Published on 12, July, 2020
For about maybe seven months now, I've been using BetterHelp for private therapy. I can't say I've found there to be any progress, though I'm not sure I'm going in with the right expectations. My therapist tries to get me to reframe my thoughts. Use less negative language, try to imagine more positive outcomes to situations, that sort of thing. "What would it be like..." is her common language for this. To which my response is often along the lines of "Well that would be unrealistic because xyz". She also tends to point out my "yets" as hopeful, despite my assurance that it's just to avoid an absolute statement. I can't tell if I'm being too rigid and set in my ways, if her approach is ill effective for autism, or a bit of both.
For anyone that uses a therapist, how do you find your engagements with them?
There's several different therapy styles and finding one that suits takes time. My therapist is good because she replies in absolutes, making it clear that it's her views on what I've said, and avoids too many "thinking" questions.
This means for me, she challenges me, and gets me to do all the heavy thinking to reframe my thoughts by telling me where I'm going wrong, and if I can't see her viewpoint, we discuss it.
Mind you, my main therapy focus is cPTSD, and I'm tackling a handful of events at a time from various points of my life. Plus she's both an ASD and trauma specialist, so she directly fits my needs.