Viewing a single comment thread. View all comments

anhedonis539 t1_j6hv8n7 wrote

You may be thinking of ABA therapies, or Applied Behavioral Analysis. This is the field that is (rightfully) being scrutinized as of late because the goal is exactly what you said - “correcting” the “undesirable” social behaviors of autistic people and replacing them with more socially accepted ones.

I have a BA in psych and a Master’s in applied behavioral sciences (so not the above field), AND have had a therapist for several years where we’ve worked on CBT-based skills and such. Incredibly helpful for me and my depression/ anxiety. It’s not about acting accordingly in social situations, but rather how to “talk back to” the negative thoughts that come along with my diagnosis. So instead of someone canceling plans leading to a spiral of “they don’t care about me -> are we even really friends -> does anyone really care”, etc, learning how to hit the brakes after that first thought and remind yourself of all the reasons why that is a highly unlikely and illogical conclusion to reach.

2