Is it a good idea to learn psychiatry or psychology?

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I am an adult person with diagnosed an Asperger's syndrome. I consider learning psychology or psychiatry because I'm going to help autistic people with their problems. Most people tell me that this is a bad idea but don't tell me why. Can you tell me whether is it a good idea to learn psychology or psychiatry? If yes, can you recommend good resources to learn them?

I took a couple of classes in Behavioral Psych (101, 102) at uni. They didn't teach me much that I didn't already know.

Perhaps there's value of sorts in both.

Spectrum news just reported a study about a mouse model of fragile X, if that really floats your boat, psychiatry might be an option.

From experiencing and reading about oeople's experiences with psychology, I believe it's a mixed bag but can be very effective in dealing with issues we face, and can affirm us as autistic people.

Psychiatry may also be a mixed bag in that some people report benefit, but some appear to say "they just tried a bunch of drugs on me and it was kind of meh".

Learning psychology is a brilliant idea for its own sake or to help yourself. If you're doing it to help others on the spectrum, however, then you're probably wasting your time. You'll never really get much opportunity to help people on an informal basis, and if you do, they probably won't listen to your advice (like many I can think of here). If you want to do a formal degree and become a PROFESSIONAL psychologist, you still don't have much of a chance, unless you get a really good position. Most psychologists do more harm than good, as a result of the way the mental health system works in the West.

Not sure what you mean.

Do you mean that you intend to go into that as a career?

That you want to become either a psychologist, or a psychiatrist in order to help autistics?

If that's the case then you have to go to college and get advanced degrees in psych to become a psychologist, and you have to combine that with a medical degree(ie also become an actual medical doctor on top of being a psychologist) to become a psychiatrist.

In my personal experience, the best way to help autistic people is actually to learn psychology. Psychology is how people think (which is VERY systematic and predictable). We are VERY good at understanding systems. For me personally, this allows me to predict conversation's, and is a pretty foolproof guide when you get lost in a situation. Also has near unlimited tactics to help reduce stress, crashes/meltdowns (hate the word meltdown), and ways to deal with sensory issues. It more or less a handbook to NT's, and allows you to navigate their world. Takes a few years to really understand it and apply it though.

For suggestions, read jung's "Man and his symbols", read joseph cambels "myths and legends", Read everything about condition/reaction, maslow's heirachy of needs (though it's outdated, it's a great quick reference to figure out what people want", and try to get learn the core of psychology rather then focusing on the specific's.

As for the people that told me it was a stupid idea, and that i couldn't do it.... they are the same people who try to take credit for the fact that i have a house, friends, a long term relationship and my own company, if that tells you anything lol.

Sad, but true. I majored in psychology, and had already given up on a career in it by the time I graduated. It felt like folks said "I want help... but not from YOU."

I'm learning psych at the moment, and I also intend to learn it for the purpose of helping both myself and possibly other autistic people in the future. I think it's a good idea and I don't see anything wrong with it. Even if you don't end up using it for anything, it's still really fun and interesting in my opinion, and can even be used to improve social skills since you have more knowledge on how others think.

How do you do 4 years of psychology in college and give up because of self doubt? Not trying to be mean, I just don't understand. Seems like an awful lot of time and money put going into something that is suppose to teach you how to deal with that. I mean you already did the work, why not try?

Rule #1 Social advice withstanding, Neurotypical's giving life and career advice to an autistic is like taking stock advice from a homeless person.

Rule #2 Know your limits but don't limit yourself.

I'm in high school and I plan on taking AP Psych at my school when I become a senior. Reading through my now graduated sister's notes for that class, I was very fascinated. There was actually an entire unit on mental and neurodevelopmental disorders, and autism was included. Not only did I learn some psychology from the words of my sister and her notes, but I also learned it from my various psychologists. To me, psychology is a social science and philosophy combined.

On the other hand, I don't know too much about psychiatry in terms of how psychiatric medications work, but the field still fascinates me. I would love to learn about mental disorders and conditions, especially the ones I have. (They are GAD, panic disorder, and chronic depression, as I may have mentioned a few thousand times on WP. These conditions are alarmingly common.)