Worse Psych Advice you've had:

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For many years I had huge trauma from what my therapists did to me - until I read this thread. Now I see I had it easy.

The worst a therapist did to me was give me anti-hallucination drugs because I was being bullied at work and he insisted it was all in my imagination. When my colleagues admitted to the bullying and that it wasn't my imagination, I was allowed to stop taking the meds.

The second worst was to reinforce in me the Aspie limitation that anything that is not said in words doesn't exist. All therapists made me believe that what I wasn't seeing wasn't there. Manipulations, lies, envy, gossip behind my back, bullying - according to them, none of these existed, otherwise the perpetrators would talk about them openly.

The third worst was taking all the money I ever earned for decades, knowing beforehand that they had no clue to what my problem was, much less be able to help me in any way.

"You don't have anything - definitely not Asperger's, neither depression, nor any type of anxiety disorders. You're the cream of the crop out of all of these patients."

- a psychiatrist when I was in a Psych ward due to anxiety/depression. I had SOMETHING, otherwise I wouldn't have been there!

This paragraph describes to a tee what's been going on in my 12 yr old's life... since he was 8. I told the Psych I want all stimulants pulled due to ill side effects. He suggested Stratera, it is my hope that it may work for him, as Zoloft does for me for obsessive thinking. Everytime the Psych mentions Risperidal, or Clonopin, I tell him ABSOLUTELY NOT. My boy has shown high sensitivities to medications (Benedryl, cough meds, laughing gas at the dentist). I feel like either the Psych gets paid way too much for writing prescriptions, or he's deaf to what I tell him. We're pushing for a PDD evaluation.

The nastiest thing that I'm aware of, was that a week before my brother took his own life, his girlfriend told me that he had called the Crisis Centre at our local hospital and their response was that there were no beds available, and that they'd call him as soon as there was ....which obviously wasn't soon enough.

In my early twenties before AS diagnosis:

--Advice that I need to grow into my gender so that I can start to feel sexual desire as well as become comfortable with the idea of nakedness.

--Advice to go to a homeopath and surprise about how I would never consider going naked in front of one.

--Advice that my partner of the time was physically dragging and forcing me into anxiety-provoking situations because he cared.

--Advice that the above partner and I had a strong relationship because we'd made up ... after he'd been bullying me.


In my late twenties before AS diagnosis:

--Advice to join group therapy with people much older (and with various issues), and if I don't join and commit to at least a year, I'm missing out on a vital opportunity. Nevermind that I insisted I would be mute in such a situation.

--Advice by a psychoanalytic therapist that I essentially had no life and that all my issues were neurosis caused by trauma from when my younger siblings were born.

--Advice from the same to take medication and that I have a superiority complex due to being a genius, but this suddenly disappeared from the assessment the following week whereupon I was apparently someone without love in my life who had turned myself into rock, had a cardboard-like persona and came across as dead.


Dumped them all.

Advice (from someone with no clinical expertise in ASDs): you do not have AS, you have Borderline Personality Disorder, but it does not matter either way as the treatment is exactly the same.

Since when was lithium a "treatment" for AS?

There's nothing deep here. I just thought it was ironic that the therapist and psychiatrist are supposed to find problems that can be eased or eliminated with therapy or medication, but the reverse was occuring where the therapist was creating new problems for you in your mind (mental problems) and the psychiatrist was also creating new problems as well (but physical problems) instead of understanding your problems and knowing how to ease or eliminate them.

I'm usually very analytical. My humor 99% of the time only has to do with finding these stupid ironies of life...Despite my often serious uncomfortable nature when I find these things I find it really hard not to laugh, even when depressed. Maybe that's why George Carlin and Lewis Black are my favorite comedians...my humor is the same.

(age 15) That I was sexually repressed and should try reading erotic literature.

(age 26) That I really just had a personality disorder and so no drugs would help me.

After reading this thread what my psyche said was pretty minor.

Mindfulness meditation to stop meltdowns (which I call mindlessness meditation). Also, to stay away from areas that you get sensory sensitivity. Hmm, like phones, my neighbour, dog, cat, mother, CONCERTS (I'm a band photographer) and busy roads? And that's just a few for sound sensitivity.
She basically made me feel like I could control my meltdowns, sensory sensitivity and emotions through mindfulness meditation. Oh and told me to stop having routines.

When I was in college I saw a really old-school psychiatrist for a couple of months. He asked me a lot about my relationship with my father and said that I was depressed and just needed to get laid.

Uh, I thought that was terrible advice.

Z

That's cool. Like I said, I don't mind if you think its funny. I pretty much laugh at everything and anything. I just need it explained sometimes.

Read an awesome article just yesterday about the collective Iraqi humor (post-US invasion, anyway). My God, talk about laughing to keep from crying. (Also one of those articles that makes you remember how much we all have in common.)

http://news.bbc.co.uk/2/hi/middle_east/7976381.stm

Why would anyone give that advice to any ASDer... routines allow us to function a little closer to normal.

That's the whole point. Some quack shrinks work off the idea that one has repressed the memories because they were so traumatic.

The result is false memories (worst case) or just that shadow of a doubt.

Up until the moment that jerk started down that path, I would have said the same thing you're saying and just as emphatically.

I think that whole celebrity sexually-abused-as-a-child-trend has passed - knock on wood.

Not to make light of sexual abuse, by the way!

Sorenna, in regards to ineffective advice, that would have to go down to having my Psych telling me that all of my social troubles were all my eternal fought for not learning how to understand the complex network of interactions as it relates to friendship & relationships.
I'll admit that I'm not good at such , but making me feel as all the problem is my fault tends to be somewhat inaccurate at best..

ProfessorX

I've been to a number of psychiatrists/therapists since I was diagnosed at 16. All of them have been at least friendly up until the latest woman I saw. I began by explaining my history of being diagnosed with AS, major depression, social anxiety and OCD. Her reply? "That's for me to decide". I talked with her for over an hour, and she ended the session by saying "I think you just need to get a job".

yeah, most of us older folks don't get squat but insurance co-pays and another hour of 'hummm. . ' and "how did you feel about that?"

they don't have a clue what to do with us, you know, and if you question or make them uncomfortable they lable you Borderline Personality Disorder - to warn other therapists you may not be as educated as they are, but you are certainly smarter than they are.

Merle