does seeing a psych help?

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Anyone seeing a psych?

Does it help you deal with feelings of anxiety?

Can anyone share whether a psych is helpful or not?

Depends how you mean.
In saying a "psych", is that a psychiatrist (prescriber of meds.) ?
Or do you mean "any mental health professional" ?

I find that the individual person (regardless of which sort of degree their in possession of, or their current job title) is very much what I do or don't "click" with.

Have seen "shrinks"-but they're ususally relegated to being dispensers of drugs, not for getting-to-know-me relationship skills building. Currently see 2 different people for counseling (at same clinic)-one is a therapist, one is social worker-and both are of great help to me, in practical & psychological matters.

I debated answering this: - cause you may not like my experience/opinion....but...I think it's somewhat relevant - so ....here goes:

I think I'll start backwards.....from my perspective of being 52 yrs. old and looking back.

What would help my anxiety now would be: a therapist who could really understand that a lot of my anxiety came from not comprehending the way society was structured and what my place in it was. (i.e. helping me navigate through the details - to reach the whole)

(When I was 14 years old my mother had me committed to a sanitorium on the psych ward - where I was drugged and then left alone on the ward to smoke cigarettes and stare out the barred windows - finally they sent me home.....and then my mother had me sent to another instituion called "Browndale". When I was at Browndale I was not allowed visits from my parents....it was shocking for me. I ran away from Browndale on the night of my 16th birthday....to live on the streets of Toronto - that's where I learned through extreme trial and error....) looking back on that from my perspective now.....I can see how a therapist who was experienced in aspergers....could have helped me to turn my life around a lot sooner....than later. (now)....

Now some NT's might think that I was a total bad-a** for being institutionalized at 14 yrs....but believe me - I can prove otherwise - which I won't bore you with...now.

also: understanding that a lot of things that I "melt-down" about - have solutions - i.e. navigation tools - so that I can stay peaceful - yet still succeed and contribute. (I've always wanted to contribute - but my spin on things....would sabotage that....and then .....anxiety)


All the p-docs and therapists I've seen over the years - could never really answer my questions or help me (help myself).
I used to have to take "tranquillizers" to reduce my anxiety about facing the work day. As years went by and I learned to navigate (through painful trial and error) and had some success - the need for med's stopped.)

The one thing that messed me up - was seeing therapists who knew nothing about aspergers. So (I didn't get the support I really needed).

Right now - I'm in negotiations with a therapist who is "experienced in aspergers" and as soon as I can (work out the fee$$ part)....(save $$ to pay for it)......it looks promising.....

so my final point is: therapy might work - as long as the "therapist" is experienced with aspergers and rapport is well established - along with a clear plan.

p.s. It's very difficult to be "articulate".....about this...
I fear that these words may be too jumbled....and/or way-out there.

but - at least I tried!

After wasting a lot of time with various mental health professionals, who gave me various incorrect diagnoses, I found a psychologist who was familiar with Asperger's. After that, I made great strides. Unfortunately, she is moving away, and the hunt will resume. Since there was no unnecessary medicating, I was able to develop coping skills for things that use to stump me.

One thing I have promised myself, is to never accept therapy from someone unfamiliar with autism. It is a sheer and utter waste of time! You spend more time at educating them, (if they are receptive), than in gaining any therapeutic benefit.

hartzofspace wrote:

At 59 I got some real help from a psychologist who was very familiar with the whole spectrum. The biggest help was in "connecting the dots". When I could see my life from a perspective of having a slightly different brain from most folks, I could use that information to better deal with difficult situations. This clearly led to fewer meltdowns.

I want to emphasize how important this was for me. It allowed me to stop trying to figure out how people's behavior could make sense in a gut-feeling sort of way. I can now say to myself that there is no way to do this for some behaviors. These just have to be accepted in the same way that I accept that some people like roller coasters (Roller coasters don't particularly scare me, they are just very uncomfortable experiences of getting yanked around. It makes no intuitive sense to me that anyone would like them).

There is such a GREAT RELIEF to me to be released from the (almost instinctive, I think) urge to figure out what is going on intuitively. My intuition is different. It won't work for every typical behavior. Now I can relax a bit and avoid so many meltdowns!

Yes indeed, the right therapist can be a very big help.

Wow, I agree with everyone here. Once I got the dx, everything made much more sense, and I was able to put the anxiety into some kind of perspective.

Having a therapist who understands ASDs has helped immensely. When I started with this therapist in March, I had to take Xanax for the anxiety when it got too bad. I'd try to tough it out. I still have the anxiety, but I'm able to cope with it, go with the panic attack when it hits, and let it wash over me without adding to it.

But that took me a long time to learn to do. I don't want to give the impression it's easy to deal with, and that things suddenly work out. It's just once I had the understanding, I had more hope I could work it out, especially knowing it wasn't an abnormal thing for me to have in my situation-that it was a natural reaction to trying to cope, and I really wasn't like most people.

A good therapist can really be a blessing. Finding one is the other trick.

Thanks

I guess what I am wondering is whether a therapist would help deal with anxiety. Also I am aware my socialisation is declining and its an effort to maintain contact with people. I have to work up to making phone calls to keep in contact. I am OK calling people when there is some reason for the call other than personal (say to let someone know about a function that's coming up).

I don't really like to talk to Sheila about these things and I don't think she (even now) understands my problems with this.

For example, there is a guy I have known since I was 5 y.o. We went through 12 years of school together and he has moved to another city. From time to time I would like to call him, but I have no reason for the call and its just too hard to pick up the phone. Its things like this I was wondering whether a therapist/psych is helpful for. (Also there have been issues at work that have stressed me to the point of being physically sick. But I have got past that now (although not resolved entirely). I had been wondering whether meds may be better than self-medicating with Jack Daniels.

It can if they're a good one. They can do irreparable damage if they're really bad. Can't say I've ever really seen a good one!

I think its a benefit seeing the psychologist I am now seeing. If nothing else she is the only person I get to talk to most weeks who is not a judgmental co-worker so I can really talk to her about feelings. The only thing that is bad is she makes me do all the talking because she does cognitive behavioral therapy on me. I prefer to be asked questions rather than start the conversation on my own.

I feel disturbed by the idea she is like a friend that I pay to be my friend though. But she has helped me stop having the panic attacks and chest pain somehow. I mean at first she was making me do the 4-7-8 breathing pattern to stop the anxiety and she would talk to me at 9pm at night to calm me down sometimes. That's been several months and rarely do I get in a panic now and am surprised at times how calm I can be despite the recent hell I am going through. So yeah she does help, though I'm not sure how because I don't do the breathing technique anymore. She did insist listening to a song called "Pacobell" (sp?) would keep me calm and she recorded it on a disc for me to listen to when I drive to work.

Hi Ticker

thanks for posting.

Is this the song?
[youtube]http://youtube.com/watch?v=8Af372EQLck[/youtube]

Hi Bazza,

I can't say if that is the right song. The speakers on my computer don't work and I can't load UTube stuff anyway because I have slow as a snail phone dialup service.