Psychologists/counselors are a waste of time

Post Reply New Topic

Have you ever tried Cognitive Behavioural Therapy (CBT). I think it is much better than the old style psychologist's couch approach.

I generally agree with this very much, with the caution that we don't want to repeat the same mistake by trying to be a different kind of "expert" or the classic counselor mistake of taking offense if the person doesn't think my advice is just pennies from heaven.

And yes, I do think a fellow person on the Spectrum can have a much easier understanding of sensory issues, even if we have different sensory issues, we can still easily understand the concept of sensory issues. And we can understand that social skills is not about "trying harder," which I have usually found to be counterproductive.

I have had better luck with such methods as: turning down my internal censor so that the default setting is that it's probably okay to go ahead and say it anyway unless it really jumps out at me as inappropriate, letting a medium mistake just be a medium mistake, and if a person needs space go ahead and give them space without the intermediate step of asking whether they 'should' need space.

And I try and give myself private time to stim, which I think is functional and healthier (counselors probably need to be matter-of-factly educated on this point, too).

I'm also afraid of getting diagnosed with bipolar disorder and being forced to take medications that will bring my flat affect back or having to disclose to the state bar. Another reason why I avoid traditional psychiatrists.

It hurts me every time I see someone making those popular psychology theories with no basis whatsoever. They should ban all of this, or at least the public should be aware of how wrong are they.

But the actual treatment might work for some people, so I might not be right. Still, it will probably only work for emotional problems, and certainly won't work in many circumstances I can think of.

thus far, went to 14 total psychologists/psychiatrists/licensed clinical social workers/school psychologists. in addition to those 14 paid professionals, went to numerous volunteer counselors that got 170 hours training.

in STEM subjects, there are right and wrong answers. and methods of going from the question to the answer. when someone has a theory about something, they have to do a controlled experiment, publish it in PubMed database, and get peer reviewed.

in psychology, that is not only not necessary, but it is not even possible. one clinical psychologist had the nerve to tell me that the previous boss fired me, b/c she did not like the way i looked. (maybe the clinical psychologist was the one that did not like the way i looked.) the clinical psychologist was not psychic. he had no method of knowing the reason. he just picked the most favorable one and forced it on me, like it was the absolute truth. he only told me that she did not like the way i looked, b/c he wanted me to "iron your pants and comb your hair" before i went to his sessions. he was so full of himself. and superficial.

and then a licensed clinical social worker had the nerve to tell me i thought i was worthless b/c i had no job. wrong. maybe everyone is worthless. it does not matter (that much) if someone has a job. besides, plenty of precious lil "people" have jobs. and the earn too much money, considering what they do. for example, the LCSW just sat on a chair flapping her trap. and she earned how much? seriously. she ought to get her masters and bachelors degrees revoked. at a minimum. and then when i told her about the hobby where i go to as many different bathrooms in different public buildings, as possible, and make a bowel movement, she acted completely repulsed. as if she had never heard of anything so disgusting. but she's the one that asked about hobbies.

the LCSW acted like she was much smarter, more sophisticated and more wise than she was. but whatever. so what she had a big ego. then she gave me condecending lil compliments like "i know you're smart." and then she said that someone that was not "smart" could not make use of the school. but the school is a community college, not an IQ test. community college. emphasis on "community." anyone can go. so apparrently the standard of "smart" is so low that everyone qualifies. so then what is so great about being "smart"?

then she acted like she expected me to believe everything she told me. even vague things, like when she told me i was "important", "awesome", "smart". what are the definitions of those words? if i am important then a cockroach is important. and likewise she was not as important as she acted like she was.

and then she asked how far i walk. answered. she gave me that kindergarden teacherlike response. like she was talking to a small child.

she was totally an idiot. and she was only one year older than me anyways.

she told me to go to the Wellness Center. but i went there and they told me there was no doctor or nurse.

she kept changing her mind about how many more sessions i had left.

she had the nerve to interrupt me when i was talking. and she said "huh" and "what" instead of "excuse me". she told me i was "important", but she did not treat me like i was important.

what i think is that the psychology field attracts a disproportionate number of big egos. and it ain't no trade secret that plenty of precious lil "people" get their masters or phd in psychology, with the motivation of untangling their own emotional turmoil.

in psychology, they tell me that anything you say is confidential except 5150 exceptions. but things that they say do not get written down, and then analyzed. like STEM professions. and then the psychologist told me i was "defensive". (or maybe if he wasn't offensive, then i would not have had to be "defensive"). seriously they make me wanna puke.

psychologists act like they know me, better than i know myself. but they only interacted with me for several hours. and in that context.

granted, i am biased.

but they are also biased.

when i was 17, my precious lil "parents" took me to a clinical psychologist. the first thing he had the nerve to ask me was what do your parents not like about you.

wtf?

"what do your parents not like about you?"

what if my precious lil "parents" do not like it when i continue living? what if they do not like my autism symptoms?

b/c it sounded like he assumed that my precious lil "parents" had a moral right to get everything they wanted and liked. and nothing else. he acted like i had no rights or emotions.

b/c vice versa. i could not have fancied that he asked my precious lil "parents" what i did not like about them.

in the clinical psychologist's defense, however, he was just practicing customer service. if he were to have taken my side, then my precious lil "parents" could've decided not to go back to him. and he would've lost a client/customer.

furthermore, the clinical psychologist's first language was not english. so maybe he choose words that were not the greatest.

but, in any event, he had a huge ego.

where is there a parent that likes everything about their child.

what about childrens rights? what about childrens emotions? what about approval and unconditional positive regard?




________________________________________________________________________________________

but not all counselors are a waste of time.
_______________________________________________________________________________________

for the past 6 months, i have gone weekly to a LCSW that thus far has been awesome. the insurance allows me one meeting, every other week, with her. for the next 6 months.

and then no more counseling.

unless, of course, i pay in cash.

Couldn't agree more.

Well I went to a mental health counselor for my Asperger's off and on for about 9 years. He was great to talk to. However, he never really helped me with my Asperger's. I rarely if ever shared any really deep or personal thoughts or problems with him. We didn't even explicitly talk about my Asperger's much, because until very recently I had a hard time accepting that I had Asperger's. But recently, I have had this personal social problem with a new friend of mine that forced me to ask my former counselor for help and advice. This is probably the first time that he has actually helped me with a real social problem. We have been in regular contact by e-mail and he has been moderately helpful to me. However, I'm afraid that there might be limits to what my counselor can do to help me solve my social problem, which I desperately want to solve.

I disagree with the OP, in that the thread title treats an opinion as a fact. I avoid the verb "to be" in order to free myself from the delusion that my opinions have some basis in other people's reality.

I've gotten some benefit from every psychologist, although I did not consider all of them beneficial enough to make it worth the effort. It takes time to find the right one, for me.

I need an intellectual equal in that role, so that eliminates a lot of people. They need some insight into autism, in order to read into things I say and translate them into NT language. I need to feel comfortable enough to both open up to the possibility that they can contradict my beliefs accurately, and also comfortable enough to dispute the details while conditionally accepting that their disagreement has merit.

From that last bit, note that I have to do a lot of work overcoming my resistance to people assuming inaccurate things about me in order to hear their feedback. I have found it immeasurably valuable to have someone I trust to call me on my BS. It doesn't have to be a professional, but I like their lack of conflicts of interest. Friends and stylists do have conflicts of interest if they don't want to risk offending me, which may make them less likely to point out my stupidities, or may make me less likely to give their criticism a serious hearing.

All of us Aspies know that and this thread is too long now.