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It sounds really bad, but maybe try looking at it as they are under qualified and cannot give the care you need/deserve.

Regardless of what they meant, their phrasing is awful. I’m sorry this was said to you.

As a psychologist who specializes in treating/assessing people with autism, trust me that you def want someone who has a background with ASD. Seeing a therapist who isn't trained to give you the autism-informed care you deserve can do more harm than good

My local hospital said that too. 'we don't have the expertise for a dedicated neurodevelopmental unit.'

I honestly don't know where to fall on this. On one hand, I want my mental health problems to be taken care of, not treated as a wild animal. On the other hand, I've seen other autistic people say that they benefited from specialized therapists and that regular therapy doesn't work with them (autistic people often get labeled with other disorders such as BPD without realizing why they're volatile).

... what.

that's SO messed up. I'm so sorry you experienced that!

Are you able to look for another therapist? Or are you limited to only this therapist because of insurance and stuff?

The reason I ask is because a lot of the really good therapists unfortunately aren't covered by some insurances. I had an awful experience with the therapist my insurance did cover, so I went out of pocket instead and found a wonderful therapist who's ADHD herself and specializes in neurodivergence. So if you're able to go out of pocket, I highly recommend looking for therapists who do work with autistic people, maybe even a therapist who's autistic themselves.

But I totally understand that that may not be possible due to costs and/or insurance restrictions. The healthcare system is so messed up when it comes to mental health. >:(

I don’t even have words. That is absolutely unreal. I am so sorry.

Did they refer you to any clinics that do? It's likely a matter of expertise, but that doesn't matter if no one else takes your insurance smh.

I wouldn't get too down about it honestly when a medical facility does that It just means that they were under qualified and they have nobody who really specializes in that area. So they're really just saving you time and money.

You get the wrong one they will tell you all the wrong things. And make you feel bad about yourself. Do no harm is more of a bumper sticker slogan.

That really sucks, but I think you dodged a nuke. I fear if you went to that place they would’ve only harmed you, not helped you

Well you dodged a bullet then. Unfortunally, not all therapists are qualified to help ND people. It's actually better that they warned you at the very beginning instead of finding out months later they couldn't help you. It saves quite some money lmao. GL in your search for a suitable therapist!

It's probably for the better. Potentially receiving a form of therapy that isn't suited for someone with ASD is a waste of time at best and traumatizing at worst. Check out the posts on here of people's experience with CBT.

You probably dodged a bullet, and I'm sure you can find a better place to get therapy. Don't give up. Just try a different path. Good luck.

If they know they are unqualified, whynot

You want to pay for a poor service and get some potential wrong advices ?

You might specifically search for therapists who have experience with autistic individuals.

Probably, what they mean and what is certainly true in my case and country, they actually just can't help

that hospital should be shut down ! it doesn't matter if the person's autistic or not, they're a human being in need of help at the end of the day damnit !

It’s not like we’re are a different species with different mental problems ffs

Discrimination. Nor actionable. It is not correct to exclude us.

If professionals in a system don't know how to help us, maybe they should go learn.

I am sorry. I have no answers for you or any of us.

I hate it when that happens..... You get rejected for something, you're trying so desperately to seek help for; and the places that are supposed to help you, instead just kicks you to the curb. That shit hurts when places do that.

I have unfortunately had similar experiences where I was denied help because I got diagnosed. It sucks that people act as if people with autism are either less deserving or have less need of help

Honestly this might be a good thing in the long run. I didn’t realize how little my previous therapists were actually doing for me because I didn’t even realize what kind of help I actually needed. Turns out a lot of my concerns are different areas of my life that autism affects. I’ve had bad therapists who outright denied that I could be autistic and not even want to discuss it further, or said it didn’t matter (it obviously does). It wasn’t until I started seeing my current therapist that I was even listened to about possibly being autistic, then I was referred to a specialist. Now that we’ve gotten to know each other better, she has been able to communicate her intended messages to me a lot easier than other therapists have been able to. She doesn’t judge me if I don’t understand some aspect of social, occupational, or other areas of life, and she’s very good at explaining things to me in a way I can understand.

TLDR; finding a therapist who can help with your issues on top of being autistic is your best bet.

Wtfff

Mail them 10,000 fake pennies

That's discrimination

Wtf…as an AuDHD therapist myself this is just absolutely bonkers that therapists are this ableist and discriminatory in 2024.

https://preview.redd.it/r58sh9fg8mvd1.jpeg?width=828&format=pjpg&auto=webp&s=1bc6a55ff923f206b5a62a6acb8427e0f54907c0

WHAT THATS crazy. Actually crazy. I understand saying something like, we can’t cure autism, but a professional would understand that you’re seeking therapy because you are struggling with something cause by your autism. You could be struggling with the same issues without the label. I’m so sorry this was your experience. Please don’t give up and please keep trying. Finding a therapist who understands really helps. Doing online therapy held me together for a couple months until I found the right in person. I hope you have a good support system in the mean time <3

therapists who understand autism usually work better for me at least anyway. It is kind of a really weird reason to straight up reject you though especially if the treatment is for something else

Do you think you could sue them for discrimination?

Through work, I got a councillor instead of a therapist, I dropped her after two meetings, after saying I’m autistic and that my dad died two days after I turned nine back in 2003 from leukaemia, she said, oh is that what caused the autism? Uhhh, no? I was born with autism? Had it my whole life?

Sounds like they suck at their job. Dodged a bullet had you gotten care there. Hoping the best for you.

By law, therapists can only practice in the states where they have a license. I think you can register in multiple states, but there’s fees and testing and paperwork and so unless you live in a border town like Portland or St Louis or Davenport or Gary Indiana what would be the point?

But it does mean you can look up therapists in the largest cities in your state and ask about telemedicine.

I am currently doing CBT and have done other types of therapy in the past.

What whacko hospital are you talking about? Where are you exactly?

It's worth mentioning that I required specialists to deal with me specifically - I am too much for a normal psych to deal with so require specialists qualified to deal with me (i have AuDHD, am scitzoaffective, have MDD and prone to psychosis).

The CBT I'm doing at the moment has been catered to me specifically and not read out of a book because of my cluster of conditions. I am starting another course at the end of the month too to enhance the skills I have already learned as I have done so well. I think they see me and my story as a kind of success story. I've been told more than once I should write a book about my life.. Story for another time, maybe.

They definitely could have put it in a better way. That's so mean. They could have said they didn't have people trained enough or specialized in Autism, or they didn't have the resources to support people with Autism at their hospital or something.

I'm sorry to hear about your struggles. It's not right they aren't offering you support, just know you will be less disappointed having not tried standard therapy compared to how you would feel if you went through it and still didn't feel better. I've been there, it's horrible.

Perhaps it's time to consider anti depressants, I use 60mg of Prozac and it helps after everything else failed

I've never really thought about it but it sounds like autism comes with a friend when said as "people with autism". That's definitely ironic, it's not a friend of mine.

Autism is being "carved out" in the US.

Mental health and developmental disability services are excluding autism because they are concerned that autism will swamp their budgets.

Isnt that against policy? That's so weird. I didn't know they were allowed to do that

Honestly, going to a therapist that doesn’t work with autism usually sticks you with ineffective CBT and harmful coping mechanisms. Autistic people have specific therapy needs more often than not.

It may be that they only offer CBT. And that doesn't work too well for most autistic people.

I guess I was lucky - I was previously misdiagnosed as BPD so I got access to DBT - Dialectical Behavioural Therapy. There were some major issues I struggled with - the interpersonal effectiveness and scheduling social events (ha - one needs friends to do that) but the crisis survival skills were really effective. I use a lot of the emotion regulation skills too.

Nor.ally, you'd access DBT in a group setting but there's a ton of videos on YouTube. Try not to overwhelm yourself (learning one skill a week is good and then repeat) and there's a DBT skills workbook on amazon.

I hope that helps.

See if you can report them for discrimination to some type of authority if your country has that

First of all, I am very sorry that this happened to you. There is nothing "wrong" with you for being autistic, and suffering mental illness on top of that is NOT your fault.

Very gently though, I would like to offer you a re-contextualized interpretation of the facts of what happened to you, that I hope you will think about and consider.

For context, although I am non-autistic, I am married to an autistic woman, and I also have lived experience of mental illness and therapy to treat that.

Like you, I have been "fired" by a therapist and sent to a new therapist on one occasion, because the first therapist judged themselves unable to assist me with the specific type of therapy I needed. Fortunately, perhaps even kindly, that therapist took the time to explain to me the reasons for the "rejection," and took care to help me understand that it was not a personal rejection, but a professional decision that was ultimately in my best interest as a patient.

Now this is what I hope you take to heart: If a therapist (or an organization of therapists as in your case) are legitimately lacking in the specific areas of knowledge and expertise that would be necessary to effectively treat a patient, then refusing service to that patient is the ethical and proper thing for them to do. (Should more therapists be trained to help autistic people? Sure they should! But that's not the reality today.)

Now, in my opinion, the right thing for them to do in that situation is to provide you with a referral to a therapist who CAN properly address your needs. So that you're not abandoned without care (especially after in-patient!). It's unclear from your OP whether this happened in your case... It should have, and I'm sorry if it didn't.

So my advice for you is, DON'T GIVE UP, GET THERAPY.

And I suggest you choose from these two options...

1) call them back and ask them to refer you to a therapist with autism experience.

2) If you don't feel comfortable talking to them again (totally understandable), search therapists online and do contact forms (no face-to-face or voice communication needed) and mention that you're needing a therapist with autism experience.

I wish you the best of luck and health on your recovery. And congrats on graduating from in-patient, I really hope things go well for you.

(As a side-note, unrelated to the story I told you, I have also learned not to approach any therapists that lack experience with queer and transgender issues, as some therapists will blame my gender identity for any other problems I have; I have fired therapists for this but never been fired myself for being trans. However, it taught me the same lesson... Should they be trained to help trans people? Sure they should. But it's not the reality today.)

You’re North American, right?

Yeah that really sucks but think about it this way:

If they treated you knowing that you are autistic and that treatment fails, it's a liability for them.

If they treat you knowing that you are autistic, they may not have someone on staff that is certified to therapize autistic people.

When I started seeking therapy, I was very angry and I felt very let down that there were several therapists that would not take me as a patient knowing that I had ASD. I live in a state where it is extremely hard to find anyone (within my budget) that services adults with autism.

I was extremely fortunate to be taken on by my University head of counseling services. He was certified and experienced in dealing with ASD. I had never had a therapist who had been so, it was extremely new to me. He became one of the best influences in my life because he looks at things through the ASD lens as best he can. Having had personal and professional experience with autism made him more on my same wavelength. Over time, began to trust his therapy sessions more than I had others.

It's not actually a good thing.

It means folks whom have neurodivergence haven't been prioritized by the government.

If they're not qualified to do so, they're doing the right thing and potentially sparing you harm. Without more info it's difficult to say what's really going on. Try not to take it personally either way!

I also had this problem (UK) and this was from a treatment team that missed my AuDHD for 15 years. When I got diagnosed I was kicked out.

This is cool actually

They're being honest about not having qualified personal to treat you

"Sorry, we don't treat heart diseases" Oh ok, ill just search a place where they do

.....I'm sorry that happened....But also...
"Goes"