psychiatrist question

I haven't been on here for a while and will go read around the posts to see how everyone is doing since I have been here last. But while I do that I thought I'd ask a question. I have been diagnosed with AS for many years. That's not the problem.

I have been seeing a counselor for other things and recently told her it is getting harder to handle stimuli. I get more emotionally exhausted from noise and at times can't handle even TV or music without feeling it will bring me closer to a shutdown.

I have had people try to say this is fear of socializing. I don't agree. I see it the same way as someone who gets migraines from chocolate. I don't see them as afraid of chocolate, they just can't have it.

My current counselor is one I rarely see but this time she wants to send me to a psychiatrist. What can a psychiatrist do to help me be able to handle sounds better? What's the point of going?

Please advice me if you can.

my understanding of this is that it's the way our brains are wired. for whatever reason, we don't have the ability to filter stimuli to the same extent that NTs do. and that's what causes the overload and, thereby, shutdown.

the main factor in this for me is quite simply fatigue. the more tired i am, the less stimulation i can handle. another factor, i think, is quite simply diet. a good healthy diet is absolutely essential for making the most of the mental capacity that we do have.

as for the psychiatrist, on face value i'm rather doubtful too. that said, sometimes things are worth trying if only to find out that they don't help after all.

shock_the_monkey wrote:as for the psychiatrist, on face value i'm rather doubtful too. that said, sometimes things are worth trying if only to find out that they don't help after all.

... i need to add a little clarification here.

there are good, bad and indifferent medical professionals and, unless you happen to be subject to a medical section, you are the ultimate arbiter of your own health. but you have to find out what's on offer to you before making such a judgement.

now the basic difference between psychiatrists and psychologists is that the former deal with nature and offer medications whilst the latter deal with nurture and offer therapies. some people with AS do report that medication helps with their anxiety.

candidly, i think anxiety and over-stimulation are somewhat different, however, that's my opinion and i may quite simply be wrong.

It's not the difference between psychiatrist and psychologist that worries me. It is that she is sending me to a psychiatrist for things like overstimulation, things that medicine do nothing for.

She has helped me with things. She has shown how Asperger's affects my life, although it seems sometimes she says the way I feel is always because of AS when I think it is because of my personality disorder or sometimes just how it would affect people who have neither problems.

shock_the_monkey wrote:
candidly, i think anxiety and over-stimulation are somewhat different, however, that's my opinion and i may quite simply be wrong.

Agreed,

i think that anxiety is sometimes caused by over-stimulation (especially in the AS population), but they're definitely different things.

Uhura wrote:It's not the difference between psychiatrist and psychologist that worries me. It is that she is sending me to a psychiatrist for things like overstimulation, things that medicine do nothing for.

i don't do meds myself, but some people do find that they can help a little (same as alcohol is sometimes said to help some people) .. it's completely up to you whether to go to speak to the psychiatrist, but it's worth having a chat to see what their suggestions may be. You might find that they can get you into a more effective kind of therapy.. or that they can point you towards some other kind of resource.

tbh, it's possible you'll be offered meds and nothing else by him/her, but it's worth going for a meeting to see if they can help at all.

when i said ...

shock_the_monkey wrote:my understanding of this is that it's the way our brains are wired. for whatever reason, we don't have the ability to filter stimuli to the same extent that NTs do. and that's what causes the overload and, thereby, shutdown.

... i was perhaps being a bit imprecise. it's not just a matter of the way our brains are wired. it's also a matter of the way that wiring actually operates. the synapses, or switches, in the neural networks, or logic arrays, are chemical in nature. our brains are biochemical machines. and that's where medication comes in. medications do change the way the brain functions.

now, as for your counselor, she's not a psychiatrist. as such, she making an educated judgement as to who she might refer you to that might be able to help you. she doesn't know in absolute terms. indeed, neither do you or i. but, if you ask me, this isn't a bad call on her behalf. sometimes it helps to suspend your own disbelief, or at least know enough to know that you don't know everything and be prepared to be pleasantly surprised once in a while.

i should clarify since this bit now looks 'wrong' when i read it back..

seabreezeblue wrote: (same as alcohol is sometimes said to help some people)

i'm definitely not advocating alcohol to anyone.. i don't really drink myself (the smell is too overwhelming for me a lot of the time, and i find that i get a lot more anxious when i'm around people i don't know that well if i've had a drink or 2).

Uhura wrote:She has helped me with things. She has shown how Asperger's affects my life, although it seems sometimes she says the way I feel is always because of AS when I think it is because of my personality disorder or sometimes just how it would affect people who have neither problems.

... my diagnosis was, and i quote, a mood disorder superimposed on a mixed personality disorder with anxious, obsessional and schizoid traits. the psychiatrist that gave me this diagnosis was engaged by my former employer and wasn't sufficiently gracious to point out that what they'd outlined is quite obviously AS (the mood disorder was depression, which is comorbid with AS, and the personality disorder traits are also the most significant AS traits) and, because of this arrangement, i wasn't permitted to ask why. even the GMC refused to help, saying that because this psychiatrist wasn't treating me, i had no right to an explanation from them.

now, my point here is two fold. firstly, your AS and personality disorder may be closely linked. secondly, you would be being treated by this psychiatrist and you would thereby have rights over there conduct towards you. in short, you really have nothing to fear from this referral.

perhaps you, like me, have had bad experiences of the medical profession in the past. perhaps that's colouring your perspective here. it certainly does mine. but everyone is different. we can't go through life assuming the worst all the time. we'd end up being nervous wrecks.

seabreezeblue wrote:i should clarify since this bit now looks 'wrong' when i read it back..

seabreezeblue wrote: (same as alcohol is sometimes said to help some people)

i'm definitely not advocating alcohol to anyone.. i don't really drink myself (the smell is too overwhelming for me a lot of the time, and i find that i get a lot more anxious when i'm around people i don't know that well if i've had a drink or 2).

... SBB is quite right. some aspies do indeed self-medicate using alcohol. danny, the main character in barbara jacob's 'loving mr spock', is one such aspie. and they use other things too. however, such practices can all too easily spiral into addiction, which can be a far bigger problem.

my drug of choice is tea. and, whilst i can do without it, i do know that it's a bit of an addiction, which does have negative consequences for me.

Uhura wrote:My current counselor is one I rarely see but this time she wants to send me to a psychiatrist. What can a psychiatrist do to help me be able to handle sounds better? What's the point of going?

Please advice me if you can.

Just a guess; sometimes antipsychotics are prescribed to autists (in lower dosages I think?) to increase their resistance against sensory issues by reducing the impact of stimuli. I've had a psychiatrist who prescribed Aripiprazole to me once. https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Aripiprazole#Autism It didn't do anything for me personally but I've known it to be helpful for other people with sensory issues.