Page 1 of 1 [ 4 posts ] 

Pandanus
Tufted Titmouse
Tufted Titmouse

User avatar

Joined: 29 Mar 2013
Age: 48
Gender: Female
Posts: 36

28 Apr 2013, 1:07 pm

Has anyone had this and did it help?

I'm new to this board, though I've been lurking for a while. I'm female, in my thirties and have had anxiety and depression for 24 years. I got a diagnosis of bipolar when I was at university but recently realised that a lot of my difficulties are related to ASD traits. I spent 10 years meds free post-bipolar diagnosis....without any mania etc, but with depression, mood lability, anxiety and social problems, which I minimised by getting myself in a job and home life where I didn't have to interact with my peers. I'm English and don't have the cash to access private health services and have just got on the waiting list for NHS ASD diagnosis.

My local mental health trust has offered to put me on the waiting list for CAT. I explained in a letter that I didn't think it was suitable, but they got back to me with a rehash of my mental health history and said CAT explores how early life events give us a template to understand ourselves and others in the world. This template involves a pattern of thoughts, emotions, behaviours and interpersonal factors. The model then looks at how these patterns are being enacted in the present day and whether they are causing or maintaining current difficulties. The focus of therapy is then on identifying any areas of this pattern that could be changed to help ease any current difficulties. This might be about learning/developing new skills or about using the therapy room as a safe space to try different things out. Hopefully using this model would enable you to look at some of the difficulties you have experienced and look at ways that you may be able to effect some change. I didn't have a particularly happy childhood, but no trauma or abuse and I've had about 18 months of talking therapy in the past, so think I've talked to death about my parents...whom I currently live with.

To me CAT doesn't seem an appropriate treatment for someone who's at least on the bipolar and autistic spectrums. I feel like I'm being offered a standard treatment for depression that is unsuitable. (My mental health trust also didn't notice I had ASD traits....that I'd discussed in therapy without knowing that's what they are, and didn't know there was an NHS ASD service in the area, so I do not have much confidence in them.)

I'd welcome input from anyone who's tried CAT, or has similar symptoms and found something that helps.



MrStewart
Veteran
Veteran

User avatar

Joined: 5 Sep 2012
Age: 40
Gender: Male
Posts: 609

29 Apr 2013, 8:04 pm

Yes, that approach to therapy sounds... I'm not sure how to describe. Like CBT but less problem specific. I agree that it sounds like a poor fit for autism spectrum related issues.

I did CBT for several months specifically to address certain OCD problems I had. It helped for those, i think, mainly because the things I wanted help with were very clearly defined, and coping mechanisms attempted for them were intended for those problems and only those problems. I am skeptical how effective any form of therapy is for functioning autism spectrum. Might be beneficial for your Bi-polar though, I don't know the treatment options for that or their efficacy.



catwhisperer
Snowy Owl
Snowy Owl

User avatar

Joined: 21 Apr 2013
Gender: Female
Posts: 160
Location: New York

30 Apr 2013, 2:16 pm

I'm skeptical of anything that focuses on early life experiences for ASD and related issues. It sounds similar to the approach used by a psychologist I saw for a short time. She was focused on my family and early upbringing which completely ignores the 20 yrs I've lived outside my family and upbringing as well as the possibility of a neurological issue such as aspergers.

But sometimes it can be more the quality of individual providing the therapy than the actual treatment itself. So I guess you never know how helpful or not until you give it a try.

Do you have any other options?



Pandanus
Tufted Titmouse
Tufted Titmouse

User avatar

Joined: 29 Mar 2013
Age: 48
Gender: Female
Posts: 36

01 May 2013, 2:18 pm

Thanks for your replies. yeah I think CAT is supposed to be CBT crossed with psychotherapy. I tried CBT years ago and didn't get on with it....though I did get on with the psychologist so she switched to more supportive therapy and ditched the CBT model. I think the problem is that I don't have a tightly defined problem!

catwhisperer...agree with you that it's more the therapist and quality of the relationship than the model they are using.

I'm not keen on more of this 'talk about your childhood stuff', which'll be trying to find significance where there isn't much. I've done some pretty interested jobs and been in some strange situations so childhood stuff pales into insignifiance compared with that.

As it's the NHS they either provide me with this, or nothing. I've been bounced by the other types of NHS counselling locally (unsuitable) and there's not an ASD service. I think the only way I'd get counselling from someone with a background in ASD/someone used to dealing with people like me (which is what I think I need), is if I could get these guys to write that I have problems they can't treat...and use that as the basis for getting funding.

Pandanus....24 years of depression and counting!