luteman

Hi object, I appreciate your point about how to bring this up with the counsellor. That could be tricky and I'm not sure how this could be done. Maybe if you make the counsellor aware of any particular difficulties you have due to your Aspergers then hopefully they would adapt things accordingly to make the sessions more useful to you. I had my initial telephone assessment this week and the practitioner I spoke to said that they offer telephone as well as face to face sessions. I explained that I find telephone conversations very difficult so she said they would offer me face to face sessions. You also made a good point about CBT not changing the causes. I suppose it could help if you focus on particular problems and explore your thinking and coping strategies in relation to those. Maybe I will have some more thoughts when I have had some actual sessions.

I have been referred for CBT to help with my anxiety although I haven't had any sessions yet. From what I've read there is evidence for CBT being effective especially with anxiety disorders in people with Asperger's syndrome. I looked at some stuff on the Network Autism site and that suggested that the therapist could adapt the CBT using a more concrete, structured, tangible and visual approach e.g. worksheets, thought bubbles etc. There is I believe information available on adapting CBT for people with aspergers that the practitioner could access. Good luck anyway. I hope it works out for you.

I also love learning in general. My obsessions tend to be based around wider topics and then change between more specialised things within that e.g. I have always been obsessed with music and playing guitar. At different times in my life I have been obsessed with different types of music. At the moment I am really into classical guitar, blues and lute music and have started learning to play the lute. Another obsession is bird watching and recently I have been getting obsessed with learning the latin names of birds. I also really like finding rookeries and mapping these and have been putting this to good use by helping with a survey of rookeries. Some obsessions seem to develop gradually like my ordnance survey map collection which I seem to be getting more and more obsessed with. This has developed over a number of years. Reading everything I can on aspergers and autism has been a more recent obsession (probably linked to the fact that I have only been diagnosed recently). Some obsessions just seem to last a short while e.g. I had a brief obsession with goats quite a few years ago. I guess they would probably seem strange to a lot of people but they keep me happy.

I hope that you are feeling a bit more positive now as it sounds like you have had a lot of difficult things to deal with. I had a similar experience regarding the teacher training. Quite a few years ago I was on a PGCE course but found it really hard going. I'm not sure if this was related to my Aspergers (I've only just been diagnosed) but I found it very hard with the whole class teaching. I quite liked 1:1 work and working with a special needs group but also did not feel I got much support in the second school I was on placement in. Anyway I decided to quit the course and like you I felt really positive about my decision as I felt I'd taken control of a situation that seemed to be spiralling out of control. After this I took the time to really think about what I should do and eventually enrolled in nurse training. I've now been a qualified nurse for 12 years and don't have any regrets about the teacher training. I feel that I achieved something just by getting up in front of a class to teach even though I didn't finish the course. Doing what you have done in leaving the course takes courage and I am sure you will do well in whatever you decide to do. The important thing is that it is your decision, whether you decide to try the teaching again or try something different.

Hi there, I'm new to this forum and thought I would post on here as I've recently been diagnosed with Aspergers. I'm 42 and at first getting the diagnosis was a relief as it helped me understand a lot of the things I've found difficult through my life. Lately though I've been having a lot of mixed emotions about it all but I suppose that is normal. At the moment I'm waiting to get some help with my social anxiety (social anxiety disorder was also diagnosed) as I find it really hard interacting with other people. Outside of work I spend my time on my interests which are solitary things (I like playing guitar, playing lute, birdwatching, collecting maps, cycling). I've tried some group things based around my interests but it doesn't really work out and I really don't know what to say to people or how to interact in groups (anything more than one other person gets tricky and even one to one is often hard). I've always been really shy and tend to not really say anything. I think this may be a coping strategy that I have adopted from an early age and I do feel much happier on my own. I am married and my wife is really supportive and I also work with people with learning disabilities. I think it helps in my work that I can relate well to a lot of the people I support as quite a few have autism. Anyway, I just wanted to share some of my thoughts and it would be good to interact with some of you on here.