mental health and development Flashcards

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1
Q

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

A

many characteristics of autism and mental health overlap

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2
Q

when were mental health difficulties first described?

A

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

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3
Q

what prevelance of the UK experience a mental health problem?

A

23%

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4
Q

what is the most common mental health problem?

A

depression

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5
Q

what percentage of autistic people experience mental health problems?

A

79%

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6
Q

how can environmental risk factors impact autism?

A

eg) stress/bereavement/finances/bullying/unemployment

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

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7
Q

how can societal risk factors impact autism?

A

attitudes/stigma/poverty

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

people are more at risk of loneliness

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8
Q

how can biological risk factors impact autism?

A

genetic predisposition/brain structure/function

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9
Q

how can psychological factors impact autism?

A

different thinking style/coping strategies

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

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10
Q

what are protective factors?

A

characteristics associated with a lower likelihood of negative outcomes

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11
Q

what are social challenges for people with autism?

A

autistic people struggle to interact with the neurotypical majority

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12
Q

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

A

Sasson et al, 2017

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13
Q

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

A

Alkhaldi et al, 2019

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14
Q

how do autistic people cope with situations?

A

camouflaging/masking

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15
Q

what are the three aspects of camouflaging?

A

assimilation
compensation
masking

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16
Q

what is assimilation?

A

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

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17
Q

what is compensation?

A

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

18
Q

what is masking?

A

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

19
Q

what can camouflaging lead to?

A

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

20
Q

how is camouflaging measured?

A

using the Camouflaging Autistic Traits Questionnaire

looks at camouflaging traits in autistic and non-autistic people

21
Q

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

A

Hull et al, 2021

22
Q

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

A

305 autistic adults

aged 18-75 years

increased camouflaging scores increases predicted depression and anxiety

association strongest for anxiety, equally strong across genders

23
Q

who investigated risk markers for suicidality in autistic adults?

A

Cassidy et al, 2018

24
Q

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

A

took part in a survey co-designed with autistic adults

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

25
Q

who researched autism and the double empathy problem?

A

Mitchell et al, 2021

26
Q

how can the double empathy problem impact suicide?

A

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

27
Q

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

A

camouflaging does not lead to depression

28
Q

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

A

camouflaging only leads to depression in men, not women

camouflaging does not lead to anxiety

29
Q

what is a nonsocial difficulty people with autism experience?

A

black and white/concrete thinking style means people have difficulties thinking of alternatives and experience problem solving difficulties

leads to increased mental health problems

30
Q

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

A

looked at 74 women with high autistic traits and social difficulties

difficulties in imagination and repetitive behaviours lead to suicidality

31
Q

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

A

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

32
Q

what are challenges for assessing mental health in autistic people?

A

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

33
Q

what is diagnostic overshadowing?

A

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

34
Q

what are cognitive aspects of autism?

A

alexythymia
theory of mind
literal interpretation
reduced flexibility in thinking

35
Q

what is alexthymia (Bird et al, 2010)?

A

difficulty verbalising internal thoughts and feelings present in autism

36
Q

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

A

difficulty putting yourself in another person’s shoes

37
Q

what is literal interpretation (Happe, 1995)?

A

taking things at face value, difficulty ‘reading between the lines’

38
Q

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

A

sticking to one train of thought
difficult to consider alternatives

39
Q

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

A

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

40
Q

what are the symptoms of anxiety?

A

restlessness
easily fatigued
difficulty concentrating
irritability
muscle tension
sleep distrubance

41
Q

what is anxiety in autism associated with?

A

intolerance of uncertainty
repetitive behaviours
sensory processing
social anxiety

42
Q

what scale measures autism for children?

A

revised child anxiety and depression scale

also includes additional autism specific areas such as sensory anxiety and intolerance of uncertainty