There was an article that was released recently in regards of depression affecting young adults with Autism. According to new research led by Dheeraj Rai, of the University of Bristol , it says that depression is affecting around 20% of young adults in the Autism spectrum (Mundell, 2018). What is interesting about his new study is that it indicates that people with high functioning Autism are more at risk than people in the lower functioning level. That could be surprising to some people , because they may think that a person with high functioning Autism has less problems with social relationships than the lower functioning person. However, it is more complex than that.
There have been cases of adults being diagnosed with Autism that have fallen deeply into depression. There are different potential causes as to why they have seen their risk for depression increased. One potential cause could be because they were diagnosed as an adult , they may not have as many resources available as if they were suffering with depression as a child with Autism. Because they are out of school , they and their families are very limited in terms of finding opportunities for adults with Autism to socialize with other people , including others in the spectrum.
In my own personal experience , as person with high functioning Autism, I have seen my risk of depression increased in situations in which I was in an environment with other people and in another environment without people. For example, just as I entered middle school, I went into clinical depression because of the social rejection and severe bullying that I was going through in school. This was despite being an environment with a lot of people. When I was not working or in school, I have seen my depression increase because of the lack of any contact with people. in which I was out of an environment where I can meet other people. So overall, depression can happen regardless of the environment a person with Autism is living.
In order to fully help adults with Autism, we need to not only increase treatment procedures , but also create the programs and services that will help them increase their social and relationship building skills. It is crucial to create an environment in which they can connect with others and not let the difficulties of living with Autism affect them negatively.
Tony Hernandez Pumarejo
9/5/18
Source:
Mundell (2018). Depression Hits 20% of Young Adults with Autism. From https://www.webmd.com/brain/autism/news/20180831/depression-hits-20-of-young-adults-with-autism#1