Autism and Alternative Therapies

I kinda wanna talk more about this sort of stuff bcus I feel like its an area where a lot of vulnerable people are taken advantage of so yeah I probably will go more into this again in future lmao
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[@raven4090]

So many times, I tried to tell psychologists and such people that I had legitimate reasons to be anxious and depressed - because I did, and the problems weren't going to be solved just by me taking the meds they were trying to prescribe. Some of those people are idiots. I'm now working on healing past trauma, and feeling better. That's what I needed more than meds.

[@ZeeZeeNg]

After all these years, now that I think about it, I have no idea how it is like to not have legitimate reasons to be anxious and depressed. Is that even real, or is it just more gaslighting?

[@mmhmmmificate]

I'm an autistic person who spent a lot of time learning tarot and alternative healing before I was finally diagnosed. I appreciate how respectful you are here! But I agree whole heartedly about the abuses that occur, they are real and people do not value/are not taught discernment. To me it's the cornerstone of any spiritual practice or offering. I don't use any gurus/leaders, I think direct experiences are the most valuable thing in spirituality.

[@dlm972]

It's interesting to hear the perspective of someone who grew up around parents in the field of alternative therapy. I know some people in the field are very good, but sadly it seems like the vast majority of the spritual/alternative help community is a bunch of very traumatized people who have dissociated from consensus reality and gotten into this narcissistic bubble where they think they have magical powers. A lot of them are manipulative and claim to be healers when they themselves are a mess. I say this as someone who does study and use astrology, and has an appreciation for tarot and herbal remedies and such. But I do it as a personal thing. Pretty much every time I've gone to a practitioner of anything- like hypnotists, reiki healers, tarot readers, etc, I've been disappointed. I find that even if the treatments work in the short term, as soon as you stop going and paying money, all your problems tend to come back. You can meditate all you like, but part of life is encountering contrast and dealing with conflict. People who sell this idea that you can just "fix" yourself and your life by banishing negative thought or using crystals or whatever are just like everyone else trying to sell a product to make money. Real spiritual connection doesn't require any money spent.

[@marshmallow4159]

Wow you just described my step mother so well 😅

[@metheiam5714]

I agree. I too study astrology and occasionally use tarot if i feel like i need extra clarity on something, but usually if i hear someone talking about astrology in a public space for example, it comes off as a red flag to me, even though usually i'm dying to talk with someone about my interests 😅.

[@mchlle94]

I don't believe in tarot but I think it can be a good exercise and can create meaning. I can imagine it works similarly with horoscopes for people.

[@allanwhite1533]

I'm a dyed in the wool, unapologetic atheist and I can see how my dyspraxia kinda makes me especially predisposed to it. I'm a very concrete thinker as many dyspraxics can be and I think it makes me less susceptible to being duped by meaningless abstractions and intangible entities that nobody can objectively prove the existence of. In a way, I consider clinical psychology to be based on a lot of meaningless abstractions that are often used to gaslight patients, who's struggles might be rooted in real life situations that in some way are an externality of inequitable economic and social structures within society. And yet in clinical practice too often personal struggles are posited within the individual rather than our very unhealthy social ecology that were dealing with. Just as Marx said religion is the opiate of the masses, I feel the same way about religion/spirituality as well as clinical psychology. In a way psychologists too often gaslight their patients just as you describe the gaslighting that goes on in a lot of faith/spiritual healing circles. Btw, my apologies for some of the grammatical issues in my posts. When using any touch screen device I seem to have more difficulty than normal with organizing my sentence structures optimally off the bat. Don't know if that's a dyspraxic thing or what 🙂

[@achilleus9918]

i agree with you on a lot of this, and i think also being autistic can lead to certain experiences that people can interpret as magical if they don't know they're autistic. for example, when people say they can feel the "energy" of an object, i always think of that phenomenon where (some) autistic people feel extreme empathy that can include empathy for objects. when people say they can feel other people's energy, especially if it includes feeling overwhelmed by that energy in crowds, i think about my own experiences with sensory overload. for years i had no idea i was experiencing sensory overload because there was no obvious or direct connection between any specific sensory stimuli and the feelings of exhaustion and irritation i was feeling, so if i hadn't been a sceptical atheist from the beginning then i could easily have thought i was feeling something spiritually bad in those situations (as it was, i just assumed it was part of my anxiety, that i was socially anxious in crowds). that said, i have actually found some good things in the pagan community, specifically the naturalistic pagan community. i consider myself atheopagan, that is a specific kind of naturalistic paganism - we have an atheist, scientific view of what exists and how things work, with pagan values and practices (eg i celebrate the solstices and equinoxes, some atheopagans meditate or use tarot to prompt themselves to look at situations differently, etc)

[@shimmerpop]

As a late diagnosed (literally just last month!) autistic who's really interested in going into this field, this is one of my worst nightmares. I wanted to watch this video for a while since it literally addresses my special interests (autism and alternative therapies) but kept holding it off cos I really didn't wanna hear "it's just a load of sh*t that purely preys on people" and I'm so glad it isn't. Thank you for not sh*tting on its plausible legitimacy despite the trauma it's caused you, and instead focusing on the very real harms that the industry can and HAS caused. If "spiritual" people don't want to address this, that's a huge effin red flag. I always dread telling people that I want to go into this field exactly because it's teeming with people like this who spiritually bypass and shove things down others' throats; it's no different from organised religion and I thought we were trying to get away from that. It really sucks, this attitude of "I'm right, you're wrong" permeates every industry when it's like...can't you just let people decide for themselves if something works or not? I've seen your other videos and I relate to you a lot - I come from the opposite end of things, similarly emotionally abusive/neglectful parents but "unless you can prove it to me your experience isn't real" to invalidate my spiritual interests. This was of course equally used to invalidate what I now know what was my autism. When you really look at it it's basically two sides of the same coin. Alternative therapies are unfortunately just yet another tool that can be easily warped and weaponised by mal-intended people. Heck, even medicine/science or rather the interpretation thereof has been manipulated by corporations to force feed unhelpful solutions when basically half the population (AFABs) have been excluded in research for most of its existence. Anyway I'm going on a tangent - this is just something I'm really passionate about. I wish we could all just come together and say, look we don't know who's right and who's wrong, the point is what can we do to mitigate people not looking within themselves and projecting onto others regardless of the field? It's such a tricky one. It enrages me the most when people who claim to be oh so virtuous are also the ones avoiding self-reflection like the plague. All this coming from someone who literally identifies as a spiritual healer, a supposedly "virtuous" thing. I have to keep myself in check constantly and I admittedly feel resentful when others on similar paths don't hold themselves to the same level of accountability. I massively share in your frustration!! Even as someone who firmly believes in this stuff (when actually done right), SO MUCH of it hasn't worked for me and I had to come at this in a really specific way after lots of trial and error. Edit: Just continued with the rest of the video and god the swinging between extremes! That was me early on in my spiritual journey and using these tools as a crutch. I totally get what you're saying. That's another thing that really needs to be talked more about - how to balance the use of such tools for neurodivergent folk. It's a seriously slippery slope and just for bringing that up I think this video is incredibly important. (I'm not saying /you/ specifically need to "work past" this btw! If these methods don't speak to you then they just don't, that's totally calm. Don't get the fuss about being all up in arms just cos *surprise surprise* there isn't a one-size-fits-all. Shocker!)

[@steveneardley7541]

I was told by a clairvoyant many years ago that "One should never take money for light-work." I asked "Is astrology light-work?" "Certainly." I have seen talented astrologers lose all their natural abilities when they became professionals. For business purposes they have to pretend that they know everything already, and they end up convincing themselves of that fact. They become totally alienated from their own intuition, and become total hacks. That is the normal pattern. The New Age community has a very sleazy attitude towards money, and it is clear to me that Dana's parents shared in that irresponsible attitude. It has a lot of repercussions.

[@paradisefound3536]

I was raised in a cult and what your describing your parents put you through sounds like straight up religious trauma. Which is basically cptsd with a funky twist. I'm really sorry you went through that. As an aside - I actually love tarot. It's one of my special interests. I don't believe in divination and anyone that says they can tell you your future is a hack. But tarot cards can be an amazing tool to harness your own subconscious. Like an inkblot test but with hundreds of different permutations. For someone with profound alexithymia it can be a pretty handy hack to work out how I actually feel about things cos gay baby jesus knows I normally have no fucking clue 😂

[@steveneardley7541]

I love Nancy Garen's book on the Tarot. I use her "spiritual spread" exclusively. Dana's parents, unfortunately, are part of the slick hucksterism that has become totally normalized in New Age circles. It's not that they don't know anything, but they so misuse it.

[@stevemonkey78]

I think your totally right that people believe in things in desperation to want things to be better. I'm quite skeptical though I do spend a lot of time looking different sides of any thing or subject. I'm quite good at questioning and spotting nonsense. But many people aren't and don't. Psudo sciences and such sound feasible because people don't have the knowledge to how things work. Somethings are almost Victorian or medieval like a time people are experimenting with things. Except we as a species proved those thing long ago. It is damaging and people can be convincing. There are alternative things that can work and everyone is different. We find our own hacks. My voice controlled living room is great, weighted blanket. Dif diet. Coloured lights. Music. Steam tent helps me sleep and stop racing thoughts. Software for lists and calendars. Certain legit supliments. There is a lot that you can do that can help but people turn to mystical ideas and I think not just neuro divers people. People seem easily taken in. But some autistic people are even more susceptible to being coerced.

[@deesparklebazinga9374]

I have had hypnotherapy several times and it varied how well it worked for me. I also feel like I'm not being hypnotised at times and it is frustrating. I also believe I am mind blind so meditation has been a struggle for me. Thankfully now I know/understand my mind blindness I can be less judgmental with myself when trying it xx

[@kinashy8863]

my mom was dragging me to someone like that and it didn't do anything bad or good. I especially don't like when people are pretending they'll just know something about someone without any bias and judging from the look

[@Catlily5]

My parents were hippies and believed in some weird stuff. I don't think that we had pain medicine in the house either. Though my mom didn't gaslight us with Reiki. At least my mom believed in doctors for some things. Like strep throat and pneumonia. But I never got a recommended eye surgery as a child or glasses. I was supposed to get glasses at age 3. I think both of my parents are neurodivergent.

[@HanaRodna]

Hello, I have a similar experience. I was diagnosed with autism and learning problems, my mom took me to some esoteric meetings and therapies that didn’t help me. The “healing with hands”, probably reiki? My mom even tricked her parents to pay for her course in one of this esoteric fields (she is a psychologist and tell her parents it’s a normal legit psychological thing she needs for her work). It left me hating all these esoteric things, I just think it’s stupid… I also don’t understand a lot of therapies, like the image descripting and stuff. I sometimes get angry at people who talk about doing tarot or believing horoscopes. I see all the trauma it can do to people…

[@Catlily5]

For me seeing signs in ordinary things means that I am not doing well mentally.

[@Chucanelli]

Oh lordy, all I could think of throughout this video was “Welp, adult autistics, we have CBT…OR WITCHCRAFT”

[@Turglayfopa]

Hypnotism does have a history as treatment for PTSD. And autism/ADHD that goes under the radar in childhood puts the person under high and prolonged life stress, which eventually can be considered traumatic stress. At least for purpose of pointing out the cause of the co-morbid disorders that are from the environment, and didn't come at birth along with the autism/ADHD. And like meditation, hypnotism isn't one thing. So there's multiple options there for something helpful.

[@Truerealism747]

So true fybromyalgia though I have heds from birth

[@fishinabox]

Hi There are many things I could say about all this. Yes people can be gaslighted as they say. I have encountered or read or heard reports such as, if it is not working it is your ego that is stopping it, or, they are resisting, or it is your Karma, also, say in therapy if one disagrees with the therapist it is evidence the therapist is right. If one is vulnerable it can be confusing and stressful. I have had spasms/cramps all of my life. A couple of years ago I had massage. It only helped a bit. I was told I was resisting. This year I had Hypnotherapy for spasms/cramps. The practitioner was concerned as they did not want me to waste my money as it could be neurological. I love the Hypno it was so relaxing. Did not treat the spasms/cramps though. Recently I have been referred for EDS assessment. Have been told by EDS people that this is common with EDS. So what is it all about folks. I still think it could be psychosomatic. It is understandable that people seek answers to problems, alternative therapies, spiritual stuff etc. Have had energy healing psychic readings etc Will tell you if you want the main thing to me though is people having the right to find out for themselves and free thinking and feeling and not being put down for stuff. Having the confidence for trial and error.

[@Truerealism747]

Ime diagnosed heds very hard to no what's migraine fybromyalgia or what's sycosomatic neurologist says it migraine in the body who does one believe it's the subconscious brain on in us but heds comes with CCI Chari which needs upright MRI and most caused by mcas

[@Emileigggggh]

omg I tried a witchcraft money spell once and i was like "i'm gonna have $5k when I move to Boston" expecting that to be in a couple of months, then the covid pandemic happened and it got delayed 2 years... I did have $5k tho lol