Does Cognitive-Behavior Therapy work for Aspies?

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It's not about stuffing emotions.

The theory is that you have 3 components to work with, ABC, Affect, Behavior, and Cognition. Change any 2 and the third will change. So if you change your behavior, stop doing some things that have an adverse effect on your well-being and start doing some things that have a positive effect, like a little exercise or better diet, and you change the way you think about yourself and the world, replacing messages like "I'm stupid" or "NTs suck" with more positive messages, then your feelings will improve. With improved feelings you'll be in a better place to dig deep and work on those issues from the past that continue to effect you today.

Studies consistantly show that people suffering depression get better with CBT, and they get better with medication, and they get better faster with both.

Incidently, I've extended this theory to include the social component. I believe that if you improve your affect and behavior and cognition, your social life will improve.

i'm mainly interested in doing something like that in order to help with situations outside of the social realm. is it helpful for people who need help in terms of domestic issues (ie: keeping house in order, maintaining that order, proper self care, etc). i'm a total mess.

ive never even heard of it. about the only thing i was offerd was councelling and that was at Voc rehab awile back. i expected to get something more than that since i went into the place with a prior aspergers diagnosis but nope. councelling was about it

This is a good question.

Yes and No.

First you've got to figure out what specifically you want to change. It is not Asperger's itself that it changes but you may change some co-morbids. The main requirement for CBT is you already established what the problem is an it can be well defined such as in a simple statement.

Secondly CBT is a concept. How it is executed varies a lot. Mark cited some fundamentals that can be explained or approached in a whole magnitute of ways. The concept of CBT is simple, it is practical therapy where you change you behavior in a gradual way whilst reinforcing that with changing your thought patterns (cognition). It has parallels with gradual immersion therapy. Full immersion therapy or shock therapy is my less efficient than CBT and can make the patient worse.

Most if not all undesirable behaviors are cyclical, they perpetuate themselves. E.g. You feel nervous, you stat to shake, you worry that people are looking at you because you are shaking, which make you feel more nervous and you continue to shake, etc.

CBT doesn't really focus on the past or whatever lead you to have this problem, which is good because it might be something that has always been there. Unless that thing is concurrent in you mind it is not relevant, because it is merely a catalyst. Whereas psychotherapy is focused on the 'source' of problems, which many people would argue is a pseudo concept and actually could make the problem worse.

Back on how CBT is executed. If you ask for CBT you not just asking the CBT sugar plum fairy to go cure you, you are relying on whatever services and therapist there are in you area. You are relying heavily on the intuition of the person who is going to help you with the CBT. These people would naturally be specialized in problems that they are interested in so would cater their CBT around those. Although CBT as an idea has been around for a while, it is still very much in its infancy in terms of actually having people trained. I don't really know how many people are actually involved in CBT programs for Asperger's, I would expect it to be minimal in the UK. ABA is in effect a CBT program for ASDs though it doesn't relate to all the problems that may arise.

I didn't go this route. My shrink put me on to a book by Gillian Butler and I read some others. Then I sort of came up with my own CBT for myself, which is what you have to do whether you have someone there to help you or not. The effectiveness of CBT is primarily based on how closely it relates to you. Of course maybe you can’t answer all questions about your self so you may need to ask people for that. It could be that you can do some other form of therapy to help make something more clear. CBT needs clarity to work.

The CBT I do on myself is sort of quite informal. I do a bit every now and then almost without thinking about it. Sometimes I just can't bear to do it on a particular issue for a while. But when I eventually break the cycle of complacency it is there when I want it, which is exactly the ethos I would recommend.

I don't want to go on as if it is rocket science, it isn't. It is a simple concept and needs you to try simplify things too.

One thing that might be an advantage with ASD is CBT and analytical thought go hand in hand. If you are very analytical you can run hoops round yourself. Granted it does take a bit of practice to apply to the 'inter-personal' realm.

Speaking for myself and from my own therapy, an example of CBT is analyzing a conversation you just had. Think about what you were saying, what you meant to say and what was understood by the other person. First you need to be able to step outside yoursel and look at the conversation. Then look at what you said (or felt). Did you internalize something that wasn't meant to be taken personally? Did you judge quickly?