Has This Ever Happened To YOU???

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Hi,I am James, I am 26,and I live in the state of Oregon. I was diagnosed autistic, with Aspergers' very young. However, I had this problem with a "therapist" I went to recently, which makes me ask, "Has anyone else had a bad experience with a therapist or doctor?"

My mother found the name of this very popular Asperger's syndrome therapist, in Oregon, in the city of Eugene,and she recommended that I go to see her, a couple of times,and see what she could do, to help some of my problems. I said, "Ok,I will try it."

When I went to the appointment, at her office,I had a very bad experience,which is still affecting me. She was kind of "odd" very edgy,and she kept jabbing at me, with her loud, agressive tones. She got phone calls interupting all the time,and one was from "Max", someone who was very suicidal.She seemed to be very exasperated,and she was very sharp with me. I kept wondering,"what did I do wrong??"

I said, taking her test,that I had had Asperger's diagnosed when I was pretty young, but she said, hey, you are working, you seem to be very social, I bet you do not have it. I have had it diagnosed by at least 2 other doctors, as very firm Asperger's syndrome,so I could not get what she meant. In fact,she kept asking me all these questions, kind of in a paranoid fashion,and when I realized I was not explaining myself well enough for her, she started to scream at me. Then, she stopped,and seemed like she did not even know what she had just done.

I do not like screaming,and I was shaking a lot. It took all I had, not to bolt fromthe room. I am still very upset,and had to go back to my regular doctor, and try to get calmed down again. I'm having a tough time now. I cancelled the two other appointments with her, as I feel something went very wrong, especially when I was trying to explain myself,and what I do not understand, socially,and she started to literally scream at me.

Often, i have a hard time getting understood by people socially,that is nothing new,and sometimes, doctors do not always go so well,but nothing like this had ever happened to me before. I keep wondering, "what did I do wrong?"

I even work in a supermarket, which is hard to do,and I had to learn how to have a regular schedule, very routine,that would be very calming,and regular for me. I like the same routine. I keep thinking, "what could I have done, to cause this?"But when I went home,and told my mom,and she heard the whole thing, she just said, "Don't go back to that doctor, she is nuts."I guess this woman is a very popular doctor now,and that's why my mom thought she would be a big help,but I am very very confused.

Has anyone else ever had a bad experience, very bad,with a therapist, or doctor??Very bad? I read about the airplane,that was really bad. Horrible. I certainly am not supposed to say who the doctor was, like the person said who the airplane liner was. I could get into trouble. Still,I need some support,and feed back about this. Thanks.

Sorry, I only see an Occupational Therapist from time to time and she's pretty nice and easy for even me to talk to. Of course I'm undiagnosed so she doesn't know of my probable AS.

I have sat in on appointments with my brothers and various psychologists, but none have ever screamed. The worst has been an uncomfortable ammount of questions and that was only maybe once...

But I agree. The woman's a psychopath. I wouldn't listen to her. She's not worth your time anyway.

Good luck James. See you around WP.

Quite a bit. I'm terrified of medical doctors.

Hope you got your Money Back.... i remember going to one once... cost me £50 an hour... didnt do me any good.. i begane to get even more depressed cause i had no money

You didn't do anything wrong. That therapist is a lunatic. I suggest you print out your question here and send it to the body that governs her profession, and ask *them* if it's normal. It's not. Please stop blaming yourself. By professional standards, that time should have been yours alone. She had no right to breach the boundaries of trust by treating 2 at the same time, and even giving away the name and problem of one of them! Professionally, she is not allowed personal emotions - the time should be about you, not about her nerves. I really do hope you get in touch with the College of Whatevers, or Association of Whatevers, You need to know the truth here. If there is no governing body, then she's a quack. Either way, stay away altogether. If her ideas come into your mind, say "I don't have to listen to you" (mentally) and think of something else, a beach or something. Good luck and take care!

Sounds like this doctor is a little too popular, and has started overstepping the boundaries. My big problem with docs is their 'I know it all' attitude.

Sound horrible! I don't think thats fair of her, I can't believe she works with other aspies. That Attitude could do more harm than good!

yes. i saw a psychiatrist about a year ago. he was pretty much a jerk and was taking calls, and people would like pop into his office when he was supose to be in an appointment with me, to just say hello or something. i always hated when you go see a doctor the first thing they look for is schizophrenia, like they'll be asking you questions like, "so how are the voices today?" its like hello dude i dont here voices. i actually had this doctor ask me that before he even found out if i heard voices or not. suprised? im not. the guy was a idiot

All my experiences with `Therapists` were very bad.
I talked so much about my thoughts. my experiences ,my social behaviour etc etc etc and they understood NOTHING
Time and time again they told me to take antidepressiva,take part in social activities and such useless stuff.
`Just go out and make friends`,they said,`It´s so easy!All your problems will be solved immediately!`
When i told them that i can not do such things they went mad,screaming or yelling in my face,accusing and harrassing me for the state i was in.
Later i found out that everything i said to them was so typical for the asperger-syndrom that even the dumbest therapist should have noticed that i´m within the autistic spectrum.
They never did.
I can not take them for serious anymore.

She sounds like a psycho quack. I’d say just try to get your money back and seek help elsewhere. After all, there are way better therapists out there!

Yes. I had one evaluator, the type whose job it is to give psychological tests, judge me on the basis of poor test performances. She thought I was hopeless.

To me, that's like asking if the Pope is Catholic.

I've met no shortage of bad therapists. The screaming is a bit extreme, though. Can you report it to the state licensing board or something?

I had a recent horrible experience with a gastroenterologist. I posted about it here. To make a very long story short, I crashed my bicycle last fall and had a CT scan that turned up tumors on my liver (they turned out to be benign). At one point when I was following up with the first gastroenterologist I went to "hepatic CT" was somehow transcribed as "hepatitis C". In addition to being a very stigmatizing condition as far as getting insurance in the future is concerned, the implication of this was that the gastroenterologist ended up telling me that I "probably" had liver cancer since it is common to get it with hepatitis C (as opposed to nonexistant in people who don't have hepatitis who get liver tumors because another cancer has spread there). Anyway, after I found that error in my chart, he reassured me that I didn't have cancer and sent me for an MRI so that he could catergorize the benign tumor. The hitch was that he didn't remove it from my chart, so he told me AGAIN that I had cancer after I got the MRI. Even worse was that he'd call me and tell me he "urgently" needed to talk to me and then become unavailable for days on end. In the end, when I found out the MRI was interpreted wrong due to the hepatitis C error, I screamed at him that he was wasting my time and to never call me again before I slammed down the phone. I ended up filing complaints with everyone I possibly could over this. I went to another gastroenterologist that I was very happy with.

Therapists can be even worse because the mistakes they make aren't so black and white. Like I either have hep C or I don't, so this idiot's mistake was easy to find. But psych diagnoses can be pretty subjective, so you have to rely on the idea that the therapist know what they are doing. But even beyond her questionable skill, her yelling at you is inexcusable and should be reason enough to be able to report her. She also has no business taking calls with you around - that's a violation of her patient's (Max's) privacy.

Generally, the lower down they are with their titles, the more arrogant they are and the more they think they know-when, in fact they know less. The worst are those people whose job it is to give I.Q. tests. They treat the scores as sacred. Better to go with a neurologist or a psychiatrist who is a medical doctor and can prescribe and monitor any medications you take.

Hi, James,
Sorry you got a screamer. I thought things were bad down here in Medford with AS professionals but it looks like you got a real 'winner!' Please remember that fairly or unfairly we are our own best advocates and your job, your home life, etc is probably what is going right in your life rather than seeing this 'popular expert.'

You gotta remember here in Oregon is where professionals go because they would be considered questionable in other places. I had a psychiatrist when I went to SOU in Ashland that deliberately kept me waiting just to 'see what her reaction to rudeness would be.'
She later refused to see me anymore because it didn't seem like I trusted her. HA! no kidding!

Isn't it interesting that we can be AS whitch is difficult for others to diagnose, but someone can be NUTS and everyone recognizes it immediately.
Merle

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"Theres no shame in being a social pariah!"
Marge Simpson

This should be in member's only or haven.

I have had hideous therapists, and because my experience with them was invariably bad, I have been psychitric-system free for 10+ years. Honestly I don't know how such evil people could join a "helping profession."

At the very least you should never return; at most you should demand your money back and report her to the board. Or, you should post her name on the AS boards so people know never to go to her.

I think part of the problem with autistics going to therapy is that there is so much pressure to adequately express yourself and make yourself understood, strictly verbally, in 35-60 minutes. And for those of us who cannot perform socially, who cannot interpret social behaviors on the spot, for those of us who cannot express ourselves well on the spot, under pressure, or even just verbally, it's absurd to expect us to get anything "theraputic" out of a 50 minute grilling session.

If I could correspond with a therapist over email I might consider it, but I can't imagine ever finding one I respect or trust.

I was refered to someone by the neuropsychologist who diagnosed me. He decided to go against her opinion and try to convince me that I didn't have aspergers, but am really a narcissist who doesn't like other people. The only truth in that is that I didn't like him, and I guess it showed. He was very loud and bossy and if my eye contact strayed he would demand, "What are you thinking?" Then he would never like my answer. I've never felt so uncomfortable with any other mental health professional. If he was smart, he would have figured out that his relational style was causing me to close up, not open up. A good therapist will adjust the eay they communicate to each individual they see.

Right now I'm seeing someone else who has no experience with aspergers but I'm teaching him about it and he is actually very helpful in explaining people's illogical behavior to me, and in understanding my viewpoints.

I don't think you can necessarily go by a person's "expertise"; some people are just idiots.