My college has a 'Mental Health' counsel service

Post Reply New Topic

I've never been diagnosed with Aspergers and there just doesn't seem to be resources where I live to get evaluated. About a month ago, I received a message in my college email inbox letting me know this service is available. They have 3 counselors listed on their website who all seem to be well trained in psychology:

The therapists have provided counseling in the community for more than 20 years. That means that they have experience treating a wide-range of mental health issues. Some common referral issues include: anxiety, depression, mood disorders, low motivation, ADHD, family conflict, relationship difficulties, parenting, eating disorders, career planning, post-traumatic stress disorder (PTSD), and coping with recent job loss. Odds are if you are experiencing difficulty, the counselors atNWTC can provide assistance.

I'm not sure based on this if they deal with issues similar to Aspergers or not, but I've scheduled an initial phone conference with them. Unfortunately, I'm at a satellite campus and they're at the main campus 2 hours away, otherwise I would see them in person.

I just wondered if anyone else has tried a similar process or service. I'm also thinking that even if they're not trained exactly on dealing with Autism related issues, I might still benefit from some kind of counseling. Or this could possibly lead to a referral.

Well plenty of the above are certainly could be caused by Aspergers. But the question is do they know enough to disgnose Aspergers? Based on the above it seems not. The answer can only be found by you talking to them and maybe going for a few sessions with an open mind. Can treatment based a wrong diagnosis be helpful?. It depends. It can treat part of your problems or because of wrong assumptions make you go backwards. Each person is different etc

Well, I talked to the guy. He is aware of what Aspergers is, he's leaning toward ADD or ADHD for me. He said he'd like to talk to me again in a week.

It's nice this resource is available and I'm glad I took advantage of it. It was interesting talking to a counselor. My primary concern has been dealing with noisy environments, getting distracted, or having multi-tasking issues and maybe counseling on this now will help me out so I can be better prepared to look for work.

I guess, in all this, the grey area to me is I wonder about how Adults with Aspergers are evaluated versus young kids. The strange thing is some Adults through hard trial and error might get better at some things socially or perhaps "act normal" mimicking social people around them or make themselves look people in the eye.

Those of us who were diagnosed as adults have learned a lot to be able to get by. Some of us even manage to pass as normal sometimes. So it can be tricky. It seems like you are making a good move by at least talking to this person.

The only thing I would be careful for though is to make sure they are not to quick to throw medication at you. There are medications used to "help" all the things they mentioned but there is no medication for Autism Spectrum Disorders. If medications could help you and be right for you that is fine. But there are doctors and therapists who just throw them at you not for your sake but the sake of their wallets. So you want to be sure that if they suggest anything it is done very carefully and thoughtfully with your best interest in mind. I guess they are not doctors though so they are not authorized to prescribe anything. But they could possibly make suggestions. That would be my only caution.

If the person knows what Asperger's is, that is a start. I would see how much he knows and if he can refer you to someone who might know more. You want to look at all the possibilities if you are able to. It could be that you have something else other than Asperger's so you want to look at as much as you can. But I wish you the best in this and hope it will bring you answers that can make your life better for you.

How does this work exactly, skibum? When a doctor writes a prescription, it's not like they get a kickback from the pharmacy that fills the prescription. I just don't see how writing a prescription financially benefits them at all.

A lot of ADD ADHD, and autistic traits overlap. What Autistics do that the others don't is repetitive behaviors. He is leaning, he has not decided. This seems like a good place and the important thing is you are happy with them.

There are different versions of tests for children and adults but the traits are the some. With adults you have to take into account they have learned passing skills.

Doctors are financially backed in part by pharmaceutical companies. Pharmaceutical companies push doctors to prescribe their drugs and if they do, they financially support their practices.

Your generation of young adults should be allright. Your generation grew up during the great expansion of Autism knowledge and diagnoses. There is a lot of programs starting up now to help with transitioning to college and the work world.

Sometimes I forget that things have changed so much from since when I was college age. Back then, if I had gone to a college counselor with my Aspie traits and symptoms they would have put me on medication right away and maybe even sent me to the psychiatric wing at the hospital. I am glad it's different now. I remember actually going to a college counselor in college and the minute I started talking I saw the look on his face and thought, this guy is just going to give me big trouble if I say anything more. I never went back after the first session.

When I got diagnosed last year, the people who set up the diagnoses told me that I should be open to being given medication. I told them I will never every take psychotropic drugs. Fortunately my diagnosis came out as HFA and not anything that they can give me prescription meds for. I also was diagnosed with depression and anxiety but as part of the Autism and not as separate so they did not feel the need to offer me meds for that. I would not have taken them anyway even if they had because I personally don't ever want to go that route.

I respect if others do but it's not for me.