How do you get a "support" worker to answer your questions?

I would support longman's suggestion about seeking out advocacy assistance. I think that it could be helpful to find someone who can translate between the very categorical black and white world of a person with ASD and non-autistic people who inhabit a world where greyness and ambiguity are accepted much more easily.

One of the problems with this situation is that you want a definite answer and the truth may be that noone is able to give you a definitive answer. Psychology and psychiatry is more of an art than a science in some ways. A diagnosis is normally just a doctor's opinion, in all good faith, of what they think is the best category to put you into for treatment. Doctors disagree with each other and it seems to be common for different doctors to put different labels on the same people. If you find a label that seems to fit and where the treatment according to the label seems to help then you can accept that the label is the right one. This is where I have got to in my own case. The doctor has given an opinion and I have found that I feel much better (less depressed, less stressed) because I think I understand what is going on in my mind better. Just having an explanation has been powerful in its own right. Having some techniques to actively treat myself has also helped.

There are very strong links between ASD and depression. People with ASD often go for "dichotomous" or black and white thinking. People with dichotomous thinking often get depressed.

I'm not sure that this is a particularly complex situation but it certainly helps if your psychologist (and you, yourself) understands how ASD affects your thinking. If this is understood then one way forward is to try to spot situations where your ASD tendencies are leading you into over reacting. If you spot yourself doing this and practice a think twice and speak (or act) once process then you might find that your depression lifts.

For example, if you have a fear of going to a cinema because you have got it into your mind that this could be dangerous because you have heard that a cinema was once bombed then you can consciously argue with yourself. Would the man on the clapham omnibus react in this way? Would any of your friends react in this way? Is it really reasonable to stop doing something that you might enjoy because there is a tiny possibility that you are going to get blown up. Most people will have heard the news report but reasonably decided that the possibility is so remote that it is not enough to stop them doing something they might enjoy.

This process of challenging yourself is at the heart of CBT and I think it helps if you understand that challenging yourself, to be more reasonable, is a very powerful technique.

I would support longman's suggestion about seeking out advocacy assistance. I think that it could be helpful to find someone who can translate between the very categorical black and white world of a person with ASD and non-autistic people who inhabit a world where greyness and ambiguity are accepted much more easily.

One of the problems with this situation is that you want a definite answer and the truth may be that noone is able to give you a definitive answer. Psychology and psychiatry is more of an art than a science in some ways. A diagnosis is normally just a doctor's opinion, in all good faith, of what they think is the best category to put you into for treatment. Doctors disagree with each other and it seems to be common for different doctors to put different labels on the same people. If you find a label that seems to fit and where the treatment according to the label seems to help then you can accept that the label is the right one. This is where I have got to in my own case. The doctor has given an opinion and I have found that I feel much better (less depressed, less stressed) because I think I understand what is going on in my mind better. Just having an explanation has been powerful in its own right. Having some techniques to actively treat myself has also helped.

There are very strong links between ASD and depression. People with ASD often go for "dichotomous" or black and white thinking. People with dichotomous thinking often get depressed.

I'm not sure that this is a particularly complex situation but it certainly helps if your psychologist (and you, yourself) understands how ASD affects your thinking. If this is understood then one way forward is to try to spot situations where your ASD tendencies are leading you into over reacting. If you spot yourself doing this and practice a think twice and speak (or act) once process then you might find that your depression lifts.

For example, if you have a fear of going to a cinema because you have got it into your mind that this could be dangerous because you have heard that a cinema was once bombed then you can consciously argue with yourself. Would the man on the clapham omnibus react in this way? Would any of your friends react in this way? Is it really reasonable to stop doing something that you might enjoy because there is a tiny possibility that you are going to get blown up. Most people will have heard the news report but reasonably decided that the possibility is so remote that it is not enough to stop them doing something they might enjoy.

This process of challenging yourself is at the heart of CBT and I think it helps if you understand that challenging yourself, to be more reasonable, is a very powerful technique.