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Autism with mental health problems?

CarlyS

I've heard its quite common for autistic people to have other mental health problems, I was wondering which mental health problems are most seen in autistic people? Are personality disorders assocaiated with autism?

Thanks

  • Hi Carlys,

    With reference to your post about mental health issues, There have been a number of "conditions" associated with Autism called co - morbidities which means that a child with Autism are likely to have one or more of these conditions but doesnt mean every Autistic child will have them. Some of these include: ADHD, ADD, Bipolar, OCD, General anxiety disorder and clinical depression. I would imagine it would be particularly difficult to spot these in Autistic children because of the impairements they have. As with personality disorders, anybody can have these and if you have any concerns you should consult a G.P.

  • I am prone to Anxiety and Depression.  I think that is par for the course.

    I would imagine those with an autism spectrum condition are susceptible to  any mental illness.  Although autism is not a mental illness in itself, there are mental problems associated with it.  Problems with not being listened to, finding communication difficult, being thought 'strange', not being understood, being bullied, others 'knowing what is best', all these are problems that those on the spectrum have to suffer as a result of how others react with us, and would drive anyone including NTs to mental illness, so it is no wonder we may suffer mental illness as well.

    As regards Personality disorder, I am sure that many cases of ASDs have been incorrectly diagnosed as personality disorders.  There must be a considerable overlap in the symptoms.  That said, I would imagine that as the Autism Spectrum contains the whole variety of personality types, there must be some with a personality disorder.  Though we should be very careful in jumping to conclusions about cause and effect.