Therapies advice

NAS95189 said:

I do wonder how I can repay him without it seeming weird or too overbearing.

A 'thank you' card might be welcomed. He can show it to colleagues too! We all like appreciation.

I did a bit of CBT in my teens and found it to be relatively useless. That was with MIND however, and no offence to the woman who did it, but I had the vibe she'd rather be anywhere else on the planet during appointments. I found her questions in the appointments tedious and it just didn't land with me (really hard to articulate here, I was about 16 to be fair) I have an autistic niece who's a few years younger than me, and she found CBT OK...the thing there is she started with DBT, and I've never, ever heard anyone autistic have a good experience with DBT. My best friend tried DBT and never got anyway, she even sold the books to her ex BF, and he ended up throwing them in the bin!

I'm starting to think it's more so the therapist opposed to the style of therapy. I'm seeing an NHS clinician nurse now and by extension of small life changes he's gave me a new lease on life. I do wonder how I can repay him without it seeming weird or too overbearing.

"t is worth noting that CBT is often problematic for autists in its default format and may need adapting to your specific autistic traits." can concur with this and theorise it can also apply to DBT. Theorise been the keyword OP.

The best way to test this is out is by assessing the benefits it has for you - perhaps by keeping a personal Journal with some sort of scoring system. Ask yourself; after therapy, do I understand myself better; do I function better in daily life? If you can find a way of gauging and recording your feelings, do you feel better? There is another consideration - some therapists are better than others! 

LJA said:

I know CBT is very highly regarded

It is worth noting that CBT is often problematic for autists in its default format and may need adapting to your specific autistic traits.

This article explains it better than I can:

https://mypatientadvice.co.uk/knowledge-base/how-do-cognitive-behavioural-therapy-cbt-approaches-adapt-to-autism/ 

Before taking any CBT courses I would ask them to adapt it to your needs - if they do not understand what you mean by this then it means they do not really understand enough about autism to be doing this ( a common problem for us) and it may be worth sending them the article and see if they are capable of adapting.

Good luck

Definitely not for me and needs to be adapted for neurodiverse people. I would speak to your therapist and see what they say?

Hello LJA.

Therapy is an incredibly personal journey, with there being many ways to approach such. You are a unique individual, where your experiences may differ from the next person - having gone through CBT through the NHS previously I know I certainly have my opinions

While I can see that our community has begun to provide fantastic feedback, I would like to refer you to our recommended NAS resources relating to therapy:

Autism Services Directory - we have a wonderful directory of therapy based resources, located under the "Health and counsellors" option.

I wish you the best going forwards, you deserve a right to support that is meaningful for you.

Take care - Zac Mod.

Hi I would suggest checking out the autistic survival guide to therapy by Steph jones