My experiences with online therapy/ASD VS OCD.

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So, back in July I made a thread titled "Online therapist mentioned I might be autistic, but I don't think I am": viewtopic.php?t=350856

Since then, some time has passed and things have changed. Back then, my first therapy session with one of the workers there (let's call her Z) who said she wondered about autism, when I brought up my discomfort/panic caused by crowds, and how it was heavily influenced by my sensory issues/ heightened senses. After our session, she sent me several resources on a few conditions, like how to better handle and spot anxiety in everyday life, and one of the resources was on autism and Aspergers.

She commented "I've added on autism, but don't get too alarmed- I just thought since we talked about it in our session that it might interest you". I was slightly puzzled at a particular remark she made, "Here are a few resources, although I suspect you've already thoroughly researched them!", I wasn't sure if that was more aimed at the anxiety or not, but either way it made me wonder why she suspected this. Maybe it was due to the terminology I used during the chat? Hmm...I suppose there could be a few different reasons as to why.

As I've explained on other threads, the website works by placing you with whoever is on shift at that particular time, so before I got a named therapist (someone who you talk to on a regular basis) I spoke to various different workers. My experience with this was incredibly varied, some therapists I only talked to once like Z, one I spoke to occasionally (let's call them A) and another I spoke to quite a few times (P).

I built up a connection with P fairly easily, they remembered my interests over our sessions (or at least had notes on them) and would bring them up to show that they care in order to convince me to open up more. However, the same cannot be said for A. Unlike P, I did not connect with A at all, and I felt like we were often on a different page to one another. Fairly recently, I made a thread where I talked about this: viewtopic.php?t=356556

In my sessions with P, I brought up my sensory issues, and unlike Z they suggested that they may actually be more related to OCD rather than autism.

Similarly, they sent me a bunch of resources on anxiety, but this time I was sent stuff on OCD rather than autism.

So far, I haven't brought up the subject with my named worker, but it'll be interesting to see what they say on the matter.

Found this recently: https://www.sciencedaily.com/releases/2 ... 142541.htm

Thoughts?

My wife thought I had OCD, but not after living with me for a few years so she could carefully compare it against her version of OCD.

How would OCD cause sensory issues?

There could be an additional sensory processing disorder as well, or traits.

There is some evidence online that OCD could be tied to sensory issues, but it would have to be a separate sensory processing disorder, and that just gets confusing. However, when one part of the brain is wired differently, it is likely that certain other disorders will go along with it as a result. I don’t believe that OCD causes sensory issues, but it could cause a separate sensory processing disorder.

I think in some ways I feel heavily repulsed by certain stimuli due to negative associations, but there are also times where I feel uncomfortable, just due to feeling overwhelmed.

For instance, if I'm somewhere with a lot of smells, sounds, and visual information than I might feel overwhelmed.

However, if a small thing is bothering me (such as someone biting into a tomato) then it's not really about being overwhelmed, but rather it invokes negative thoughts in my mind, that make me want to avoid seeing such actions.

Also, I think I might have misophonia, because I often feel agitated at the sound of chewing (especially gum) as well as other sounds, such as high pitched whistling that physically hurts my ears (I'm not exaggerating).

However, I also have issues with things other than sounds, which makes me wonder about SPD.

P never ruled out an ASD as a possibility, they just didn't mention it because our conversations ended up focusing on my negative thoughts that come with certain stimuli, rather than times where I have felt overloaded.