There are unfortunately a ton of terrible therapists out there. It sucks to have to keep trying new ones because each failure feels like a personal flaw.
Nah, the issue with her is, she did the equivalent of a first aider seeing someone with a burst appendix and saying, yes, I know how to treat this, instead of getting them to a surgeon.
I had a doctor slap me with an anxiety disorder NOS diagnosis because she didn’t want to send me for autism testing. And so when I eventually plucked up the courage to get treated for it, she ignored what I said and just acted like “yes, I know how to treat anxiety” instead of noticing I was describing complex trauma, knowing it was beyond her scope and referring me to a service who could help or just discharging me.
Instead I got "if socialising is difficult for you, just try not to overthink it. No. Autistic scripting and rehearsing is just overthinking, no it is. No, it really is. I said it is! Stop doing it. " And "if you have issues with anxious attachment and codependency, it’s because you don’t love yourself more! So say some bad things about yourself so I can cure you of that and make you love yourself "
I give her too much credit, she probably hasn’t even heard of anxious attachment.
My GP is still pushing me to try again.
Thank you for listening to a bitter old lady shouting at the clouds.
It’s important to vent about these things, and I’m happy to help you with that. Just saying stuff and having someone listen feels way better than keeping it in.
Oh I already wrote a few essays on my Mastodon haha. I’m just frustrated at this, because in my case, I knew I was neurodivergent (I didn’t realise till later that I also had signs of complex PTSD myself). So when she tried to treat autistic anxiety as regular anxiety disorder by telling me to essentially just stop being autistic, and refused to learn about autism (because she’s “not here for that”) I knew the problem was her, not me.
Someone who doesn’t know they are neurodivergent will think they’re the failure, not the therapist, and just end up feeling worse. “If it works for everyone else, why isn’t it working for me? I’m just a failure at this too.”
It just really bothers me. I filled out the feedback form, but since I didn’t get any acknowledgement, I don’t know if anyone even read it.
The ironic thing is, I had a phobia therapist before her and she was very clued up about neurodivergence. Even though I was there for a blood test phobia (and that was all she was trained for), she put me in touch with the local autism service and pushed me to ask my GP for an assessment referral again.
It is according to my last therapist.
Oof, that sucks, you need a new one.
Yep, stuck it out for about six months, before I realised she was a lost cause.
Turns out that actually you can’t solve autistic difficulties by just trying to be neurotypical. Who knew?
There are unfortunately a ton of terrible therapists out there. It sucks to have to keep trying new ones because each failure feels like a personal flaw.
Nah, the issue with her is, she did the equivalent of a first aider seeing someone with a burst appendix and saying, yes, I know how to treat this, instead of getting them to a surgeon.
I had a doctor slap me with an anxiety disorder NOS diagnosis because she didn’t want to send me for autism testing. And so when I eventually plucked up the courage to get treated for it, she ignored what I said and just acted like “yes, I know how to treat anxiety” instead of noticing I was describing complex trauma, knowing it was beyond her scope and referring me to a service who could help or just discharging me.
Instead I got "if socialising is difficult for you, just try not to overthink it. No. Autistic scripting and rehearsing is just overthinking, no it is. No, it really is. I said it is! Stop doing it. " And "if you have issues with anxious attachment and codependency, it’s because you don’t love yourself more! So say some bad things about yourself so I can cure you of that and make you love yourself "
I give her too much credit, she probably hasn’t even heard of anxious attachment.
My GP is still pushing me to try again.
Thank you for listening to a bitter old lady shouting at the clouds.
It’s important to vent about these things, and I’m happy to help you with that. Just saying stuff and having someone listen feels way better than keeping it in.
Oh I already wrote a few essays on my Mastodon haha. I’m just frustrated at this, because in my case, I knew I was neurodivergent (I didn’t realise till later that I also had signs of complex PTSD myself). So when she tried to treat autistic anxiety as regular anxiety disorder by telling me to essentially just stop being autistic, and refused to learn about autism (because she’s “not here for that”) I knew the problem was her, not me.
Someone who doesn’t know they are neurodivergent will think they’re the failure, not the therapist, and just end up feeling worse. “If it works for everyone else, why isn’t it working for me? I’m just a failure at this too.”
It just really bothers me. I filled out the feedback form, but since I didn’t get any acknowledgement, I don’t know if anyone even read it.
The ironic thing is, I had a phobia therapist before her and she was very clued up about neurodivergence. Even though I was there for a blood test phobia (and that was all she was trained for), she put me in touch with the local autism service and pushed me to ask my GP for an assessment referral again.
So the other therapist had zero excuse.