Can someone with mild aspergers be a good psychologist?

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Can someone with mild aspergers be a good psychologist?

I remember reading somewhere by someone with aspergers who is a psychologist. And I've read brilliant articles and posts by people with aspergers on emotions, relationships, etc. I assume that the answer is yes, they can. But what i don't know is how to understand how that can be, since (I'm still new but learning a lot about aspergers) since it doesnt make sense considering the empathy and communication difficulties.

Thank you to all. This website is a lifesaver for this NT mom trying to do the best job possible helping my son grow up healthy and happy.

This question is not related to my son. He'll have a career in computers. But these types of questions help me to round out my understanding. You have all helped so much in the past.

I used to want to study psychology. As it turns out, I have high levels of cognitive empathy. I can understand the situations other people are in, and what feelings I would expect that situation to elicit. I have extensive experience of mental illness and unfortunate events, so I can understand associated situations and feelings. I cannot understand all situations, or all feelings, particularly if I have not experienced a similar situation or feeling myself. I volunteer as a peer-supporter online. I like to help others. People think I am a good listener and a good "friend". I am interested in other people, and like to learn about other people.

However, would I be a good psychologist? I experience emotional exhaustion when people depend on me too much. I am excellent at listening to others on the Internet and via textual communications, but face-to-face I become overwhelmed with all the other information: facial expression, gestures, crying, tone of voice. I have difficulties understanding and setting boundaries with others, which would be problematic for professional situations in which "transference" is common. I would not know how to set boundaries with clients. I would not feel confident setting boundaries with clients. I would struggle with exaggerated feelings of responsibility towards my clients. I do not know how to act when people are manipulating my sense of responsibility towards others. I am sure neurotypical psychologists experience these and other struggles, but I think ASD would make the profession intolerable in the long-run. I also do not know if I would be a good psychologist. I would not be able to communicate to the other people that I empathise with them via non-verbal communication, as is reportedly important in therapeutic interactions. It would not be a good profession for my mental well-being.

There are many kinds of jobs in the psychology field. Some aspies might be great at doing experiments in a clinical setting, or doing assessments (administering psychological tests.) Others might function well as a cog in a social work bureaucracy and actually do some good there. I have a friend who is working as an expert witness for the family courts. It's not all just talking about people's feelings.

In a lot of situations I have more cognitive empathy than the general population (on the autism spectrum or not). I don't know if I'd be a good psychologist though. I'd probably get too wrapped up in other people's problems and not be able to shut it off enough to focus on other things. The autism spectrum is vague though. I'm not representative of the typical person with aspergers. I had severe sensory issues as a child and lot of problems with sensitivity and pickiness. I'm still sensitive, not just physically but emotionally as well. I've always had a super intense focus and have had executive function problems my entire life (despite being extremely intelligent). I can recall being averse to eye contact, but never recall any difficulty reading facial expressions or body language. I actually tune in pretty fast if I sense someone is upset.

I don't know how to answer you're question though. I'd say it wouldn't be a good fit in most cases, but there may be exceptions. As far as helping people, I prefer to just be a friend that listens. I don't like giving advice unless someone asks. Usually when someone asks for advice they are surprised how much insight I have. I wouldn't like having to play "professional" though. It's just not the same. I like genuine connection.

I have a lot of people say that I would make an excellent psychologist, because I'm very understanding and empathetic, and I'm always interested in how people feel. I know they are right, but I don't have much confidence with people, and I know that there's probably more to being a psychologist than I think. Like everything, from the simplest, basic cleaning job, to more desired careers, there is always more demands than what I would expect, and then I get too stressed.

I'm interested in psychology. I probably should have tried to get a psych degree, but I'll settle for writing blog posts that I hope are insightful.

Depending on the person and what kind of psychology job they're in, autistic communication differences might end up being either irrelevant or advantageous. Like, the NT ability to get info about other people's thoughts and feelings based on their body language and other non-verbal communication is super-handy... as long as the people you're interacting with use the same non-verbal signals to which you're accustom! I've seen NT professionals get all kinds of wrong info from non-verbal miscommunications because they were dealing with someone from a different culture (even just from another part of the USA) or with some kind of neurological atypicality. I think if you want to be a therapist or a psychology researcher, you have to learn to ignore that stuff. Lots of autistic people already ignore that stuff.

Sure, why not?

Also, I think the understanding of empathy of those on the spectrum is widely misunderstood. Don't assume anyone on the spectrum has any type of empathy deficiency.

I'm studying psychology; I recently got my bachelor's degree, and I'm applying for graduate school next year. Empathy is not my best skill, but I'm good at listening and helping people draw conclusions about their problems. I see no reason why an autistic couldn't make a good psychologist. Given that I plan on specialising in autism, I'm uniquely qualified to understand the problems of my specific clients.

Thanks for your answers!
I wonder how I can figure out how much empathy my 15-year old has. He's a teen, and so many teen boys are practically monosillabic and lousy communicators, so i dont know what's just being a teen and what's aspergers. He doesn't manage well in English, since we live in spain, and online questionnaires are scarce or non existing in spanish.

Marshall, the executive function is murder. Trying to get him to study in spite of his high intelligence is killing me. And he is hiperfocused on minecraft and computer games. When his friends come over to do a school group project which they frequently do at my house he's fantastic, creative, leader, great team player, but getting him to study subjects with technical words (biology) or chemistry is sooo painful to both of us and including when he's working with his private tutor.
Math hes a whiz at mental calculations but despises writing out the equations. And when theres math theory to learn forget it. Hates memorizing formulas as well.