Published on 12, July, 2020
Hi. Young autistic guy here.
I just recently signed up here and I'm not used to writing in forums at all, but with this subject I find myself really eager and passionate to write about it.
Maybe I haven't dug deep enough on the internet, but I see less resources for people who have both mental illness and autism. I have both. There's a stigma surrounding it, where it seems 'impossible' to have both be co-morbid, to basically have both at the same time. The fact is, both are possible. If anyone's needed to read that, who feels invalid, or a complete fraud/fake, you're not. Many factors can create mental illness. Trauma, loss, bullying, etc. Even non-autistics can have one or more mental illnesses or physical ailments.
Why is it important to have more resources? Because from my own personal experience of being made to feel as if I'm lying about having both, you can feel so, so misunderstood. The mental health side gets put on the back burner and gradually things deteriorate for those affected, because there's not enough discussion and resources about mental illness and autism being both common together.
It is well documented that the mental health problems of depression and anxiety are more prevalent in the autistic community than outside it. It is also well documented that the co-occurrence of the neuro-developmental conditions ADHD and OCD is also high. There appears to be little research into specific treatments for autistic individuals who suffer from these co-occurring conditions.
The neuro-diversity movement is known to advocate for research into autism specific treatments, but we are given the same treatments as the NT population with no dedicated scientific endeavour to research their efficacy.
Initial reports of the effects of GABA fortified oolong tea have been promising.
https://www.frontiersin.org/articles/10.3389/fnut.2019.00027/full
https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pubmed/31060476
For the theory behind this: https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pubmed/27559329