Asperger's and Mental Health

Hello all,

I was diagnosed with aspergers syndrome around 2 months ago, after a history of severe social impairments. I was instructed to identify an online community of people with autism by my therapist. Can I ask, what's the policy on discussing mental health issues occurring with autism on this forum? Is it prohibited? As my condition makes me severely depressed, and my therapist recommends talking this out with other sufferers.

Thanks.

  • Yes, it saddens me how little support is available.  It is also little recognised that the kind of fight necessary to access support is in itself difficult for autistic people and a huge additional pile of stress to deal with. I feel that, ironically, to obtain such help, one needs that same help in order to negotiate the process of obtaining it - a perfect catch-22.

  • It is hard to cope with, i recently started taking medication for anxiety been fluxetine for many years now.  Trying to get others to understand how hard it is impossible.  I notice their is little support for older autistics.

  • I feel the same way, depression, suicide and the fear of homelessness is constantly on my mind.

  • I have diagnosed with high functioning autism since 2011, I have suffered from anxiety and depression since childhood.  There is a definite link between mental health problems.  My sister was Aspergers and she took her life, the rates of suicide is alarming as is homeless, which I fear massively.

  • Thanks for all your responses! c:

  • I've had severe mental health issues on and off for most of my adolescence and adult life. Drug and alcohol issues too. All of it was related to my Autism, which was undiagnosed at the time. It's fine to talk about things like that here. You will find lots of things here that will fill in gaps, help you understand how your condition affects you and lots of other stuff. Sometimes things are light hearted around here too. Hello and welcome!

  • Welcome Aralez,

    Repeated episodes of acute depression over several decades were what led me to my autism diagnosis. On pretty much any autism community forum, you'll find plenty of people talking about depression and how it relates to the traits of autism and difficulties fitting into the non-autistic world. The rates of anxiety and depression in autistic people have repeatedly been shown to be significantly higher than in the general population, and both the things which cause it and the way it shows itself can be significantly different.

    It's encouraging to hear that your therapist recommended getting in touch with other autistic people. Many people working in mental health seem to have a very poor understanding of autism, yet stubbornly follow practices which have been developed primarily for non-autistic people.  Having experienced both "autism friendly" and "not so much" therapists myself in the past, I've seen that a therapist who just tries to blunder through can do more harm than good, and the ones who are open minded about the differences of autistic people are much more capable of helping.

    Communities like this one have been extremely helpful to me in the three years since I was diagnosed, including helping me to manage my anxiety and depression better.  I hope you find the same.

  • Well.... I have mental health issues such as severe depression, slight paranoia, several suicide attempts and obsessive compulsive disorder.  I have been getting help from several agencies, a crisis team was involved a couple of years ago.  Now I'm left with phone numbers, internet sites and a social/case worker.