with my psychologist I can be "me" - in a way

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Eloa
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03 Dec 2011, 9:11 pm

My psychologist has a long experience working with autists. I meet her now for a year. And I feel, that she somehow understands me more than anyone else I have ever met. She doesn't want me to be "normal". We even share some of my special interests, which is nice. When I go there and I am mute, she let's me be mute and doesn't try to force me to speak. I haven't really seen her face yet, because I have difficulties to look at someone's face. But I hear her voice and her voice is very comforting to me. She is not autistic, but I feel that she is very open in a way and not following mainstream "I have to learn you now, how to fit in". It's like she wants to know about my world and doesn't put any pressure and even tells me to be the way I am, but is still looking for ways, that I might be able to survive in "society" - but we didn't find _the way_ yet (but for me, society is somehow weird and I really don't know, how to understand it, rationally on some parts, because I read things, but there is a bigger part in me which is absolutly "blank" and doesn't understand anything).
It's somehow weird meeting someone who doesn't "want you to be "normal"", but it feels like I start like to see her. Or is it "trust to see her". What is the difference between "like" and "trust"?
Does anyone else has also good experiences with psychologists?


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Angel_ryan
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04 Dec 2011, 12:29 am

Wow that's great it's hard to find someone like that.



Eloa
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05 Dec 2011, 6:15 pm

Angel_ryan wrote:
Wow that's great it's hard to find someone like that.

Really? Then it's like most people do not have good experiences with psychologists? Even when they are specialized?
This makes me really feel sad.


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ECJ
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05 Dec 2011, 6:30 pm

My psychiatrist is that way with me. When I talk to him, he just accepts me as I am - I can trust him because I know he won't judge me and he respects me as a person. I look forward to my appointments with him.



Angel_ryan
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05 Dec 2011, 9:26 pm

Eloa wrote:
Angel_ryan wrote:
Wow that's great it's hard to find someone like that.

Really? Then it's like most people do not have good experiences with psychologists? Even when they are specialized?
This makes me really feel sad.


Well It's harder for some than others. The problem is not the specialists, it's the fact that not enough people have been trained on autism spectrum disorders. Not everyone gets to see a specialist so others have to settle for people who don't have much experience. Doctors, teachers, counselors, and mental health services simply need more training and awareness than they've had in previous decades. To be honest the community mental health services in my area don't have a single trained psychologist in dealing with ASDs. I'm trying to get the services in my area to change. The specialists in my area are separate from the community services and they are very costly most people can't afford them. I had to go to a different city for my DX because it was too costly in my own city. An autism charity organization gives me some help and resources but there's never enough help to go around.



CantExplain
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06 Dec 2011, 2:07 am

My psychothyerapist accepts me as I am, although she doesn't like me to think of myself as Aspergic. She says everyone is different and she doesn't want me "hiding behind a label".


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Spinnekop
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06 Dec 2011, 2:32 am

I am seeing a psychologist now and it is great. After so many other therapists that just did not understand, this is heaven. I don't know quite how to handle it yet, I fear the feelings of dependence I am having. Like I need to see him.



Jordan87
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08 Dec 2011, 5:27 am

That's good to know and to the extent I know who I am and how exactly I feel, I easier about opening up to a degree, though I'll always be secretive with my feelings to some extent and desire some privacy, and a respect for that privacy, just as I'm sure the therapist would if the shoe was on the other foot (I think of it less in the context of the Golden Rule and more in the context of human decency. In my view, how they'd like to be treated is irrelevant to the issue of how they should treat me, and vice-versa, unless we give one another reasons to not treat each other with respect.). All too often, I think aspies feel the need to wear a mask, not because we enjoy pulling the proverbial wool over peoples' eyes, per se, but because we don't want to share ourselves or our feelings, positive or negative, for fear of being judged, when we have a hard enough time as is adapting to the weird world of socialization. It's relieving to know that there are people in the world who are there to listen and to hear us out in a nonjudgmental fashion and in a relaxed (even if clinical) setting, people who can hopefully reassure us about our self-doubts and misgivings and provide means by which to make our struggles easier.