I am not sure I am aspergic, though I have traits, but do better fit non verbal learning disorder which is a similar problem.
The lack of help for it means I have never functioned or recovered as well as I possibly could have.
The last time I tried discussing it, at my then care care coordinator’s instigation, was a total disaster.
I had a psychiatrist who asked a few totally irrelevant questions before abruptly dismissing the issue.
I have been too scared to further press the issue;
as it was seeking more help and support in the past that got me labelled as awkward,demanding and troublesome and on bad terms with psychiatric services.
I don’t get much help and support now but at least they do not openly abuse and hate me as in the past.
Thinking of goals is very problematic for me . At the moment my goal is to exercise more. I have done 116 kms on the exercise bike so far.
I am able to sustain bursts of speed(well speed for me) for much longer .
Does it help any having a label, a nice little box to put yourself into? Seems the main consensus is therapy does help. Meds and talking therapy go hand in hand for just about whatever ails you.
I would rather be known as a person with ,as things stand, anxiety with learning and social difficulties and secondary mood and thought symptoms than be given a diagnostic label. Mainly because such better describes my range of problems/symptoms than any diagnostic label can.
Ideally we would have no need for diagnoses/labels and rely on descriptive terms. However we don’t live in an ideal world. Those labels are often needed to get recognition for a set of issues/problems/symptoms and from that appropriate help and support.
Do they capture the complexity and variation of the individuals with mental health problems? The answer is no.
I agree that medication combined with therapy be it cognitive ,social or psychological is the best treatment approach.
In my case with my social difficulties I would probably have benefited from social skills training. However here in the UK it is difficult to get unless you are labelled with an autism spectrum disorder.
In the US a greater emphasis is placed on social skills training.
Hmm an offline support group for mental illness would also help with social skills. The upside of local support groups is finding what local programs are available.
I have been diagnosed with asperger’s syndrome. Although the circumstances around it may have been to just get me out of the military. I have to say that I don’t think that it changed my life really. Schizophrenia was waaay more destructive. There have been times where I think that maybe I could’ve talked with someone better or empathized with someone better. However I don’t really think people really treat asperger’s. Although I will say that a lot of times people treat you worse just like they do with schizophrenia if they find out. Even for non social things they treat you like an idiot.
By a support group do you mean via a mental health charity? Unfortunately I have been kicked off one charity’s list twice for non participation. None of their activities,apart from a rather bad peer run men’s group, were suitable being mainly craft/manual based which I have difficulty with. A meeting to see if I could participate with another charity fell through because it would have been difficult to get to many of their activities.
There is a bipolar support group but no groups outside of those run by mental health charities like Rethink for general severe mental illness.