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Just anxiety, just depression...

Alien0n3arth

This post is going to be short probably. It intrigues me and I don't understand,  why it's often written in articles in the Internet, "is it autism or just anxiety?" Or "Autism or just trauma?" Etc. Does it imply, that Autism is a serious condition while anxiety or ptsd are just minor inconvenience? In fact the amount of struggling does not depend only on specific diagnosis,  but rather the severity of symptoms. Is this "just" added because the other conditions are curable? - only if the professionals know how to care it. How many people get diagnosed with depression and anxiety for decades, although these conditions should be cured within a year or two?

I joined once a forum for people with ptsd, as I also experienced terrible abuse (No details here) and honestly the severity of some symptoms described there was shocking for me. 

So I'm wondering if it means, that tge other conditions are not being treated seriously or what else would be the reason for saying "just depression " etc. 

Or maybe I'm too obsessive to overthink just one word in a sentence. Anyone has opinion or clue about it?

Parents

  • Also, though relatively rare compared with the general population, autistic people exist who experience no problematic levels anxiety and are never depressed. It rather exposes the lack of knowledge about autism among people who write such articles. Although anxiety is very common in autistics and rates of depression are higher among autistic people, compared with allistic people, neither condition is mentioned in any diagnostic manual covering autism. They do not result directly from autism; rather they are are most often the result of the mismatch between autistic people and allistic society, which is often inimical to them.

  • in reply to Martin
    Martin said:
    Although anxiety is very common in autistics and rates of depression are higher among autistic people, compared with allistic people, neither condition is mentioned in any diagnostic manual covering autism. They do not result directly from autism

    Whilst neither is a diagnostic criterion for autism, anxiety and depression are mentioned several times in the autism sections of both the ICD-11 and DSM-5-TR diagnostic manuals.

    That includes:

    • Mentions, in respect of developmental presentation, of both anxiety and depression as presenting features (ie issues that might bring an autistic person to clinical attention).
    • Autistic difficulties contributing to anxiety.
    • Differentiating between overlapping symptoms of autism and anxiety, and identifying potential co-occurring conditions. 

    In respect of causality, the DSM notes, for example, that "Individuals who have developed compensation strategies for some social challenges ... suffer from the effort and anxiety of consciously calculating what is socially intuitive for most individuals."

    Other mentions include:

    ICD-11:

    "Middle childhood: ... Symptoms of anxiety may become evident at this stage of development."

    "By adolescence ... Depressive symptoms are often a presenting feature"

    "During adolescence and adulthood, Depressive Disorders are often a presenting feature"

    DSM-5-TR 

    "In general, individuals with lower levels of impairment may be better able to function independently. However, even these individuals ... are prone to anxiety and depression."

    "Among individuals who are nonverbal or have language deficits, observable signs such as ... should trigger an evaluation for anxiety or depression"

Reply
  • in reply to Martin
    Martin said:
    Although anxiety is very common in autistics and rates of depression are higher among autistic people, compared with allistic people, neither condition is mentioned in any diagnostic manual covering autism. They do not result directly from autism

    Whilst neither is a diagnostic criterion for autism, anxiety and depression are mentioned several times in the autism sections of both the ICD-11 and DSM-5-TR diagnostic manuals.

    That includes:

    • Mentions, in respect of developmental presentation, of both anxiety and depression as presenting features (ie issues that might bring an autistic person to clinical attention).
    • Autistic difficulties contributing to anxiety.
    • Differentiating between overlapping symptoms of autism and anxiety, and identifying potential co-occurring conditions. 

    In respect of causality, the DSM notes, for example, that "Individuals who have developed compensation strategies for some social challenges ... suffer from the effort and anxiety of consciously calculating what is socially intuitive for most individuals."

    Other mentions include:

    ICD-11:

    "Middle childhood: ... Symptoms of anxiety may become evident at this stage of development."

    "By adolescence ... Depressive symptoms are often a presenting feature"

    "During adolescence and adulthood, Depressive Disorders are often a presenting feature"

    DSM-5-TR 

    "In general, individuals with lower levels of impairment may be better able to function independently. However, even these individuals ... are prone to anxiety and depression."

    "Among individuals who are nonverbal or have language deficits, observable signs such as ... should trigger an evaluation for anxiety or depression"

Children
  • in reply to Bunny

    Need to watch out for being taken literally in my assertions. I of course meant not part of the diagnostic criteria, I had not considered the preambles and postscripts in the manuals. Given how the average school operates, autistic children without problematic levels of anxiety are rare creatures. There is some evidence that home-schooled autistic children show lower levels of anxiety than their 'normally schooled' peers, even in social situations. Puberty is undoubtedly an extra burden on autistic children, for a variety of reasons.