CBT is oppressive for ASD people?
MONKEY
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Joined: 3 Jan 2009
Age: 32
Gender: Female
Posts: 9,896
Location: Stoke, England (sometimes :P)
I'm supposed to be sorting out some CBT for my phobias but I still haven't heard from my doctor, for god's sake will he hurry up already!
I guess different people react differently to various forms of therapy, for some of you it might have been a negative experience but it doesn't mean it's some kind of torture chamber of horror because it's obviously worked for some people else it wouldn't have the good write up it does now. I don't know how I'd react to it until I try, because at this point in my life I would try ANYTHING to get rid of my phobias.
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I do not want to put anyone off any opportunities for useful therapy. As far as I can tell from people I have spoken to and internet searches, CBT is recognised as a helpful therapy for autistic spectrum disorders and there are no adverse effects.
I just wanted reassurance that I am not some kind of freak with my feelings about the therapy that I had, and I want some guidance on how to seek help for the problems I am having with anxiety and social interaction. (I am not seeking social interaction, I am hating the everyday social interaction that I am obliged to engage in, which is causing me a lot of anxiety).
I think that CBT can feel oppressive if the therapist giving it isn't very in tuned to ASD ways of thinking. I remember yrs ago before it was known that I had AS, and I was seeing a therapist for my anxiety, and depression. It was an awful experience with her telling me that basically my problems all stemmed from my own mind, and that I was choosing to not be proficient at socializing. To name one example that I can clearly remember all these yrs later, I was trying to relay to her the best that my 15 year old brain could with my limited emotional language, that I was very anxious about an upcoming school dance. I was trying to explain that I was never asked to dance by anyone, and even when I was I didn't seem to know how to behave, ect, ect... She proceeded to tell me that it was the way that I thought about the whole situation that made it a negative experience for me, and that I needed to learn how to think about it differently to achieve different results. This wasn't true. What I needed was some practical social skills. Not to be told that my way of viewing the world is irrational (when it isn't) and is the root of the problem.
However, I have used Rational Emotive Behavior Therapy (self directed) to help me with depression, and anxiety. It's been somewhat helpful in dealing with irrational thoughts that cause me to become upset. That along with practicing Mindfulness has been the biggest help. However, the biggest difference is that I'm only applying it to thoughts that really are irrational, as opposed to before when my therapist was trying to apply it to anything that sounded irrational to her, or that she couldn't come up with any other reason, besides my POV must be skewed to explain things.
I hope that makes some sense.
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