The Autistic Survival Guide to Therapy

Paperback, 256 pages

English language

Published Feb. 21, 2024 by Jessica Kingsley Publishers.

ISBN:: 978-1-83997-731-2

(1 review)

"This is the book that would've saved me nine different therapists, decades of self-analysis, thousands of pounds, twelve different doctors and untold amounts of pain, frustration and trauma - in spending a lifetime looking for the right answers in the wrong places I've become an accidental expert."

In this candid, witty and insightful exploration into therapy, Steph Jones uses her professional and lived experiences as a late diagnosed autistic woman and therapist, as well as consulting therapists from across the world and tapping into the autistic community, to create the ultimate autistic survival guide to therapy.

Steph confronts the statistics, inadequate practices and ableist therapists head on and poses the questions of how we can make therapy neurodivergence-affirming and how to create safe spaces for autistic individuals. With strategic and practical advice to help recognise the 'red flags' of a dodgy therapist and provide a clear roadmap to finding your …

"This is the book that would've saved me nine different therapists, decades of self-analysis, thousands of pounds, twelve different doctors and untold amounts of pain, frustration and trauma - in spending a lifetime looking for the right answers in the wrong places I've become an accidental expert."

In this candid, witty and insightful exploration into therapy, Steph Jones uses her professional and lived experiences as a late diagnosed autistic woman and therapist, as well as consulting therapists from across the world and tapping into the autistic community, to create the ultimate autistic survival guide to therapy.

Steph confronts the statistics, inadequate practices and ableist therapists head on and poses the questions of how we can make therapy neurodivergence-affirming and how to create safe spaces for autistic individuals. With strategic and practical advice to help recognise the 'red flags' of a dodgy therapist and provide a clear roadmap to finding your confidence and setting the appropriate boundaries with a new therapist, Steph has every question answered.

To support therapists striving for inclusivity and a neurodiverse affirming practice, the inclusion of a context guide provides a deconstruction of each therapy session so you can recognise how undiagnosed (or diagnosed) autism may present itself during therapy and how you can start to explore this in the therapeutic space.

2 editions

erin reviewed The Autistic Survival Guide to Therapy by Steph Jones

This Book Hit Me Like a Truck

5 stars

There are two things this book accomplished for me. One was just simply describing a large number of common experiences autistic people face, and the other was looking at how some conventional forms of therapy can mess up an autistic patient. I would say that it succeeded in both.

First, we have the autistic experiences. I posted several quotes as I read because they hit hard. Things I've been trying to explain for years were written in simply, easy to understand paragraphs. Oh how I wish I'd had those paragraphs years ago! Autistic burnout, hyper-vigilance when talking to other people, and the feeling of overwhelm that a small amount of expectations can cause were some of the most salient, but I highlighted many more paragraphs as I read.

When it comes to the second part, how (some) conventional therapies might hard rather than help an autistic patient, the message was …

There are two things this book accomplished for me. One was just simply describing a large number of common experiences autistic people face, and the other was looking at how some conventional forms of therapy can mess up an autistic patient. I would say that it succeeded in both.

First, we have the autistic experiences. I posted several quotes as I read because they hit hard. Things I've been trying to explain for years were written in simply, easy to understand paragraphs. Oh how I wish I'd had those paragraphs years ago! Autistic burnout, hyper-vigilance when talking to other people, and the feeling of overwhelm that a small amount of expectations can cause were some of the most salient, but I highlighted many more paragraphs as I read.

When it comes to the second part, how (some) conventional therapies might hard rather than help an autistic patient, the message was as much a warning for me as it was any potential therapists who might be reading. Certain things that therapies can try to "fix" in a neurotypical patient are just facts of existence for people with autism. At best, someone might succeed in teaching an autistic person how to better mask these things, but they will not be "fixed." More often than not autistic patients don't need fixing, they need help understanding how to manage their emotions, work through confusion in interpersonal relationships, understand how to take the mask off, and create a life that is manageable and sustainable.

All in all, it was helpful to me. At the end of the book, in the concluding chapter, one conclusion stuck out to me more than the others:

"The key task in therapy is to create a neurodivergent-friendly life which works for us."

Subjects

Autism
Therapy
Neurodiversity