Aspergers Syndrome treatment? Aspergers Disorder Therapy?
There’s a lot of debate about Aspergers syndrome treatment, and it’s a debate that’s often had in our therapy office—is Aspergers a mild form of Autism? A learning disability? A genetic disorder? Is it fair to call it a disorder at all? Does Aspergers Syndrome need a treatment? In fact, the committee charged with revising DSM (the Diagnostic and Statistical Manual of Mental Disorders, the authority on psychiatric diagnosis) is considering removing the disorder from the manual altogether. Update: When the new DSM came out in 2013 it removed the term altogether, instead expanding definition of Autism on a spectrum mild to severe.
This raises an interesting question about where this leaves individuals who’ve been diagnosed with Aspergers who are seeking therapy.
If you’ve been diagnosed with Aspergers, or have wondered if it’s a description that fits you, you probably have at least as much confusion about who you are as you do about what Aspergers Syndrome is. What’s common among people seeking Aspergers Syndrome treatment is an intense sense of awkwardness and difficulty in interpersonal relationships and in social situations. Often this includes difficulties making friends, finding or holding a job, being successful in school.
Aspergers: a disorder, syndrome or something else?
Included in the debate over just what constitutes Aspergers is a group that challenges the notion that Aspergers is a problem at all. They promote the idea that Aspergers represents difference rather than disorder, and consequently they take exception to the notion that Aspergers is something that needs to be fixed. In a sense, they don’t support Aspergers Syndrome treatment or therapy at all.
As with diagnosis in general (and anything a prospective patient has come to believe about himself or herself), we prefer to respect the way in which that individual has come to see and define themselves. What’s important, as always, is collaborating to shape the course of our therapy together: identifying what you want help with and working together to help you create your life.
Aspergers Syndrome Treatment: Therapy for growth, not disorder
If you’re seeking Aspergers Syndrome treatment, or wondering how you can get good therapy regardless of whether the label Aspergers Syndrome is used, you’ll find a place with us. We’re curious about the meaning you find in Aspergers and what that means for your treatment, your therapy, and your life. We want to help you with the ways you want to grow: dating, career, feeling better, having a rich social life. You know, like anyone else who seeks therapy.