Hello Jon, and welcome. It took me years to finally go see a psychologist - but I did know that I was struggling. I've had nonstop anxieties, emotional outbursts, social ineptitude, lack of common sense, self-hatred, bad communication skills and slow/inadequate understanding of things - yet I was only sweeping all of this under the rug, hoping it would go away someday...on its own. Who was I kidding????
I knew it could never stop, I knew no one was able to help me no matter how hard they tried (including myself), so I went to see a real professional. We're currently working together on managing my anxieties and social skills, and we'll be getting into other stuff as time goes by; so far there are some uncertainties as to how I can just stop my emotional outbursts/meltdowns once and for all, because I'm tired of always hurting the people I care most about; I never mean for any of it to happen.
The psychologist first made me test the AQ (Autism Spectrum Quotient) test and I score high enough for him to suspect that I have Asperger's - that, and the way I think and behave. I always, always overthink by the way. He was the one who suggested that I join an online community for Asperger's, and me agreeing with him was hands down one of the best decisions I've ever made; it's what led me to join this wonderful online community. I love being here and all the wonderful people!
Finally, he told me to do some basic research on Asperger's, which I did. We even worked on some minor things like wearing my dress shirts without buttoning the top, and not yelling into the phone whenever I set up electronic reminders. It's been such an uphill battle trying to fit into the NT world, even going downhill in many cases. It's still a battle, but I'd love to at least avoid some of the "downhill". My sessions with him are weekly (sometimes I might skip a week in case something comes up), and we both feel that once a week is enough.
He suggested an approach I can use to battle anxieties, and it's worked for some of the thus far - but it doesn't get mastered overnight and requires plenty of patience and practice. It's a step-wise approach and I made a post about it soon after joining AC, here it is if you want to learn more about it -
Managing Anxieties - the FLOAT Method. All in all, I feel like I'm on the right track, with extremely slow improvement. It's still better than nothing, and I figured it'd be slow in me. I still haven't learned how to start loving myself, but I feel like it can open up a plethora of new doors.
I'm glad you joined this community; it's a great place to gain insight on autism in general, and of course make new friends. I'm also very happy to help out and listen, it's what we're here to do. Thank you for joining!
