Asperger's - help, therapy etc ??

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Hi I've recently been diagnosed as an Adult with AS and am finding it difficult to adjust to the diagnosis. Can anyone advise or suggest therapies or any sort of psychological treatment that has helped them? Finding life very problematic at present as I also suffer with anxiety and depression, and I'm also a recovering alcoholic.

Nobody? Oh well never mind.....................

Well I only just now saw this thread....Anyways, I don't really know of any specific therapy for aspergers specifically. I know they might have help for learning more social skills or something, but there is not really anything that gets rid of aspergers. As for depression and anxiety, you could try getting a therapist to talk to...sometimes they can help(though in my experience it didn't really happen). I am still just as anxious and depressed.

But yeah you would really have to maybe get on the internet and see whats availible in your area, or if you've been diagnosed you could ask the doctor who diagnosed you if they know of any resources to help.

Can't recommend anything that has helped as I have never received any kind of therapy.

I have been referred for specialist psychotherapy by my psychiatrist (NHS) and additionally after referral to the local autistic society (paid for by NHS) have been recommended weekly support sessions to help me better manage my anxiety & stress (not therapy). Funding for this has to come from the social work department ... waiting ...!

I did try some email counselling with a counsellor from our workplace counselling service however I didn't find it helpful at all as she used person centred counselling which basically just meant repeating what I had said ... I think the idea was that this was supposed to prompt me to come up with more but in reality it just made me frustrated because I had already said all I could say ...!

Thanks to both of you for the replies:

Having only just been diagnosed it does make sence of a lot of things that have happened to me over the years, it's just taking it all in I'm finding difficult.

I've had a lot of contact with Shrinks for twenty odd years for the depression and anxiety, meds, therapy etc nothing seems to have helped though still have severe anxiety and depression

You can go to a shrink, but ensure that he knows about AS first (and even believes that it exists; many don't). Many of them are all too happy to take your money without even knowing what they're doing. Cognitive Behavorial Therapy (CBT) is sometimes used, especially for issues such as anxiety. If you have a comorbid issue such as depression or anxiety, meds can be taken (I take Wellbutrin and Xanax for those, respectively). However, I've often heard that if you have comorbid issues and take meds, treatment is 80% you and 20% meds. Meds are NOT a cure-all. Having AS is a challenge, and you MUST do some work. I think the most important thing, though, is this: You must decide whether you want to "pretend to be normal" or just be yourself. I've recently come to the conclusion that being "normal" is just too much for me. I'm not changing for anyone unless my behavior hurts them.

I've found a counselor or psychotherapist or such to be quite useful, but only if they know about ASDs, My current therapist has a certification in ASDs, the previous ones we tried me with were terrible and tended to make no progress and have me leaving in tears.

I'm on the UK NHS waiting list for a Psychotherapist but here the wait could be years.

My Shrink claims to have an interest in AS but god knows how much she knows?

How about an ASD or disability-in-general support group? Find one that's disability-positive--if you see people moping about and going woe-is-me-I'm-such-a-misfit, then dump that one and find another. I've found that it is very helpful to learn from other people who have experiences with similar things; it's like looking at a solved example in a math textbook while you work out how to solve the new problems in the question section.

Well not any support groups in my area but I am looking. Thinking also of trying to find someware to do volunteer work with less fortunate individuals.