Venting Autism presenting as depression?

[rec]

Hello!

Yesterday in therapy, my therapist said that she thinks that it's not depression, but instead it's autism (??). I'm not autistic. I've been under this rubbish mental health care for a good number of years and finally the new therapist seems to have given up and made a really out there conclusion. I'm going to try to explain her logic (which I don't agree with):

So, you might've heard of there 'hyperfixations' on the internet. Basically they're things that neurodivergent people think about a lot/ fixate on. My new therapist has decided that I am possibly autistic and have hyperfixated on suicide. I don't get how that would happen, but she says that somehow this would cause my apparent autism to present itself in a similar way to depression. Honestly, I find it offensive that she would suggest that none of this is how I actually feel about things and that it is just some other thing in my brain making me think about suicide.

I didn't oppose her suggestion in the session, as I am really tired of this bullshit mental healthcare system (and I am going through sertraline withdrawal because I didn't bother to taper off it). Sorry if this post is a mess.

I have never heard of this before. Have any of you heard of this?

 

[Tackingintothewind]

I have. It's how my autism got diagnose. If I take a look at my life as a whole it's accurate. Obviously high functioning mild form of autism but autism non the less.

 

[SweetDreams500]

Why didn't you bother tapering off? It could make you very violent

 

[rec]

I have. It's how my autism got diagnose. If I take a look at my life as a whole it's accurate. Obviously high functioning mild form of autism but autism non the less.

wow! I haven't been able to find anything about it on the internet. How did they mistake autism for depression with you?

Why didn't you bother tapering off? It could make you very violent

I was running out anyway and didn't have the energy to go and get more. that and the fact that the medication was doing literally nothing (no side effects or improvements in mood) made me think that they were giving me sugar pills for some reason. haha I know now that they were actual tablets

 

[Tackingintothewind]

Well not really I had both. I was genuinely depressed but my autism augmented it to suicidal ideation. I would spend hours researching and planning. I also explained other parts of my life to my therapist which is how she came to consider autism.
I'm extremely abrupt with people quote often without realising.
I have a strong imagination and like creating stories.
I find relating to other people difficult and have very few friends
If any of these describe you or sound similar and you've mentioned it to your therapist it could be how she reached that conclusion.
She might have done a bad job of explaining it though.

 

[Silver]

Similar story here. I thought it was 'just' depression. Which dragged on for half my life. Some people have a more subtle expression of it.

Try this test: https://psychology-tools.com/test/autism-spectrum-quotient