Does anyone really understand you?

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In the month and a half that I have been here, I certainly have enjoyed reading about your experiences, and participating in many stimulating conversations. The question I must ask now is, Have anyone of you benefited from psychotherapy? Or for that matter, been harmed by it?
I could go on and on (for many hours) about my own negative experiences with the mental health profession, but I am not going to waste my time or yours by doing so. It all happened back in the 1980's and 90's anyway. Traditional feeling based psychodynamic therapy is geared for a different type than that of people here, so I wouldn't expect it to be of much, if any, benefit to WP members. Are there any counseling methods that have been of any real help to you?

Nobody understands the true Ryan. My intentions are always misinterpreted, and people view me in incorrect ways. It sucks, I just wish people could get the real me.

For my whole I felt that psychotherapy was useless. At the end I just understood that psychology is just the sum of successful experiences about how to face life and solve problems.

If you mind thinks different, most of this knowledge is useless for you. That doesn't mean that psychotherapy is wrong: it just means that psychotherapy has been developped by NT people and is useful for them.

However, there's starting to be books about psychology for people with AS, written by people with AS. I have found them much more interesting that any psychology book I've ever read.

I have found Cognitive Behavioural Therapy (CBT) and a therapy called Acceptance Commitment Therapy (ACT) which is kind of a mixture of mindfulness and CBT approaches helpful. There is a lot of good self-help material around on these techniques if you didn't want to talk to someone face to face.

I also found work I have done with a professional clinical psychologist more helpful than that I had from a counsellor.

The counsellor was doing a kind of mix of CBT, EMDR and psychotherapy it was a bit of a weird hybrid and didn't quite work.

I'm not quite sure what approach the clinical psychologist is officially using - she avoids labels but is clearly trained in a range of techniques- I think this might be one of the reasons she's so good!

I've managed to get to see the clinical psychologist for free through the NHS in the UK but I had to jump through quite a lot of hoops and be quite persistent to get this help.

Talk therapy benefited me a lot, but it was not the therapy part, but the talk part, that helped me. I learned to talk bester from talk therapy. The other benefit of talk therapy was that I became less shy, but that might also have been a consequence of learning to talk bester and knowing bester what I wanted to say, so I ackshuly had things to say in various situations.

For me, it's not the method but the professional who treats you.

I've been treated by two god-awful professionals who did nothing for me, and two very skilled people who did a world of good. It all depends on how they approach you, relate to you and choose to work past your issues.

Then again, I was in therapy for things other than being autistic.

I was put into an outpatient day program at a hospital close to where I live for 7 weeks. We went there everyday and took different classes such as Psychotherapy, Mindful Meditation and Relaxation Techniques, learning about medications, learning about local community services, self-esteem, communication skills, grounding techniques, social games, teamwork, reduction for self-harm and other fun classes. It was like a school day with two classes in the morning, lunch and then two classes in the afternoon. I made a few friends from group and it was probably my most helpful therapy experience ever. It opened me up and motivated me and got me back on track after a major episode of deep depression.

I don't even truly understand myself, so it would be fairly impossible for anyone else to truly understand me.
That being said, I thoroughly enjoy my visits with my therapist. He is very insightful, and we could all use a little more insight.

I had CBT and EMDR from a therapist I neither trusted nor liked, and it didn't help at all. The only good thing was teaching me how to name my emotions.
Now I'm seeing a psychiatrist who is also trained in psychotherapy, and I can trust him and talk about things to him. He seems to be using a variety of approaches. From what he says, I know he understands me. I look forward to our sessions even though they are difficult.
I think it doesn't matter so much what approach a therapist uses, as long as they can show that they understand you, can be trusted and want to/can help.

I have one of those therapists now. I don't see it lasting long, cause I can't see her having anything else to offer once I have learned to name my emotions. The first session she told me "I'm not that fluent in english" when I showed her some info about Aspergers. To me that meant; "I am not up-to-date on newer research", and with Aspergers still being in its infancy, thats really a bad sign.

Oh well, next one will be better.

Been in and out of therapy for years and never found it very useful. My current therapist is more like a friend, that's why we get along so well. It doesn't feel like an inferior person talking to a superior person, like talking with most all my previous therapists did. It feels more like two equals talking. It's nice.

I've just given CBT a go, not sure that it really worked that well for me. The aim was to try to overcome some of my anxiety and confidence issues. I just became even more aware of my personality quirks, in particular my lack of ability to discuss feelings and emotions. In the end I think I was just trying to please the therapist, so I ended up more stressed out at the end of the course than when I started.

Jason

Not really they think I am hyper, weird, semi antisocial and childish.

On some things I can relate to people, but on other things people just think I'm overreacting a lot all the time.

I don't think I've ever met someone who truly understood me. I thought a few times someone understands me but it was later revailed that she even was not trying to understand my way of thinking.

To answer your question in the title. No. Do I care? No. Took me a while to get to this point, now I'm happy.

The psychologists out there have been largely useless. Quick to judge and find fault if they see differences. The ones I've met simply don't understand (or wish to) people with atypical brain wiring. Tough for them - they get no more of my money!