increased depression and suicide rates in autistic adults

Depression is even more likely to affect those in the autism community than it affects neurotypicals and the non-disabled, because of the lifelong torture that people with autism go through on a daily basis. And people on the autism spectrum also have a high suicide risk, according to medical research and proven psychology articles. Which is why as someone with Asperger syndrome I find myself wondering if I will continue to suffer from depression and have thoughts of suicide for the rest of my life.

There was this group of ASD and Asperger Syndrome adults who had either contemplated suicide or considered doing so after being diagnosed at a clinic, because they ended up suffering from depression. I also heard about one autistic man who eventually committed suicide. I don't want to end up amongst those people - even though I won't be able to break free from my severe depression.

Parents
  • There is a question whether this phenomenon of suicide amongst middle aged and older adults will continue in the future or decrease. Does it have anything to do with bad childhoods as a result of undiagnosed ASD whereas the younger generation with ASD are more likely to be diagnosed and offered recognition and support as children and teenagers?

    Despite all the stuff about todays youth being a hard done by generation, I find that younger adults with Asperger Syndrome tend to be reasonably happy and confident people whereas many over the age of 40 are miserable and depressed, and often talk about their ruined childhoods as a result of them being misunderstood or accused of being badly behaved. Some who were children in the 1980s and early 90s are upset that Lorna Wing didn't do more to publicise AS because more awareness could have spared them injustices that they received.

  • I would say that depends on a couple of things...

    1) Is the support which these people are receiving really teaching them what they need to survive independently in the adult world? If all it is really doing is teaching autistic people how to mask better, then I think that the possibility of burn-outs and long term mental health problems may still be very high, if only from the sheer effort of maintaining those coping mechanisms. To an outside observer, I coped well right up until I left home; in reality I was a nervous wreck inside and constantly anxious that I'd be exposed as a fraud. When I left home, my new circumstances meant that I didn't know what mask I should wear, and I fell apart completely; I was closer to homelessness and death than at any other time, and no warning signs that this might happen were ever noticed beforehand.

    2) Is there going to be any improvement in services for adults and society's attitude to autism in general? From school-leaving age to middle-age is plenty of time to experience the kind of frustrations that we often talk about here; difficulty with finding work, rejection in romantic relationships, feeling left behind by peers, etc. Even where childhood interventions have been very successful, those people's lives could be full of unexpected, nasty surprises, just like anyone's can be. At those times, support services still need to recognise that they are dealing with an autistic person, and that in a time of crisis, their autistic traits are likely to become far more prominent and will need accommodating. These critical times are when a person is at their most vulnerable, so even if the new generation's general ability to cope is much better, we shouldn't be complacent about the need for adult support tailored for autistic people.

  • "These critical times are when a person is at their most vulnerable, so even if the new generation's general ability to cope is much better, we shouldn't be complacent about the need for adult support tailored for autistic people."


    I cannot argue with that. I'm British but now live in Finland. For 20 years, I have been asking for an assessment of disability-related needs with a view to getting a disability support plan drawn up. In all that time, not once has the request - whether made orally, by post or by email - been even responded to, let alone granted. During this time, I have had to do, as a disabled person, what a non-disabled person can do on the same amount of money and support that the non-disabled get. My health has gone into decline since within two years of my move, I arrived here with three current diagnoses: autism, dyslexia and dyspraxia. Added to that lot since 1998: hypothyroidism; metabolic syndrome; heart failure; osteoarthritis; chronic blepharitis; anxiety NOS; persistent reactive mood disorder; pervasive somatic reaction to severe stress.

    Of these seven, six have a common causal variable: stress. Living for 20 years without appropriate and adequate support (because the local authority refuses to provide it) has taken its toll on me. My classification - because of medication - for the heart failure is 3A. This was seen by the local GPs as asthma, and treated as such for more than 15 years - even though I reported the meds to not be working. They told me, for 30 months that it was asthma or COPD but not heart failure so I went without a proper assessment and diagnosis. Not only did my GPs fail to listen for so long, it is also clear that my SWs in social welfare and disability services have - for the very most part - failed to listen to me as well.

    I trained up in educational psychology, having been an engineering physicist and mathematics tutor. Getting work here is very low probability: some years ago, the state broadcasters ran a poll on who should get the job - qualified foreigner or under-qualified Finn. More than seventy percent voted for the latter. As at two years ago, foreigners had a very high unemployment rate when compared with Finns: 27% v. 11% ... quite a disparity. And that was just in Helsinki. It is much worse in other regions. I have a developmental disability that involved a fairly significant language acquisition delay and a specific learning that is language-based ... but I was not given any support to learn Finnish as part of any Integration Plan that I should have been given (but wasn't). So I had to teach myself ... which was extremely hard and has me very uncomfortable speaking Finnish since I am also dyspraxic (including verbally!) and could easily get the wrong word out of my mouth. Yes - you're right - the Immigration Support Services failed to serve me with any support for an immigrant.

    Add to this lot the fact that - as will be coming clear in a statistical breakdown of the survey data we did - being on the spectrum is a risk factor for long-term unemployment, and this might surely paint a very negative picture of what Finland is like. The take-home here is this: don't believe the hyperbolic propaganda. The Finnish are master myth makers - they tell the tale, but they aren't managing to behave according to the tale.

    Here's my first instalment - telling the tale from another country and confirming the problems seen in the UK as happening in other countries. If I didn't have a kid here, I'd bid the friends I have here adieu and go elsewhere. But the effects of my treatment here make that a bad choice now. Client abuse - the gift that keeps on giving!

    David N. Andrews M. Ed., C. P: S. E.
    - psychologist (teaching, learning & development)
    - psycho-educational consultant
    - autistic adult

Reply
  • "These critical times are when a person is at their most vulnerable, so even if the new generation's general ability to cope is much better, we shouldn't be complacent about the need for adult support tailored for autistic people."


    I cannot argue with that. I'm British but now live in Finland. For 20 years, I have been asking for an assessment of disability-related needs with a view to getting a disability support plan drawn up. In all that time, not once has the request - whether made orally, by post or by email - been even responded to, let alone granted. During this time, I have had to do, as a disabled person, what a non-disabled person can do on the same amount of money and support that the non-disabled get. My health has gone into decline since within two years of my move, I arrived here with three current diagnoses: autism, dyslexia and dyspraxia. Added to that lot since 1998: hypothyroidism; metabolic syndrome; heart failure; osteoarthritis; chronic blepharitis; anxiety NOS; persistent reactive mood disorder; pervasive somatic reaction to severe stress.

    Of these seven, six have a common causal variable: stress. Living for 20 years without appropriate and adequate support (because the local authority refuses to provide it) has taken its toll on me. My classification - because of medication - for the heart failure is 3A. This was seen by the local GPs as asthma, and treated as such for more than 15 years - even though I reported the meds to not be working. They told me, for 30 months that it was asthma or COPD but not heart failure so I went without a proper assessment and diagnosis. Not only did my GPs fail to listen for so long, it is also clear that my SWs in social welfare and disability services have - for the very most part - failed to listen to me as well.

    I trained up in educational psychology, having been an engineering physicist and mathematics tutor. Getting work here is very low probability: some years ago, the state broadcasters ran a poll on who should get the job - qualified foreigner or under-qualified Finn. More than seventy percent voted for the latter. As at two years ago, foreigners had a very high unemployment rate when compared with Finns: 27% v. 11% ... quite a disparity. And that was just in Helsinki. It is much worse in other regions. I have a developmental disability that involved a fairly significant language acquisition delay and a specific learning that is language-based ... but I was not given any support to learn Finnish as part of any Integration Plan that I should have been given (but wasn't). So I had to teach myself ... which was extremely hard and has me very uncomfortable speaking Finnish since I am also dyspraxic (including verbally!) and could easily get the wrong word out of my mouth. Yes - you're right - the Immigration Support Services failed to serve me with any support for an immigrant.

    Add to this lot the fact that - as will be coming clear in a statistical breakdown of the survey data we did - being on the spectrum is a risk factor for long-term unemployment, and this might surely paint a very negative picture of what Finland is like. The take-home here is this: don't believe the hyperbolic propaganda. The Finnish are master myth makers - they tell the tale, but they aren't managing to behave according to the tale.

    Here's my first instalment - telling the tale from another country and confirming the problems seen in the UK as happening in other countries. If I didn't have a kid here, I'd bid the friends I have here adieu and go elsewhere. But the effects of my treatment here make that a bad choice now. Client abuse - the gift that keeps on giving!

    David N. Andrews M. Ed., C. P: S. E.
    - psychologist (teaching, learning & development)
    - psycho-educational consultant
    - autistic adult

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