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.
You say that the mental health side gets put on the back burner. HOWEVER, I would contend that by focussing on managing the autism, you treat the source of the MH problems, so not focussing on MH is not necessarily bad..
Mytwenty said:You say that the mental health side gets put on the back burner. HOWEVER, I would contend that by focussing on managing the autism, you treat the source of the MH problems, so not focussing on MH is not necessarily bad..
Providing the symptoms are on account of the condition of autism spectrum disorder itself, better managing the condition will ameliorate those symptoms. When though we refer to co-morbid symptoms, we are referring to illnesses and or diseases that occur alongside the condition of autism spectrum disorder, and require separate or additional therapeutic treatment, whether it be medical, clinical or verbal.
Consider the following statement from Medical Comorbidities in Autism Spectrum Disorder: A Primer for Health Care Professionals and Policy Makers pdf ~ which on page 4 of 19 states:
Widespread reports of severe medical conditions being attributed, without investigation and sometimes without physical examination, to autism behaviours have compelled the creation of this document in order to present relevant information to healthcare providers,policy makers and the wider audience. A summary of current research, including the positions of leading governmental and professional bodies, is hoped and expected to help bridge the knowledge and training gap, and as a consequence, decrease the premature attribution of physical symptoms to 'autism behaviours'.
Current research, shared below, offers support to health care and care providers in understanding the possible mechanisms, symptomatology, and consequences of common comorbidities in ASD, thus allowing improved patient care and reduced long-term costs.This document also provides a list of symptoms and behaviours that are indicative of health problems but often dismissed as ‘autism’, and offers common sources of such behaviour. Case studies highlight and contextualize some challenges faced in diagnosing this unique patient group and the possible outcomes of successful identification of underlying medical problems.
https://nationalautismassociation.org/pdf/MedicalComorbiditiesinASD2013.pdf
I was speaking with specific reference to MH comorbidities, not physical ones with 'physical symptoms' whose erroneous conflation with autism is dispelled in the report you cite. I don't advocate the dismissal of the existence of co-morbid MH issues, or the identification of every issue as 'autism'. It's a well-known fact that having autism engenders MH issues in the first place, so I just believe that foremost managing and accepting the autism spectrum condition is the way to alleviate those MH symptoms.
I agree - both should ideally be diagnosed ASAP.
I also agree that support should be tailored for autistic MH sufferers
My view is that both should be picked up on as soon as possible, and a failure to do so will result in substandard treatment of both . There would have been potentially a lot more I could have done if the Asperger's had been dxed in 1992 when I was 35, and help and support provided tailored to the combination of Asperger's and severe mental illness.