Published on 12, July, 2020
I can’t help but notice that 70% ish of posts on these forums are either about suicide, depression, being fed up and done with life and complaining about things. I include myself I have also been fed up and have came to the forums looking for support. 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.
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
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.
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/