Psychosis in autism

Are you referring to how autism used to be called schizophrenia?  It looks as though children can get actual schizophrenia - which I think they call early onset schizophrenia now - I'm not sure though.  It must have been frustrating to get an inaccurate diagnosis.  I'll shut up now and see if anyone answers your actual question.

I understand definitions have changed over time. I finally found confirmation on Wiki that so-called childhood schizophrenia would not be called that now, not since the 89's. In the 60's and early 70's I was being labelled as prepsychotic.

Has anyone else experienced anything like this? 

I won't leave that last comment up as don't know if the organisation I mentioned would want to be mentioned -even though it was a positive comment  -but you should get an email notification with the comment in if you want to read it - if you haven't already.

Yeah, I really liked it. Sadly, the management of staff was their weak point and after nearly 10 years there, I handed in my notice just shy of 2020.

I'd like to work in mental health if I can find a role that works well for me in the area I'm now in.

That sounds like a really interesting job.

thanks for this

Yeah, I noticed the academic side :) My last job was working on communicating diabetes research. Having type 1 but also being very interested in type 2 diabetes and also essentially advocating for a whole range of conditions that crossover with diabetes - and, ultimately, that saw me crossing over into mental health quite strongly.

So, lots of looking at clinical studies for diabetes and mental health (and all sorts of other things) was part of my role.

Yes - it is related to anxiety.  It's very good of you to try to understand people with a range of conditions - I don't tend to look things up until they affect me - I've looked a few things up since being on here though - I'm quite academic so I think I am capable of finding good info and passing it on (I could be wrong though and I'm not boasting saying I'm academic - I make up for it by lacking common sense!).

I have a family member who has OCD. My observation is that that has been quite strongly correlated with anxiety for them - as in the symptoms get worse for them as anxiety increases.

I've been a tiny bit more bit researching around this topic as I like to understand areas of mental health and understand people who go through very difficult times.

Don't blame yourself - I don't blame my parents-  I don't always get on with one of them but it has nothing to do with the genes they gave me.

Thank you for sharing.  I realise that the relationship between the two conditions isn't well understood, but have heard that they may go on the same gene markers.  It worries me a lot. 

I have never been psychotic, but am awaiting my ASD assessment.  I have just one lad; an adult now, and he is anything but autistic.  However, he did have a psychotic break a few years back - a bit of a shocker to us all, as I would have said he was the least likely person.  Just shows, you can never tell...

Now that it looks like autism is on the agenda for me, could that have been my "fault", so to speak?  Did I pass him the gene that made him susceptible?  I guess we'll never know, but I do wonder.

In my late twenties i went though a period of about six months where it was like i was in a dream ,i was picked up walking down the middle of a main road shouting at a girl telling her to stop picking flowers out of a garden ,i was told i was on my own but it all seemed so real . I was under a lot of pressure at the time with no support . Its weird looking back because i don't now what was real or not ,there are just times when the police told me things . I suppose it must be like when someone gets drunk and rememebers nothing but lasts for ages .  

Here is some of the NAS' info on schizophrenia and autism if it helps anyone find it -this is the guide for adults.

 https://www.autism.org.uk/advice-and-guidance/topics/mental-health/schizophrenia/autistic-adults

Hi calmerchameleon - I'm guessing that people with deep paranoia could develop psychosis when under enough pressure - unless maybe it is part of a personality disorder? - again, I'm just guessing - maybe some people do things to keep themselves from becoming too unwell like eating super healthily.  My own problems started with OCD.  I would have written this as a reply to your comment but the button only appeared once I had replied to myself!  (Mind explain it all really well and with videos if you look up Types of psychosis on their website.). Also - there would appear to be (and I've only had a quick look) information on the web about type 1 diabetes being an autoimmune disorder - and also it being associated with other autoimmune disorders and autoimmune disorders can often trigger mental health problems - although I think there's one that helps protect against some of them.

I've seen researchers discussing psychosis and autism online but wasn't sure whether to link that page or not as I'm not sure if they are aware it can be seen by everyone - but if you search for information on psychosis and autism, it should come up.

Thank you for sharing these. This is an area that interests myself too. While some areas of schizophrenia and psychosis may seem more black and white, I wonder about the grey area as well. Whereby some folks with autism get quite deep into paranoid territory without really triggering a diagnosis for schizophrenia.

My knowledge on this area is rather a bit weak I'd say, so I'm keen to read these articles and more.

I think anxiety can have a strong effect on people. I do sometimes wonder whether anxiety maybe doesn't get recognised enough as 'an active force'. Just as the Earth has weather systems and while mostly winds are fine, every now and again hurricanes, and even tornadoes, come. I tend to think that anxiety can play a similar role with high anxiety being like a very high wind which can lead to the effects like delusions, hallucinations, mania etc.

I'm someone who is also as yet undiagnosed with autism, but a fair old load of traits of it and possible overlap with other conditions (ADHD, BPD/EUPD, possibly bipolar II or cyclothymia, possible complex-PTSD etc).

I have experience with lots of anxiety and I have periods of hypomania, depression and dissociation. Also, I have type 1 diabetes which gives me very low blood sugar that has given me insight into hallucinations - I once felt I could no longer rely that one minute would follow another. Time lost all shape and structure for a moment during a period of very low blood sugar.

To put this in context, there's a tiny difference of 3g of sugar in the bloodstream between being fine and having full on, 'I cannot even trust in the passage of time' moment. It's shown me how finely balanced our brains are and how simple chemicals like hormones can have a big effect on that fine balance. 

I know a lot of people don't intimately know what hallucinations and delusions are. Having a bit of insight helps a bit and it would be good if people felt comfortable to talk a bit more on this. I expect there are some decent videos around these days though on this 

I'm rambling a bit.

I think what I'm writing is longhand for: if you or anyone else here would like to talk more on this topic, I'll be interested to listen and discuss. 

(I'm not yet diagnosed with autism.)

This is also interesting.  When it came to the descriptions of how people with schizophrenia and autism communicate, I could relate more to the autism profile - but I don't have schizophrenia, I have schizoaffective disorder.

https://www.spectrumnews.org/features/deep-dive/social-ties-autism-schizophrenia/