Study on therapy

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Hello, my name is Janus
For the past 8 years I have been fortunate to work with taking care of an adult with autism. I'm also studying psychology and am in need for participants for a study. If you can spare some time please read on and click the link.

I am completing a research project as part of my degree at the University of Derby Online. My research is titled: Therapy experiences of adults with autism.

There is a lack of literature concerning the experiences of adults with autism spectrum disorder, in receiving regular psychotherapy. This research, seeks to add to this literature and increase an understanding that can potentially be helpful for future encounters between people with autism spectrum disorder and their therapists.

• You can participate in this study if: You are diagnosed with high-functioning autism, autism spectrum disorder or Asperger’s syndrome or have sufficient reason to believe yourself to fit the DSM-5 criteria.
• You have also seen a psychotherapist that is not specialised in autism.

Participation is entirely voluntary and refusal or withdrawal will involve no penalty or loss, now or in the future.

You will in one single session be asked to answer 8 written questions. It is estimated to take about 30 minutes.

It is up to you to decide whether or not to take part, although your participation is highly appreciated, there is no benefit to you personally for taking part. If you decide to take part you are still free to withdraw at any time during the session, and up to two weeks later, without giving a reason.
All information collected will be kept strictly confidential. Confidentiality, privacy and anonymity will be ensured in the collection, storage and publication of research material through coding the data anonymously.
The results of the study will be included in a written report delivered to the University of Derby in December 2018. You will not be identifiable from the report.

The study has been approved by the ethics committee at University of Derby.

Thank you very much for taking the time to read this information. If you have any questions before starting the survey please contact Janus Kannuberg or the research supervisor Dominic Petronzi, using the contact details below.

Janus Kannuberg
[email protected]

Dr Dominic Petronzi
[email protected]
Tel: 01332 597990

Clicking this Qualtrics-link will take you to the study: https://qtrial2014az1.az1.qualtrics.com ... 6zdKkHBAS9

I'll e-mail a $10 Amazon gift card if you complete the survey

I have had CBT where three different "autism conditions" have applied...
1) Autism not suspected by either me or the non-specific therapist (two separate therapists.)
2) Autism provisionally diagnosed by another professional (awaiting formal diagnosis), non-specific counsellor.
3) As (2), but with a therapist with good autism understanding (by fortune more than design!)

Due to the eligibility requirements, I have answered the survey for the second case.

In the first two cases, CBT was not only unhelpful, it actually made me feel worse. The dismissal of my autistic traits as either irrelevant to the therapy, aberrations of delusional thinking, or evasiveness and uncooperative behaviour were pretty hurtful, and I was frightened that not even a trained professional could understand my mind. Had the final therapist not been specifically autism trained, I would not have accepted the offer of another therapist after (2) had been so disappointing again. I am very glad that I did, as the difference with the autism trained therapist was immense, and CBT with her helped me greatly, particularly with my alexithymia and emotional regulation problems. You may be interested to read this post, where I described the differences that I perceived between generic CBT and "autism-aware" CBT in more detail.

I hope that your research will contribute to making therapy more effective for autistic people. I know that CBT can be very effective, but I also understand all too well why many autistic people are put off the idea.

I haven't gone to a therapist that isn't an autism specialist.
Unless you count seeing a crappy school therapist I saw for a while. If you do I will take it.

Also, if so, I have ODD, and it is often seen as an early diagnosis of a personality disorder.

I was diagnosed with depression a few times, but not accurately.

I also have a family history of clinical depression, borderline personality disorder and schizophrenia.

So should I take it?

I completed it.

Thank you Trogluddite,
I read your post on regular vs autism-tailored CBT. Your observations were interesting and the way you contrasted them makes it easy to read. Very helpful for those, like myself, who plan to become therapists. And thank you for participating.

Hi, I took the survey and I don't need a card, but thank you for the offer! You may have had slow pickup because the site was locking out some users as spammers for a few days. (It seems to dislike updates to both Firefox and Windows; I always have trouble after either happens.)

I hope you get a good number of responses and I wish you luck with your study.

Good luck with this. It's a very understudied area. Am I correct in assuming that this is a pilot study?

This is a very good study, because most therapists out there are unhelpful at best, and dangerously harmful at worst, when it comes to working with aspies. My own therapists mocked me, gaslighted me ("that's not what you felt; try again"), and made me cry; but worst of all, they made my parents cry right in front of me, during a family session.

While I've skeptical about therapy in general, I'll support anything that will keep such therapists away from aspies.

I'd join but I have only seen a psychiatrist once in trying to figure out my aversion to being in the spotlight, not knowing that I am probably HFA. He never looked into that possibility. Had two drugs to no affect. Given a third, but I took myself out of it & returned them to the dispensary. All that was in 2009-2010.