Online Therapy for Autism (Is Online Therapy for Autistic People a Good Idea?)

I've been doing zoom sessions with my clinical psychologist for a year and I absolutely love it! I literally rock up in my oodie or PJ's with no judgement from her & there's zero stress of getting to an office. Plus my cat comes and snuggles me when I cry. ❤️

I have an in-person therapist, whom I've been seeing for years. When the lockdown happened, we transitioned to video sessions instead. So this isn't exactly a response to the full suite of text / phone / video that you're talking about. A big / surprising difference I've found, though I didn't realize it for probably a year after we'd switched, (Jesus. This pandemic has been going on for a long time.) is the process of presenting myself. I'm super conscious of the messaging I send with... my body, my dress, body language, etc. When we were in-person, the transition time you'd talk about would include probably many hours of realizing that my session would be soon, so I'd be sure to make myself more presentable. Shaving, showering, putting on fresh clothes, before I'd even get on the bus. It was a curated version of me. But now, as you said, I'm working right up until the moment our session starts. I don't always take time to curate myself, then when the video starts I end up sitting there regretting it. Further, with a video call, even though I'm doing it in my safe space, suddenly he gets to see whatever is behind me. For a while, that included a bit of my perpetual mess. I ended up re-organizing my entire apartment. The bedroom now houses my fully curated office, with shelves behind me that I arranged and haven't touched since. My bed is now in the living room. Which is oddly comforting, in a way. There's a closed door between work (I work from home as well) and life. I appreciate the ability to be able to fully relax when at "home". It got pretty confusing and messy when "home" and "work" were all mixed together. I could never turn myself off, because I was always at work. Now, there's a clear demarkation.

the main issue I have with online sessions is a lack of privacy from those around me. I prefer in-person therapy as the therapist is able to form a better picture of me by seeing my whole self in person because body language is an important factor. I also enjoy getting away from my usual environment as therapy rooms are specifically designed for this with specific books on shelves and artwork on the walls etc.

I provide online counselling (in Australia) to people with autism, introverts, INFJ’s, trauma etc…. I find that my clients love it, they can talk to me in the comfort of their home, move around to different rooms in the house, stay in bed if they want lol… Anyways, I always receive great feedback about it. I feel like the connection we make is the same, sometimes better, than in real life. 🥰

One psychologist told me that autism consists of the neurological and the psychological. Talk therapy / counseling can help address the psychological, but medication may be needed to impact the neurological. This ended up being my experience. Having found the best medication for me to treat the neurological, I am now able to achieve more with talk therapy and psychology — which will still be a years-long if not lifelong wellness journey.

Is it only me that find it difficult to look at the video with that background without having my energy drain alot faster?

FYI, to you and people who are watching this video now: Do you know that they have zero therapists who specialise in autism? Zero. Here is a reply I received from their support several days ago, after asking for a new therapist who fully understands autism: " I've done another search for therapists, and unfortunately, there aren't any with a specific specialty in autism, but rather, autism is an area of knowledge that they possess." This can lead to people (me) feeling like even their own therapist doesn't understand the limits of their client in the context of being an autistic person. It was heartbreaking to go through that... again.

I took the noom online counseling and it was a definitively positive experience. I loved doing the work at my own pace and being able to message my counselor at any time that was convenient so it would be available the next day whenever they chose to see it. It’s rather helpful to have advice that more or less matches the time frame in which you are thinking and feeling things. An added benefit is no eye contact. It’s very hard to look at someone and talk about lots of things, so being able to text it helped so much. Also, there is a record of lessons so if I wanted to remember something, all that material was there to review. I’m a visual learner so this was extremely helpful in helping lessons stick to memory.

What an absolute great idea ! Thanks for making a YT about this , my son has Aspergers and would find person to person unworkable .

I signed up and felt taken care of and helped from minute 1. Immidiate chemistry with the therapist they chose for me, something which is extremely rare for me. Thank you man, I think this will change my life. No promo.

This is great because while I wait for a diagnosis, I really need therapy. Love the idea of BetterHelp. Going to try it out. Many thanks, Paul.

The pros are all things I’m experiencing. I live in a smaller community somewhat remote from bigger cities. I’ve also seen probably close to 15-20 different counselors, therapists, psychologists, etc. throughout the past 19 years. None of them was ever a good fit and they all did top down therapy (CBT/DBT/talk) and that doesn’t work for me. I also didn’t know about the autism. So, now I have two. One out of Toronto who does CBT but is experienced with atypically presenting autisim. And the other is in Winnipeg and not only works with autistic people but does Somatic Experiencing, a type of therapy that I haven’t tried before and is a bottom up approach, which gives me more optimism that maybe it will finally help a bit. Without online counseling I wouldn’t have access to these types of therapists. At least not on a regular basis as I’d have to travel at least a 4-hour drive to get to appointments. I hope the online services continue after covid is long gone.

I've been working with a therapist who is based in India and has been amazing so far. His area of expertise is very specific (not at all related to autism); he's done research on Aspergers and tailors our sessions and the resources he sends me. Personally I feel like I can be more open in video sessions than in person; text messaging absolutely doesn't work for me though. /my 2c

Informative.

Love the channel! Like another commenter, I've noticed a lag/blur in recent videos - maybe frame rate or camera trying to focus? I prefer watching people speak so I don't miss words - unless I need to doodle to keep focused - but I had to just listen to this one.

Continuity of care is very important to me, which is why I tend to avoid group practices for doctors, unless I can book the appointment myself online. Usually, if a clinician or allied health professional is not likely to continue for much longer, they close their books to new patients. I would be more inclined to see someone face to face and in the event of a pandemic, have a Zoom consultation. But the ultimate thing I say is, the relationship between counsellor and counselee has to be right.

Not trying to be unfriendly, but the image is like strangely delayed? I find it very difficult to watch like this. Hopefully there’s something that can be done about it.

I enjoyed the content of this video but had to look away as began o feel dizzy from the swaying & movement. Not sure whether it was the camera doing this? or the background coupled with Paul moving a lot?

I'm a 28 year old guy and I'm pretty sure I have asperger's (I haven't been diagnosed yet, but I want to get an official diagnosis). My communication is great with people I know and trust, but not so much with people I either don't know or people I'm not that close with. My biggest problem regarding communication is with women I like. I have never been in a romantic relationship before. When I like a woman and want to approach her, I have an anxiety attack because I have no idea what to say and how to say it and always end up chickening out and don't approach her. Having a romantic partner is one of the things things that I really need in my life, but have no idea how to find one. I was wondering if you could maybe do a video on this topic (how to get over my anxiety and finaly approach someone and what to say and how to start a conversation with her). I'd be forever grateful.

Video quality and audio are still not working properly. double check your not on a mono-signal for audio and check for enabling faster frame rate on the upload. Seems it's running at a consistent low frame rate. which points to a setting issue rather than a recording issue.