Alright. Let’s get a validating vent session going. My fellow beautiful autistic people, what are some horror from your experience with therapists?
Alright. Let’s get a validating vent session going. My fellow beautiful autistic people, what are some horror from your experience with therapists?
I made an appointment with the only psychologist in a hundred miles that didn’t have a 2 year wait list in March 2020.
I went there specifically because I was pretty sure I had ADHD and suspected ASD.
She asked me why I was there and I started out, “Well, I suspect I might have ADHD. Beca-”
She interrupted me to say that she knew (I saw her once before years ago, long story) I had a college degree. And therefore I couldn’t possibly have ADHD because someone with anything “like that” couldn’t possibly have it.
She wouldn’t let me get through any of my reasons or listen to me at all. Not the least of which is it took me 10 years to get a 4 year degree.
I left that appointment, went to my GP and said, “I think I have ADHD and here’s why.”
She said “Yep, sounds like it. Here’s Adderall tell me if it helps.” (Helps a lot…not completely because also ASD but didn’t know at the time)
When I went back the next month for a follow up with my GP she said that the psychologist made a note in my file and that I’m banned from having this medication.
I’ve never had any substance abuse issues ever. My parents did when they were alive, but I haven’t.
I am close to my GP in as much as you can be while maintaining boundaries. We trust each other. She said the psych notes don’t match what she knows of me but she was unable to override them. She just…encouraged me to get a second opinion.
Luckily the rise of pandemic telemedicine meant I got an ADHD diagnosis and was properly medicated before the medication shortage.
But I continue to be fucked in the medical system by that one quack psychologist and I don’t even know how to move forward pursuing an ASD diagnosis.
She sucked.
The infantilization and otherization of minorities will never stop mindblowing me. “Yes, we know you may require this medication to have a functional life, but there’s the chance you might also abuse it to the point of harming yourself so its distribution will be extremely monitored, and we may give you extreme difficulties to get access to it.” Bitch, there are idiots who DRANK BLEACH yet no one has seriously considered mandating the requirement of permits to buy bleach, and the only difference here is that everyone uses it.
I am so sorry you went through that! That psychologist has absolutely no business in being a clinician. She’s not only unhelpful, but actively harmful. While this is entirely your decisions, I would encourage you to report her to the licensing agency because if she was like that with you, she’s doing it with others as well. Although you were lucky enough to have a supportive GP, many others don’t, and this supposed psychologist is actively preventing individuals from accessing proper care. She needs to not be in her position so that she won’t be able to hurt others.
However, I can empathize a little. I had a GI that I would see for a significant chronic GI issue. He noticed my attention deficit and encouraged me to tell my psychiatrist. I knew I had attention issues my whole life, but in my experience, telling a psychologist was a waste of time because they point out my successes and imply that I don’t have attention issues. Regardless, since I had confidence in my GI, I told the psychiatrist. This is exactly how it went because it was so shocking to me, that I never forgot it. I could paint a picture of the entire office setup when it happened because that’s how well my body remembered it.
Psychiatrist: Anything else you would like to report?
Me: My GI said to tell you that I have attention issues.
Psych: I’m not going to prescribe you stimulants.
At the time, I didn’t even know that stimulants were the medical treatment for ADHD. However, now I knew. I kept living my life, struggling and barely making it. My successes were highly supported by caring loving people that believed in me and gave me the support that I needed to achieve and contribute.
Edited: for reasons
I’m assuming that you’re referring to an experience with the NHS? Our provision of mental healthcare is shameful. I had a similar experience with a doctor who told me that since I have qualifications that it was unlikely to be ADHD. This was after I told them that I was worried about the substances that I used to get the qualifications. This went on for years as a series of doctors refused to refer me for a diagnostic session. I eventually paid for a private psychiatrist and was duly diagnosed at 47.
I’m not seeking substances any more, I have no desire to because the problem has been decisively solved by the medication and a plethora of coping strategies. Now I’m expected to pretend that the last forty years of gaslighting in schools, colleges, doctors surgeries, etc, was all just a big misunderstanding? This is a country of bigoted Dunning-Kruger morons. Why do I need to follow their rules when they don’t know what they are talking about?
Anybody labouring under a mental health disorder is forced to become an expert of their own condition while these cretins grub around in the dirt and wave flags for our most privileged royal family.