Published on 12, July, 2020
My 20 year old daughter is waiting to be diagnosed, she's having anxiety and depression problems and since last year has been waiting to self harm, as her mum im totally lost as to how to help her, one thing she says is she doesn't understand what feeling are because of asd and what feelings ard anxiety and depression, any advice would be very much appreciated xx
I'm guessing that she is reading this as well so if she wants to ask any questions then I am sure there will be someone who will be able to answer.
Thank you so much for replying x
It’s hard for some of us to identify feelings properly, as well as pain and stuff like that. It doesn’t always occur with ASD though. We do feel, often too much, and we find it hard to describe these feelings.
I think once she receives a diagnosis, she might analyse herself more. She will certainly start to find out what works for her, and what doesn’t. In the meantime, maybe you can help her find her triggers, and methods to calm down or relax at home. She may well have anxiety, and this is fairly usual for a lot of people with ASD. As far as the depression, is it really depression? It can be hard for the GP to know, as if she presents with low mood, and lack of motivation they automatically assume it’s depression, when in fact, it might be burn out. A key thing is that antidepressants don’t really help with burnout but they will help with depression.