Asperger’s and mental health issues

it's so nice to hear that! 

yes its a very tough thing to do....... start like this when u think of something in the past just say "ahhh I am having a thought about the past"   thats all u have to do is start labelling those thoughts. 

thats the first easy step.

u dont have to do anything i say,,,,,,,,,, i just know the techniques to help change your way of thinkin

the choice is yours .

I literally felt like my world had turned upside down when i found out.

i had 4 full on weeks. Then 4 more weeks processing. Then it eased off. My mind is still there. Others have told me it takes a year to integrate, then even a few more to fully adjust to it. But I'd say 2 months shifts things a lot. And hibernating and processing is good, I had to review 50 yeats of my life.

I wish I'd known 18 years ago, possibly life would have been different, better, but who knows.

yeah, i just feel that's the kind of thing that's easier said than done, but I agree that would be the ideal thing to do right now 

Hello Meg I was diagnosed with autism/Aspergers a few months ago and I suffer from anxiety and OCD so it’s very common for people who have autism also suffer anxiety or depression I thought after being diagnosed with autism that my anxiety and OCD would improve straight away but I have realised that it will take time it’s slowly getting better hopefully it will for you to.

Thank you

nice contribution

I gave myself time to process and I feel less angry now. I tried to get in contact with my mental health team but it is impossible at the best of times so I've sort of accepted that I will never be able to discuss with anyone whether my mental health diagnoses are correct.

ok my response to that is

well maybe yes maybe no ,,,,,, we will never, ever, ever, ever, ever know because its all in the past.,

you can do nothing about the past so drop it immediately 

you cant really predict your future  so stop worrying about it as well

what is left ?

• you and now ------ thats what you concern yourself with
• thats basic mindfulness/Zen
• and it works

That a lot of my mental health issues could have been avoided or less severe 

what is u are angry about ? 

whats really getting to you ?

This really resonates with me - I’ve had so many labels thrown my way from mental health practitioners who misdiagnosed autism. None ever felt right and the misdirection from professionals caused more stress and anger as their diagnosis didn’t feel a match to my experiences, I felt misunderstood and so disconnected from the world around me. I’m happy to talk openly about all of this - just maybe not in a public forum, given that it covers so much of my medical history . That aside I don’t always check through old threads I’ve posted to. It’s probably best to fire me a private message if you want to chat this over :) I’m pretty easy going and open - so it may be useful 

How long did your anger go on for ? At the moment I don’t want to do ANYTHING at all, like I just want to hibernate and have time to process things. Like I don’t want to work or do anything cos I’m just angry, is that similar for you 

Yeah kind of. Like I have things to look forward to but right now I’m just so angry and having such difficulty processing things. Like I’m denial almost

Twenty years, now, in the Mental Health Bullpen. When all I needed was greater support for my Asperger's.

hi Meg

good to hear from you

go ahead with your counselling. I found as an autistic they couldnt really change anything for me.

u need to love/accept you / yourself 

how does that sound to u  ---- do u hate u ? , ur life ?   whats really getting at u ?

i can guide u up through various tools that may be useful to you  

I was diagnosed ASD last month. Prior to this I had been diagnosed with anxiety, depression and BPD (body dysmorphia and OCD traits were also briefly mentioned at some point in my life). During my assessment I was told many people (especially females) are often misdiagnosed with BPD when they in fact have ASD. I found this really disconcerting because I lost my job due to my mental health struggles and the prejudice view of BPD from my employer. To find out my struggles might have actually been because of ASD made me angry because maybe I could have kept my job if I had disclosed ASD instead of BPD. I have also accessed support and DBT for my BPD diagnosis so now I feel like a fraud. It is perfectly possible that I have both BPD and ASD but I'm not sure I will ever be able to find out for sure. 

I feel that I still need mental health support but I'm not sure what I am entitled to or where to turn from here. I would benefit from having someone to talk to weekly even if my only true diagnosis is ASD. However I couldn't afford to see someone privately and long term weekly support has never been offered to me through the CMHT or GP.

Yeah I get what you are saying, it just feels as though a lot of what I’ve been though mental health wise could have been avoided 

So in the past I have really struggled with anxiety, depression etc which has led to lots of self harm, eating issues and suicide attempts. I could never understand what I was doing wrong and why I blamed myself so much and I would punish myself for that. And just hearing in the assessment that it was likely caused by not knowing I had autism was just so hard to take. I’ve done loads of different counselling over the years, seen different psychologist , been under acute mental health teams do some a lot, like cbt dbt and various others. At the moment I’m not seeing anyone but will go back to seeing counsellor as I don’t think I can cope with this on my own

Thanks for that! 

Blue said:

You need to change your username and add something into your bio, Most folks on here do not answer questions until that done because we tend to get a lot of trolls and here.