Published on 12, July, 2020
Hi all. I’m 39F undiagnosed but confident I have Asperger’s. I’ve only been aware for the last few years but it explains so many of the struggles I had since childhood and I now feel I live with that trauma. Most nights I dream about autism related moments from younger years.
I’m also a ‘functioning’ alcoholic which I believe stems from my autism.
I’d like to speak to a therapist who specialises in autism. Has anyone done similar and have any recommendations on how to find someone please?
Welcome aboard!
Alcohol issues seem a common theme, I'd probably not drink were I not autistic, the hangover anxiety is horrible, but then I'd not function (or at least feel like I couldn't) in social situations.
It quiets the noisy mind too, so i often have a few beers on my own, I know, dangerous!
Recently I've taken steps to try and drink a lot less, 20 years ago I drank every night, then went to just weekends and now I try and avoid it unless socially or a special occasion (not using "it's Friday" as a reason to drink any more!)
You might want to look at diagnosis, I really thought I was probably autistic or maybe ADHD for a long time and never felt I needed a confirmation, but diagnosis helped me truly believe it, education provided post diagnosis helped a lot too. Also there's some quite subtly different ways to approach different neuro divergent types. As other have mentioned too there's lots of overlaps.
fi_110 said:Has anyone done similar and have any recommendations on how to find someone please?
I would reccomend the list of therapists from the site below:
https://www.psychologytoday.com/gb/counselling/england?category=autism&spec=4
I have added the filters of autism and addiction to narrow the list to help but these are easily edited from the Filters button.
If you are in another country then you can edit the name in the link - I set it to England as it has the most people.
Most do Zoom calls for sessions to geographic location is largely irrelevant these days. My therapist is based in Canada for example as this works best for my time zone (currently living in Brazil).
Your experiences are quite common ones for us and I would recommend you do a free online test to confirm the diagnosis is correct - there are a range of neurodivergent conditions that share similar traits so you may find you are actually ADHD or bipolar instead - well worth increasing your confidence on this.
A good site for this is:
https://www.thevividmind.org/blog/test/autism-test-online/
Lastly (and a bit pedantically so apologies), Aspergers is a term no longer used in diagnosis. It is now part of the Autism Spectrum or High Functioning Autism if you want to be factional.
If you have any questions on your autism then it helps to be specific about the traits you are showing (eg "I keep having dreams about my childhoold traumas, what can I do to stop it") and you will probably get helpful answers.
Of course a decent therapist is worth a hundred randoms from the internet when it comes to advice, but we are free