I've had therapy and counselling a few times in my life for social anxiety, but it's ineffective because they're trained to councel neurotypicals. I'm autistic with ADHD.
Is there no autistic therapy on the NHS? (With a therapist who is autistic and trained to councel autistics). I could only find one such service on the website and it's private only.
If they exist, how do I access them, please? I feel like only a neurodivergent therapist could help.
So do I. I would never consider therapy again unless the therapist were themselves neurodivergent.
Sadly, the NHS pretends it's ok to give us what NTs get with a few adaptations. Sadly, they've no idea how to adapt.
We need seperate sevices run by other autistic people.
I have also found CBT, and indeed all therapy for NTs, totally useless for all the reasons you guys mention above.
We need seperate sevices run by other autistic people.
Yes I completely agree, we need our own Autopia! (perfect world for autistic people).
Having said that, in our current society we still do need neurotypical people to understand autistic mental health, including overwhelm and burnout. Neurotypical therapists should also understand what positive autistic identity and mental health looks like and how connections to our own community, culture and unmasking can really help us to improve and maintain our mental state.
From my experience, connecting with my own autistic community has been invaluable, really positive and given me a very strong sense of passion, belonging and collective identity. I feel very proud to be part of my autistic community. In my own opinion, connection with my own community is the best source of support for my own mental health.
Yes indeed we do need NTs to understand, especially in mental health and especially as so many of us remain unidentified for so long. We cope until we don't. At that point an autistic person, who has no clue they are autistic, will land on the steps of mental health services. At that point they are vulnerable to misdiagnosis and effectively being gaslighted by services designed for an NT mind - oh boy, have I been there?!
But if they were at least well informed enough to recognise that when we can't relate to or get anything out of their therapies we aren't naughty, challenging or non-compliant children, we just might have a different neurology altogether and be quite rationally anxious in an alien world. If they could get as far as seeing us when we present - in an ideal world, then get us a speedier route to diagnosis and point us toward autistic therapies, developed by autistic people and delivered by fellow autistic people, that would be great AND save them a shed load of time and resources.
Yes indeed we do need NTs to understand, especially in mental health and especially as so many of us remain unidentified for so long. We cope until we don't. At that point an autistic person, who has no clue they are autistic, will land on the steps of mental health services. At that point they are vulnerable to misdiagnosis and effectively being gaslighted by services designed for an NT mind - oh boy, have I been there?!
But if they were at least well informed enough to recognise that when we can't relate to or get anything out of their therapies we aren't naughty, challenging or non-compliant children, we just might have a different neurology altogether and be quite rationally anxious in an alien world. If they could get as far as seeing us when we present - in an ideal world, then get us a speedier route to diagnosis and point us toward autistic therapies, developed by autistic people and delivered by fellow autistic people, that would be great AND save them a shed load of time and resources.
Yes exactly, very well said.
And rational indeed in the face of the different information our sensory systems give us. There is no 'differently thinking' or CBTing that away. It's more akin to the person with a physical ailment living daily with extreme pain. It's about coping with our reality not thinking our way to pretending our reality does not exist.
Yes indeed we do need NTs to understand, especially in mental health as especially as so many of us remain unidentified for so long. We cope until we don't. At that point an autistic person who has no clue they are autistic will land on the steps of mental health services
Yes exactly, we usually are identified as autistic when we are struggling and in significant distress. This is because the diagnostic criteria is based on a distressed autistic person instead of an an autistic person who has a positive autistic identity and is in a supportive environment. Therefore many young autistics perceive being autistic negatively because of the situation they were in when they were identified. Their introduction to understanding their own autistic experience is often negative.
At that point they are vulnerable to misdiagnosis and effectively being gaslighted by services designed for an NT mind - oh boy, have I been there?!
I understand what you mean about being vulnerable to misdiagnosis because at that point you probably have no energy/potential ability to think clearly in order to question your diagnosis. I am sorry you have had to experience this, that must have been be very difficult for you. Now you know you are autistic that must have lead to a lot of reflection and reframing of your experiences.
If they could get as far as seeing us when we present - in an ideal world, then get us a speedier route to diagnosis and point us toward autistic therapies, developed by autistic people and delivered by fellow autistic people, that would be great AND save them a shed load of time and resources.
Yes this ideal world sounds perfect, our own Autopia!
But if they were at least well informed enough to recognise that when we can't relate to or get anything out of their therapies we aren't naughty, challenging or non-compliant children, we just might have a different neurology altogether and be quite rationally anxious in an alien world.
Yes it’s so important to understand our different neurology and that the strategies that typical therapy uses are often not beneficial because they are only based on one perspective/solution to a situation. Also understanding of our neurology and why our needs differ could take quite a while because often mental health services still operate using the medical model, this is one of the reasons why the basics of CBT are about changing your thought patterns. Our anxiety is definitely rational given we exist as a minority culture and that often clashes with majority NT culture and ways of being human.
