I went to a counselor today.

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I had to go see the school counselor today during lunch and I told her about my autism and told her that I have trouble spacing out, speaking up, and stim a lot in class. I also told her about why I go to that school because we have some redisticting rule in our school district.

I went to see a university counselor the week before last.

I'm glad to hear that, Roygerdodger. I remember you were saying a while back that you were considering talking to your teachers about it. Maybe your counselor will tell your teachers if they don't already know.

I've been thinking about seeing a counselor. I get free counseling services through my job but the job is temporary and will only last another year and a half so if I'm going to do it I should probably get started. I'm still undiagnosed and I guess if I want a diagnosis then I should see someone. I don't know if I want a diagnosis though.

What do you guys think? Is it worth it, to see a counselor about AS or autism? I find that most of them dosn't know anything about the autistic spectrum, and that can be frustrating.

Has anyone actually found counseling helpful? I was reading in Tony Attwood's book that means of support appropriate to NT's -- like counseling -- aren't typically helpful to AS types. It is said that AS-types probably benefit more from social guidance/education, than a person to share feelings with and so forth.

From a personal perspective I would tend to agree with this sentiment. Indeed, how can any NT understand the perspective of an AS type if, automatically, they're able to read social cues and are unable to empathise with somebody that cannot?

When I did go to a counsellor over an extended period, apart from spending approximately £800 in fees, I would have said that most of the conclusions reached were my own ...

At the time, my relationship had gone pearshaped and I couldn't work out why it was that I encountered the type of mis-understandings, and why in certain circumstances I would 'explode'.

He provided very little guidance as such, and didn't actually identify either AS or a personality disorder (not sure if I'm AS or OCPD); admittedly, some of the reflection in a form comparable to Beck's Cognitive Behavioural Therapy or Ellis' Rational-Emotive Behaviour Therapy was quite helpful -- but most of that was down to my own research between sessions.

I find it very useful to see a counselor from time to time, but mine is specialized in AS and autism. This is important; "NT templates" often don't work for us, and psychologists with little knowledge about AS/autism aren't going to understand us very well.
The usefulness of seeing a (good) counselor consists mainly of two things for me: (1) learning methods to handle things that are complicated for me, and (2) getting a wider perspective on issues when I'm troubled by details and can't see the big picture.

I think there's a difference between a kid seeing his school counselor, so they at least know what's going on with him and maybe, just maybe be able to help him out, and adults seeing therapists, who may or may not be helpful.

Roygerdodger: That sounds good, but what was the outcome? Did the councellor say that they could help you?

I have had mixed results with councelling. I find that with emotional support councelling, it helped to hear from another person I was not "crazy" or that the feelings I was having where normal, infact several councellors told me that I was doing better then many would in my situation, that made me feel a bit better. (I was living with a suicidal mother who was in and out of the hospital at the time and my father was dying of cancer, plus I was a teen mom not even getting into the history of depression and not fitting in largely due to AS) I think that we did not talk very much about "feelings" or other stuff like that. The councelling maybe I drove it this way, but it tended to do a lot with getting reaffirmation for my decisions and planning for the future / guidance.

I spoke regularly with school councellors, they where great for talking to teachers as a leasion between myself and them, and also gave a lot of support and motivation to keep persuing my acedemics, which I nearly gave up on a few times. I was an all or nothing student, marks in the high 80's or 90's, or failing. There was no inbetween.

I go to a psychologist for Depression (actually horrible mood swings) and I guess we do Cognitive Behavior Therapy. We don't talk about the past at all, but problem solve. When we're not working on a specific, current issue, we go over this worksheet called "habits of mind". It's a list of mental habits that are unhealthy. Never telling her I think I'm Aspie, this list basically addresses the debilitating aspects of Aspie thinking. For instance, we discuss "black and white" thinking, (mis)reading people's minds, getting stuck in routines, the roots of addictive behavior, etc.
She gives advice as though tutoring a student. Sometimes I'm struck by how simple her advice is. But they're things I'm obviously not doing for myself and I'm having trouble with.


What I have heard is that psychoanalysis is what is not helpful for Aspies, the stereotypical, "Tell me about your mother" stuff.

Here's something I forgot to put down: The counselor did agree to help me buying telling all my teachers that I have autism.

Good, Rodger!
Is your counselor going to be the one to tell your teachers? I think it should be your counselor who tells them, not you.