this post was submitted on 11 Nov 2023
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Mental health professionals are far and few between, are prohibitively expensive to see, and in many cases are working with an outdated education which leaves them unprepared to diagnose/treat certain conditions. That last point is really coming to light in the Autism/ADHD crowd, where if their therapist even knows/recognizes it (quite often people get misdiagnosed with anxiety, depression, bipolar, etc.) their outdated training may end up being harmful. With people who have these sharing not only their experiences, but also successful ways to handle and cope with their conditions, teens are able to get the help that is largely not available to them. That and the therapists that genuinely want to help as many people as possible are giving generalized advice on apps such as tiktok.
oddly enough, this tiktok explains many of these points and more better than I can
Yes, this! I live in a country where therapy is paid for by the state. But still, the various therapists I've talked to haven't had any idea of ADHD or autism. One therapist told me "well, you think you have both, ADHD and autism? The odds of that would be tiny!" After I explained to him that it is actually very frequent and that both increase the chances of inheriting the other, he admitted that I apparently know more than him. He later told me that we cannot diagnose ADHD because he would have to cure my depression first (duh, what if I'm depressed because of AuDHD??) Another therapist told me that I couldn't have ADHD because I could have a full conversation with her. Another therapist just laughed at my face in disbelief and another time told me "oh so now you also want to have autism?" One psychiatrist told me that he didn't believe in the existence of adult ADHD. Another psychiatrist (a specialist for diagnosing ADHD!!) told me that I sure display symptoms of ADHD and autism but that I'm too complex of a case for him. A doctor told me that yes, the situation for diagnosis is dire, but that she can't help me anyways. And with my current therapist I just avoid the topic altogether. I've been on waiting lists for ADHD and autism diagnosis since nearly two years. Doctors, therapists, psychiatrists in Germany are still back in time like 10-20 years with their knowledge of ADHD and autism. Meanwhile I listen to presentations and read papers by scientists about these topics (I'm a scientist myself). It is so infuriating!
So yes, I can totally believe how this massively adds to teens searching for answers elsewhere. Sure, in the US and many other countries just the inaccessibility because of high cost is a huge problem. But even if you have access to 'professional' treatment, you end up stuck. How can anyone trust in medical professionals when they are obviously telling you outdated bullshit?
not defending those doctors in any way as they should keep up to date in their medical training, but we didn't even really have a proper definition of autism until ~1994 when the dsm-4 was released and the name "Autism Spectrum Disorder" wasn't used until the DSM-5 came out in 2013. The DSM-5 it's self isn't even a great definition as experts say that it's definition excludes more older people and women than the DSM-4 did.
this means that therapists who have not kept up with their learning, and have been practicing for decades may not have been told ANYTHING about autism, and the ones who stopped their learning 11+ years ago may have been trained on incorrect/bad information.
Yes, this is the cause of the problems. Medical and psychological professionals often don't get updated with the newest insights in medicine. Although some of the examples above are from professionals that are barely older than me (in their thirties).