Psychologists/counselors are a waste of time

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It just doesn't work for me, even ones who specialize in ASD. I tend to shut down in small ways when put on the spot, and they're all horrible at understanding me.

Yes, counseling for depression/anxiety/what not is completely useless as far as I'm concerned. I much prefer to treat these things chemically and using my own judgment and self-prescribed supplements and drugs (like noopept). The doctors tried to put me on SSRI's which made certain problems worse. This isn't ideal, but it has to be this way.

Can anyone relate? Or am I just "severely impaired" in emotional connectivity?

i guess there are more emotional aspies and less emotional aspies, and never the twain shall meet [IOW they will never comprehend one another].

Actually, I am probably one of the more emotional ones, at least in terms of having deeper and more complicated emotions, not necessarily more likely to show them.

This could be it. I simply have more complicated emotions than most human beings, including aspies.

i rather doubt that my emotions are any more complex than a typical child's emotions, but they surely are every bit as intense, in certain circumstances.

Ok, then we are the exact opposite.

I have typically found so-called mental health professionals to be ideologues and prima donnas.

To the point where I think a good hair stylist with above average listening skills is more likely to be helpful than an average psychologist, and I mean really.

i've had lots of experience on the shrink's couch, and i can vouch for the therapeutic effects of just having somebody at least pretend to listen to me.

If they don't understand me, I just get irritated after awhile. This goes for shrinks, as well as girlfriends. It takes a special type of person to actually understand me, and the chances of one of these people just happening to be a psychologist is rare.

over my decades here taking up space, i have found that shrinks were the only ones who even came within a country mile of understanding me. i could count the digits of one hand with digits left over, the number of other folks who even got a small bit of me.

I would agree with that. I get more tenderness and kndness from the lady who waxes my eyebrows, despite the fact she's ripping out my eyebrows. The last psych I went to got me on drugs, which did me more harm than good, and which I stated at the beginning I did not want to use. Beyond having someone to listen (or pretend to) she was not much good. She thought I would get better if I did a lot of stuff that would be near impossible for the average person, let alone an aspie who could barely drag herself out of bed and get through the workday without dissolving into tears. And she was supposed to specialise in aspergers.

So rightly or wrongly, I manage by trying to keep away from people and situations that set me off, and self medicating with vitamins and a couple glasses of red.

I can really relate. I found all my doctors were more interested in giving advice than being doctors. To try so hard to communicate and risk opening myself up just to get blown off and given sh***y advice more fitting for a magazine is just rubbing peppers into the wound.

I absolutely agree with the OP. Although it was not for ASD, I did see some psychologists/psychiatrists. It was more for depression/anxiety/OCD etc. The psychologist who saw me for the longest time out of all was completely useless. I have to say she was incompetent. She often dismissed what I said as "being paranoid" or something. All she could suggest was some common sense that I already knew. The "treatment" only left me feeling worse about myself.

The anti-depressant/anxiety/OCD medications that were prescribed for me were also completely useless, too. I was on them for about 1&1/2 to 2 years, but they did absolutely nothing. It was as if I weren't taking any medication at all. So when I stopped taking them abruptly, there weren't even withdrawal symptoms. I guess I'm quite immune to medications, though. Even 5 sleeping tablets didn't make me sleep.

Having said all that, I still think different psychologists and different medications work differently on different people. So I wouldn't rule out treatment completely. But I think it's hard to come across a good one.

I can relate.
To make a comparison: The child psychologists I saw in my youth—their "therapy" was to counseling what snake-oil is to medicine.
In principal, it can only work so far as the placebo effect is concerned ... and for me it didn't even succeed at that.

My old teachers and school administrators: they're the ones I'm grateful for.
They had less free time than the shrinks, and they didn't get paid to talk to me outside of class.
They actually wanted to help me, and they did.
So I agree with AardvarkGoodSwimmer's assessment.

The way I see it, the profession of psychologists has something in common with jobs like prosecuting attorneys, mercenaries, and pesticide producers.
There are cases where they are absolutely essential, but beyond that, in overabundance they hurt society
because the range of their influence extends beyond the range of their usefulness.
Too many psychologist's businesses depend on convincing ordinary people that they are mentally defective.
I don't think they're evil, but I believe their integrity and judgement is financially compromised.

I know I'm being judgmental by saying that, but the irony is
these are some of the most judgmental people you can ever hope to meet
(not as human beings but as far as the system they operate according to):
If you feel sad when a friend dies, you suffer from depression.
If you hold your tears, you are emotionally callous.
If you stand passive after witnessing injustice, you lack empathy.
If you fight against injustice you need anger management.
If you indulge in hedonistic binges you have self-control issues.
If you study/work hard you are obsessive/compulsive and anti-social.
If you enjoy the spotlight you have a histrionic personality disorder.
If you look out for yourself, you are a sociopath.
If you do just about any damn thing, there's a vast array
of disorders they can select from to describe you,
and the list grows longer each year.
That's why I don't respect psychology as "a science". (neither did Richard Feynman)

That's too bad. I may not have 'got you' but I remember generally liking your comments.
In that case I'll try to be more attentive and respond more often.

Indeed

While I'm inclined to agree that psychologists tend to have a one size fits all schema for autism, they do have skills that are useful to tap into. Two things that Psychs can do is to;

a) investigate what are the issues facing the client and work on addressing the issues. The two child psychologists we saw were considered experts but did not address any of the issues we raised and left our daughter with unresolved problems.

b) Charge less. Experienced Psyhcologists charge almsot $200 Australian dollars (around $220 US dollars) an hour. That will invariably bankrupt some people who see a child psychologist 2-3 times a month. I think their services are actually worth around $50-$100 per hour

i don't think your emotions are more complicated than anyone else's. perhaps you have a need for reinforcement, and counsellors don't give that to you and it bothers you. but that is a whole other kettle of fish.

i think that people get out of counselling... whatever they bring to it. there has to be a point at which they are humble enough to believe that there is someone smart enough or accomplished enough or talented enough to help them. if they have a preconceived notion that a psychologist won't be able to help them because they are too complicated or too difficult or to smart or too deep or too _whatever_,... they're right - it won't help. but that is not because of ineffectiveness the counsellors, it is because of their own attitude that they carry to begin with.

i would divide people into 2 groups - people who are willing to be helped by counsellors, and those who are not willing. i think that people who are willing to be helped will find help. not with every single counsellor out there, but at least with some of them. when someone goes to a counsellor, they are essentially treating themselves with expert guidance, so if someone is struggling to improve at all they should look at the common denominator: something in their own approach.

a lot of the time, people don't actually want to improve, they are just told by people around them that they should improve. so they go to counselling because they are "supposed" to fix something. but on the inside, the patients resist treatment because they don't even think that the problem IS a problem. or they want to fix something in their life but they refuse to believe that their own thought patterns or behaviours could be the source of the problem so they resist the guidance of the counsellor. they want to hear that everyone else in the world is the problem.

if you have solid goals you want to meet and actual changes you want to make, counselling can likely help you with that. but you have to be willing to accept that help. it's not easy, of course. but it's possible if you actually want to try.