Stories from the Autism Spectrum.
When I was 32 years old, I found myself facing a dilemma.
After socially isolating for a about a decade, I began therapy and was diagnosed with both depression and autism spectrum disorder.
The psychologist said that, in addition to managing the depression, we needed to spend a fair amount of time just talking…simply sitting around, conversing…so that we could begin to map out how my mind was processing social data. Once we had a better understand of that, we could then make a game plan.
This is part 5 of an ongoing series that examines the interplay between Autism Spectrum Disorder, Aspergers and depression. Other posts have offered a breakdown of how to both detect and distinguish co-morbid conditions like depression (part 2 in particular, which focuses on how depression can “hide” behind autistic traits; all other links can be found below). This time around, I wanted to take a different approach and offer impressions that are more subjective in nature.
Part 6 will conclude this series with a look at coping strategies.
Two very different questions from readers this time. One about a situation involving childhood depression. The other about determining when adults should seek an ASD diagnosis. Thanks to everyone for their questions, it gives all of us a way to discuss and think about these challenging issues; it is much appreciated.
The questions:
The goal of this ongoing series is to examine the interplay between autism spectrum disorder (ASD) and depression. As mentioned in Part 2, it can be difficult to untangle one from the other since depression can hide behind autistic traits. But there’s another factor involved with ASD that can also allow depression to persist unchecked: sensory issues.
To cover the role of sensory issues in this dynamic, I’ll make 3 points.
I.
This is the first part in a new series. Future posts will look at specific ways that Autism Spectrum Disorder, Aspergers and depression can intertwine, but I wanted to start things off with a more general discussion. (Click here for Part 2 or here for a post that collects and summarizes every article in this series.) [Read more…]