mental health and development

Question 1

why can it be difficult to diagnose autistic people with mental health problems?

Answer 1

many characteristics of autism and mental health overlap

Question 2

when were mental health difficulties first described?

Answer 2

in Kanner’s clinical reports describing autism in the 1940s

Question 3

what prevelance of the UK experience a mental health problem?

Answer 3

23%

Question 4

what is the most common mental health problem?

Answer 4

depression

Question 5

what percentage of autistic people experience mental health problems?

Answer 5

79%

Question 6

how can environmental risk factors impact autism?

Answer 6

eg) stress/bereavement/finances/bullying/unemployment

autistic adults significantly more likely to report difficult life experiences than non-autistic adults (Griffiths et al, 2019)

Question 7

how can societal risk factors impact autism?

Answer 7

attitudes/stigma/poverty

experience difficulties, particularly interacting with non-autistic people, leads to the double empathy problem

people are more at risk of loneliness

Question 8

how can biological risk factors impact autism?

Answer 8

genetic predisposition/brain structure/function

Question 9

how can psychological factors impact autism?

Answer 9

different thinking style/coping strategies

have difficulties with thinking of alternatives, or finding solutions to difficult situations/moods

Question 10

what are protective factors?

Answer 10

characteristics associated with a lower likelihood of negative outcomes

Question 11

what are social challenges for people with autism?

Answer 11

autistic people struggle to interact with the neurotypical majority

Question 12

who suggested autistic people tend to be perceived negatively by non autistic people?

Answer 12

Sasson et al, 2017

Question 13

who suggested autistic people are less readable by non-autistic people?

Answer 13

Alkhaldi et al, 2019

Question 14

how do autistic people cope with situations?

Answer 14

camouflaging/masking

Question 15

what are the three aspects of camouflaging?

Answer 15

assimilation
compensation
masking

Question 16

what is assimilation?

Answer 16

motivation for camouflaging, in order to be considered safe and a functioning member of society

Question 17

what is compensation?

Answer 17

compensating for autism specific difficulties, eg) learning correct facial expressions

Question 18

what is masking?

Answer 18

trying to avoid being ‘too autistic’, not wanting to stand out from the crowd

Question 19

what can camouflaging lead to?

Answer 19

exhaustion- people don’t feel like they are being their true self

Question 20

how is camouflaging measured?

Answer 20

using the Camouflaging Autistic Traits Questionnaire

looks at camouflaging traits in autistic and non-autistic people

Question 21

who investigated whether social camouflaging is associated with anxiety and depression in autistic adults?

Answer 21

Hull et al, 2021

Question 22

what did Hull et al find out about social camouflaging in autistic adults?

Answer 22

305 autistic adults

aged 18-75 years

increased camouflaging scores increases predicted depression and anxiety

association strongest for anxiety, equally strong across genders

Question 23

who investigated risk markers for suicidality in autistic adults?

Answer 23

Cassidy et al, 2018

Question 24

what did Cassidy et al find out about risk markers for suicidality?

Answer 24

took part in a survey co-designed with autistic adults

after controlling for variables, found that camouflaging was a factor for predicting suicide

Question 25

who researched autism and the double empathy problem?

Answer 25

Mitchell et al, 2021

Question 26

how can the double empathy problem impact suicide?

Answer 26

autistic people may be aware they are less socially favourable respond by camouflaging not accepted for true self thwarted belonging increased risk of mental health/suicide

Question 27

what inconsistent finding did Cage et al, 2019 find about camouflaging?

Answer 27

camouflaging does not lead to depression

Question 28

what inconsistent finding did Lai et al, 2017 find about camouflaging?

Answer 28

camouflaging only leads to depression in men, not women camouflaging does not lead to anxiety

Question 29

what is a nonsocial difficulty people with autism experience?

Answer 29

black and white/concrete thinking style means people have difficulties thinking of alternatives and experience problem solving difficulties leads to increased mental health problems

Question 30

what did South et al, 2020 find out about non social difficulties for autistic individuals?

Answer 30

looked at 74 women with high autistic traits and social difficulties difficulties in imagination and repetitive behaviours lead to suicidality

Question 31

what did Jackson and Dritschel, 2016 find about non social difficulties for autism?

Answer 31

autistic traits associated with current depression were significantly impacted by difficulties in social problem-solving skills

Question 32

what are challenges for assessing mental health in autistic people?

Answer 32

challenges for measurement are behavioural (if diagnostic overshadowing occurs) and cognitive (how the questions are interpreted)

Question 33

what is diagnostic overshadowing?

Answer 33

preconceived biases about an individual's condition overshadow other potential diagnoses/conditions which may be present

Question 34

what are cognitive aspects of autism?

Answer 34

alexythymia theory of mind literal interpretation reduced flexibility in thinking

Question 35

what is alexthymia (Bird et al, 2010)?

Answer 35

difficulty verbalising internal thoughts and feelings present in autism

Question 36

what is theory of mind (Baron-Cohen et al, 1985)?

Answer 36

difficulty putting yourself in another person's shoes

Question 37

what is literal interpretation (Happe, 1995)?

Answer 37

taking things at face value, difficulty 'reading between the lines'

Question 38

what is reduced flexibility in thinking? (Ozonoff, 1997)

Answer 38

sticking to one train of thought difficult to consider alternatives

Question 39

why do we need to consider cognitive aspects of autism when asking questions?

Answer 39

the questions could be misinterpreted or difficult for autistic people to answer should include autism specific items to capture the unique presentation of depression in autism

Question 40

what are the symptoms of anxiety?

Answer 40

restlessness easily fatigued difficulty concentrating irritability muscle tension sleep distrubance

Question 41

what is anxiety in autism associated with?

Answer 41

intolerance of uncertainty repetitive behaviours sensory processing social anxiety

Question 42

what scale measures autism for children?

Answer 42

revised child anxiety and depression scale also includes additional autism specific areas such as sensory anxiety and intolerance of uncertainty