Therapy following diagnosis

Individual Therapy

We offer individual therapy for autistic adults. We believe that autistic adults can thrive by learning more about their unique autism profile, build self-compassion, self-awareness and social understanding, cope with stress and overwhelming emotions, and establish healthy habits and set parameters to avoid burnout. We use an eclectic and evidence-based therapy approach to help each client achieve their goals and enhance their lives. We are passionate about neurodiversity and autism acceptance.

Our therapeutic approaches include:

  • Neurodiversity framework – neurodiversity views autism as “different, not less”, moving beyond a deficit-based model and focusing on autism as an integral part of a person but still acknowledging the real difficulties our clients face
  • Strengths-based and client-centred
  • Cognitive Behavioural Therapy (CBT), a model which has been shown to be particularly effective for people with autism. The aim of CBT is to help clients manage their problems by changing how they think and act, which can help them feel better about life.
  • Dialectical Behaviour Therapy (DBT), an evidence-based model that aims to increase mindfulness, interpersonal effectiveness, emotion regulation, and distress tolerance.
  • Compassion Focused Therapy (CFT), our primary approach at EBTC. CFT (1)was originally specifically developed for individuals with mental health difficulties characterised by high shame and self-criticism. Shame is a powerful emotion characterised by feeling inferior, undesirable, defective, worthless, powerless and exposed (2). When people feel shame, they often withdraw from others and this can lead to feelings of loneliness and isolation.

Through CFT, people, learn new ways of understanding their difficulties and develop a kinder and compassionate way of relating to themselves. Through becoming more self-compassionate, people become better able to engage with their problems by regulating shame, reducing and coping with distress, and improve emotional well-being and resilience.

Autistic adults have attended therapy for support in various areas, including:

  • developing self-compassion
  • interpreting and responding to various social cues
  • making and keeping friends
  • overcoming anxiety and depression
  • managing autistic burnout
  • dealing with frustration and worries
  • changing maladaptive thinking styles and coping strategies (e.g., self-harm, substance use)
  • managing irritability/anger
  • developing self-esteem and self-worth
  • dating and relationships
  • approaching job interviews and employment
  • improving time management/organizations skills
  • and more…

References

(1) Gilbert, P. (2005). Compassion: Conceptualisations, research and use in psychotherapy. New York, NY, US: Routledge.

Gilbert, P. (2009). Introducing compassion-focused therapy. Advances in psychiatric treatment, 15(3), 199-208.

Gilbert, P. (2010). An introduction to compassion focused therapy in cognitive behaviour therapy. International Journal of Cognitive Therapy, 3(2), 97-112.

(2) Gilbert, P. (1998). The evolved basis and adaptive functions of cognitive distortions. British Journal of Medical Psychology; 71: 447–64.