Dr. William Berman PhD Christian Family Institute | Tulsa, OK Bill Berman, Will Berman, William Berman, CFI, Christian Family Institute Recommended Dr. Alan Hasagawa to prescribe Adderall to someone with known, current eating disorders Tulsa Oklahoma

After two years, and learning a lot, I feel the need to update my report as best i can. I have since been diagnosed with Autism Spectrum Disorder (level 1, basically Aspergers). I have learned that females on the spectrum are difficult to diagnose, and most providers and many researchers up until recently, knew very little about females with ASD.

Looking back, I think my frustration was being referred for Adderall and having little oversight with a history of disordered eating. I was in college at the time, and nobody told me how the medication could or should help.

I didn’t understand that I could try other medications until I found something that helped. I thought if Adderall wasn’t a good fit, they wouldn’t try other options. Plus, trying new meds while in college with little to no support and immense social anxiety was terrifying.

I dropped 40 pounds in a matter of months, and couldn’t sleep. I would stay up all night studying, and sleep past my alarms for classes. Anxiety attacks made other classes difficult to near impossible to attend. I didn’t recognize that these symptoms were exacerbated by the medication, but thought it was situational anxiety of trying to live on campus at college after being homeschooled.

I also felt that Dr. Berman never tried to understand me personally. I felt as though I was vilified in his and my mother’s prior patient/therapist relationship. I felt I couldn’t be honest with him, because he would skew my words and share personal info with my Mother.

I was 19, and desperately trying to understand what I was feeling, and how to express it verbally, but did not feel safe sharing at CFI. Berman didn’t ask questions about my feelings growing up, or how I felt about relationships. It felt more like meeting with a youth pastor or life coach for coffee, than talking to a therapist.

I don’t remember him ever talking to me about coping mechanisms, etc. I didn’t feel that I could be honest about my anxiety or how I felt, because when I did, I was treated as though I was broken and couldn’t be fixed. So I hid it.

I pretended to be ok when I wasn’t. Part of me says I shouldn’t fault Berman for not realizing I was wearing a mask, and pretending desperately to be ok. But, he did see that I was wearing a mask. He just saw it as BPD instead of ASD, which was detrimental to my support system.

He made it seem as though BPD is an utterly hopeless disease and anyone with it, is truly, deeply a bad person. The problem with BPD, is the cognitive bias within the psychiatric community. With the right therapy, DBT, people can go into remission from BPD.

But this information and style of therapy was never suggested. Through research, I have found that BPD is a common misdiagnosis for women with ASD, and also a common comorbidity. Researchers are still trying to understand the similarities and crossover of symptoms, as well as how to best prevent misdiagnosis moving forward.

I still have a bad taste in my mouth from CFI, but I do believe Berman thought he was making the right choices. What concerns me, is the way he pitted my mother and myself against each other, and the way he pigeonholed diagnosis.

I wish at some point, he had done true assessments with me, and had asked my mother and myself about my childhood and personal characteristics that have been around for a lifetime. It also would have been nice if he had told my mother that I was 19, and deserved to be a single patient, with some semblance of privacy.

When I signed for her to be able to see my medical records, I didn’t know I had a choice. My mom told me I had to sign it for insurance to obtain care. I was 19, and deserved privacy, and to feel safe talking to my therapist without him reporting it all back to my mother.

I wish CFI and Berman the best, but still would not personally recommend them.