Depression

You are so welcome! I love learning too, it’s because I am monotropic!

That’s some useful links there cheers. I always like new information. 

Yellow tree 118 said:

All I can say is antidepressants help me not sure how they work but they work that’s for sure. But then I am naturally depressed because of my negative experiences in life and being late diagnosed and missing out diagnosis in school. I suppose we all have our valid reasons to be upset. 

That’s great that antidepressants have helped you! Sorry that you have had so many negative experiences throughout your life, I can completely understand how that contributes to depression. There are many of us here who are late identified so I hope you can find some comfort and belonging in that knowledge.

Yellow tree 118 said:

Oh right. It’s hard to no what is true as there is so many conflicting opinions and studies. They used to think autistic people had low levels of GABA but recent studies found that autistic people have the same level of GABA receptors and activity as neurotypical people.

If you are looking for reliable information about our autistic community and mental health, refer to other autistic people. After all, we are the experts on our autistic experiences!

Here is a specific blog that you might find interesting as the autistic author specialises in mental health:

https://emergentdivergence.com/

Also you may be interested in Aucademy which is an autistic led education platform, it’s brilliant! Aucademy host monthly livestreams on a variety of topics related to our autistic community and a specific mental health playlist may be of interest to you:

https://youtube.com/playlist?list=PLth_YtwLg2GvoLF7BfTrX6SoVsIrTdkDN&si=1XnSxex-DWkveP1X

https://aucademy.co.uk/

Oh right. It’s hard to no what is true as there is so many conflicting opinions and studies. They used to think autistic people had low levels of GABA but recent studies found that autistic people have the same level of GABA receptors and activity as neurotypical people. All I can say is antidepressants help me not sure how they work but they work that’s for sure. But then I am naturally depressed because of my negative experiences in life and being late diagnosed and missing out diagnosis in school. I suppose we all have our valid reasons to be upset. 

Glad you found my points insightful!

Yellow tree 118 said:

Apparently autism is caused at least in part by the inflammation of the brain. So it doesn’t surprise me that antidepressants help and you’re right it may have something to do with the serotonin in the antidepressants. 

No that’s not true, autism is a natural neurological variant which is highly genetic.  Hence why there are usually many autistic people in the same family. Just like biodiversity in the natural world, there is a huge infinite diversity of brains and minds in the human population, this fact is neurodiversity.

neuroqueer.com/.../

Anyway, there is not point trying to ascertain a cause for our autistic lives as not only is that very dangerous, it is not necessary. More emphasis should be on supporting our neurokin to find their tribe and understand their neurotype amongst other aims including better understanding of autistic needs in health care for example.

Here is a brilliant article about research priorities for our autistic community:

https://autistic-village.com/2021/11/02/why-bad-research-like-spectrum-10k-should-no-longer-get-the-green-light-and-what-should/

Yeh that was very insightful I think you’re correct. Interesting that antidepressants are also anti inflammatory and may help autistic people in that sense. Apparently autism is caused at least in part by the inflammation of the brain. So it doesn’t surprise me that antidepressants help and you’re right it may have something to do with the serotonin in the antidepressants. 

That’s good. I know autistic people are hurting and in a lot of pain.

Hi. Thanks for starting this discussion.

 I think the reason why many of us experience poor mental health including depression is mainly because of the way we are treated in society. From, bullying, isolation, invalidation and unnecessary pathologising our autistic way of being, our autistic community experiences so many negative messages and situations because people don’t understand us, no wonder we have poor mental health.

Also just another point to consider, apparently ADHDers experience 20,000 more negative messages about who they are by the time they reach 10 years old in comparison to non ADHDers. So no wonder ADHDers and AuDHD members of our community experience rejection sensitivity when they have literally been rejected throughout their lives. Given this is the figure for ADHDers, I wonder what the figure could be for our autistic community. This obviously correlates with poor mental health.

I recently discovered that us autistics have lower levels of serotonin in our brains compared to non autistic people which could be a factor too. However, I think the points raised above are definitely more significant factors for poor mental health. If you want to find out more about these serotonin levels, it is briefly mentioned in the video below:

https://youtu.be/0xw-HSctMAk?si=JF-XBhOopPjizTh8

For me, it's the frustrating thing of wanting to but not being able to. Others make it look so easy despite their objections. 

I guess im just upset since someone dear left the forum today (or perhaps yesterday in UK time). 

I am sorry to hear that. 

James said:

There was also an article recently, wish I could recall it, noting that 'autistic' is the now current slur. The positive, I suppose, is that at least our condition is more widely known...

Im not sure if id prefer to not have autism known, or have an incorrect take on autism be known

James said:

If you have a nice home and it is destroyed by a tree, you will be unhappy, but that does not counter the happiness that you had in that home.

Thats true. I guess im just upset since someone dear left the forum today (or perhaps yesterday in UK time). 

Roswell said:

You've shown more sympathy than most people I've encountered

I am sorry to hear that too. I hope that you encounter more sympathy and support.

Thank you. You've shown more sympathy than most people I've encountered.

Roswell said:

Things like that can change your personality

Those are big events. I am sorry that happened to you.

The only way to survive in this world is by being apart of it. But when im part of it then im lonely because I cant comunicate like everyone else. Everything is too much for my senses. But being forced into that enviroment is going to make you feel down.

There was also an article recently, wish I could recall it, noting that 'autistic' is the now current slur. The positive, I suppose, is that at least our condition is more widely known...

The only way to survive in this world is by being apart of it. But when im part of it then im lonely because I cant comunicate like everyone else. Everything is too much for my senses. But being forced into that enviroment is going to make you feel down.

This has really chimed with me, but I am not sure if I can write a reply that is sensical. I struggle with social interactions, and have been interested in historical hermits and anchorites who, I assumed, were apart from society. Turns out, they had a throughly important social functions and were often highly regarded, and supported, by their communities *because* of their place and character. 

This wish to survive in this world by being apart from it is one I recognise. It is an impossible dream though. I once went to a remote spot, far from the noisy floating world - and realised that I was never ever going to be completely apart from it. It is still there, and I am still here, and we still interact - there are just different levels and types of interaction. The skill, I suppose, it having agency in finding, and opting, the types of interaction that add to your life. It can be frustrating, as it it changeable like water, but when you get on top of it - it blissfully flows. 

Even this forum, which is supposed to be a nice place for autists to come together, is driving people away. There isnt a place anywhere where we can belong and be happy. Everything always falls apart and people always leave. So of course people will be unhappy

This forum is of this world and part of this world, though it might seem apart. And though you are sad now and observe its detrimental issues, you have added, enriched, supported, and contributed to the people here. If you have a nice home and it is destroyed by a tree, you will be unhappy, but that does not counter the happiness that you had in that home. And just because you are not currently living in that home does not make it never your home. It is always your home. There is a big stone Buddha with a charming smile that I have been fortunate to see on the other side of the world. Sure, my stone-faced friend is slowly eroding with the weather (and probably with pollution too),and it seems that he left me (though, I recognise, it was me who left him), I know that because of him I know that the night and the day are not opposites but the same time. And, of course, he is still smiling. I share this with you because every time I think that no one in the world is happy and we are bound to sadness, I suddenly think of him - even recently when I fell ill - see his smile, and start to smile, and realise that my observation is transitory. That does not make it false, and it does not make it true - but makes it like an emotion, free to appear and then disappear with peace.  

My apologies for the long, rambling reply. It has helped me think more clearly - and I share it hoping it provides some comfort for you too. 

When I was a child I got hit on the head with a large rock by one of my friends. A bully in school dropped a bag full of bricks on my head and made me unconscious. Things like that can change your personality. 

Yellow tree 118 said:

But I kind of wondered why autistic people are so depressed all the time and so quick to give up on life so quickly. I know circumstances play a part in it. But some non autistic people go through equally negative experiences like bullying and lack of relationships yet don’t seem as affected by it. I guess I just wonder why us autistic people are so down all the time. I notice I am down when everything is going great but it’s like there is a rain cloud above my head or something. Maybe I do have a chemical imbalance after all. Just want to spread the message to everyone thinking of ending it that life is beautiful and too precious to give up I know sometimes we can’t see that maybe that’s the problem. To anyone thinking about it please don’t give up there is medication out there and people you can talk to. You never know what positive thing lies round the corner. There will be negatives but don’t make the negatives bigger than they actually are.

Thanks for putting this in words Yellow tree 118. It is something that has been weighing on me recently. And I thank others in this thread for their replies, and wish to indicate that my own replies are intended not as corrections and reactions, but my own attempts to engage in conversation and a way of thinking through and further the topic.

sunspot said:

If you define life as what you share and contribute among others, then if you are alone, you literally have no life.

I hear what you are saying @sunspot, as I often think and say similar things. 

Someone I was sounding off listened, and replied that my view, and a fair bit of society too, was limiting so much what was included by the words 'share' and 'contribute'. There are an abundance of ways that you contribute to the world in ways that are often not observable and whose immense ramifications are not always considered. To give two examples they gave me - 

1. You, they said to me, are speaking to me, and now they understand where I am coming from with my speed. You are sharing your own contribution in this discussion, and in doing so, you've contributed to my life because I have learnt that someone else has a similar perspective to me. And that has helped me feel at this moment less alone and less isolated. So I thank you @sunspot, and I am grateful for what you shared. 
2. "You're not living. You're surviving from day to day, and that doesn't have any meaning". Yes... but also no. Surviving includes buying food. And buying food - even in its most difficult situation - contains some agency and choice. You buy a particular type of food, and that purchase contributes to an unseen chain. You don't buy the food, but say acquire it from a food bank, your selection and receipt of the food means that someone, having purchased it and offered it, has had their choice confirmed. Even in our smallest actions, we have immense reverberations. Even throwing the smallest pebbles into water causes large ripples. Though stone, sinking to the bottom, does not observe the consequences, there are still reverberations. 

That's a very valid point. If you have to suppress your emotions constantly because people are constantly kicking you, you finally notice how miserable you are only when you are overflowing with misery. I finally have a mattress up against he wall that I can lay into any time I want, and thank God.

Yes, the other point is that people don't say "Oh, he has autism, so I'm going to treat him like he's subhuman". That never occurs to them. They think "He looks like the kind of person who winds up in greasy rags under a bridge", and they are both correct and terribly wrong at the same time. The sad thing, is that I dated a girl who is overtly physically disabled, and I watched her get treated like dirt, too, so don't rely on the promise of unveiling autism to the world for sympathy. You probably won't get it even after they realize they're abusing someone for being either disabled, or just wired differently, depending on the extent.

Yellow tree 118 said:

But some non autistic people go through equally negative experiences like bullying and lack of relationships yet don’t seem as affected by it.

Not even an hour ago in my government class, there were 3 girls sitting at the desk next to me. One wrote the wrong awnser on the worksheet and started erasing it. Her friends then said "Oh my gosh, youre so stupid, stop being so autistic" while all three of them were laughing at that comment. Autism is like some joke to some people, saying youre autistic if you do something silly or stupid. That girl isnt autistic and I doubt any of them know about what autism really is. I could tell they were trying to make fun of autistic people. Other people at school make simular 'jokes'.

I think most people who get bullied for stuff like having ugly shoes or somthing, may be upset but once they leave school it wont be a problem. Because people mature. But there are stories of autistic adults getting treated unfairly or made fun of. There are even studies proving that NT tend to dislike autistic people just based on looking at them without even knowing they are autistic. 

The only way to survive in this world is by being apart of it. But when im part of it then im lonely because I cant comunicate like everyone else. Everything is too much for my senses. But being forced into that enviroment is going to make you feel down.

Maybe we have trouble recognising when were upset until we are very upset. Then it seems like we are overreacting to a small bad thing, when in reality we just didnt realise we were upset until that moment.

Even this forum, which is supposed to be a nice place for autists to come together, is driving people away. There isnt a place anywhere where we can belong and be happy. Everything always falls apart and people always leave. So of course people will be unhappy

Im not upset with poster btw. Im just upset. You made good points and its a nice post