Question: @Lorna Why are autistic people more likely to develop mental health issues such as anxiety and depression?

Lorna Camus answered on 8 Nov 2018:

That’s a really good question, and generally the one that I am trying to answer!
We don’t really know why autistic people are more likely to experience mental health issues, and sadly many people believe that it is just part of autism, which means autistic people have a hard time finding support for these issues.
I am hoping to look at different factors that might influence mental health difficulties, such as 1) alexithymia (the inability to identify and describe your own emotions — generally, autistic people are more alexithymic than non-autistic people), 2) interoception (this helps you feel and understand what is going on in your body, like when you are hungry — autistic people have been found to have difficulties here too), 3) social self-efficacy (your belief that you can start social contact and develop new friendships – there is a bit but not much research on this in autistic people, but we think they are less likely to believe this of themselves), 4) social motivation (feeling motivated to engage socially and have/make friends – there is a theory that autistic people are less socially motivated, although findings are mixed) and 5) intolerance of uncertainty (not dealing well with uncertain events – again autistic people have been found to be less tolerant of uncertainty).
I will be looking at how these different factors are associated with mental health, and maybe we’ll understand better why autistic people experience mental health difficulties more!