspergers and when I have had help with learning about social skills/ emotions ect I have got better
- I was abused as a child and I think this was a cause of the depression. I feel that becasue of my history they are just assuming personality disorder
- I previously saw a specialist ASD psychiatrist and she told me that autistic people are more prone to psychotic like experiences when they are emotionally distrested than other people.
I think it is a strange assumption that therapy can't help people with aspergers as all people with aspergers are different. I feel that the personality disorder diagnosis is like they are saying 'you don't have a real illness, it's just your personality'