Mental health challenges faced by autistic people

Meng-Chuan Lai ()
Additional contact information
Meng-Chuan Lai: Centre for Addiction and Mental Health

Nature Human Behaviour, 2023, vol. 7, issue 10, 1620-1637

Abstract: Abstract Mental health challenges impede the well-being of autistic people. This Review outlines contributing neurodevelopmental and physical health conditions, rates and developmental trajectories of mental health challenges experienced by autistic people, as well as unique clinical presentations. A framework is proposed to consider four contributing themes to aid personalized formulation: social–contextual determinants, adverse life experiences, autistic cognitive features, and shared genetic and early environmental predispositions. Current evidence-based and clinical-knowledge-informed intervention guidance and ongoing development of support are highlighted for specific mental health areas. Tailored mental health support for autistic people should be neurodivergence-informed, which is fundamentally humanistic and compatible with the prevailing bio-psycho-social frameworks. The personalized formulation should be holistic, considering physical health and transdiagnostic neurodevelopmental factors, intellectual and communication abilities, and contextual–experiential determinants and their interplay with autistic cognition and biology, alongside resilience. Supporting family well-being is integral. Mutual empathic understanding is fundamental to creating societies in which people across neurotypes are all empowered to thrive.

Date: 2023
References: Add references at CitEc
Citations: View citations in EconPapers (1)

Downloads: (external link)
https://www.nature.com/articles/s41562-023-01718-2 Abstract (text/html)
Access to the full text of the articles in this series is restricted.

Related works:
This item may be available elsewhere in EconPapers: Search for items with the same title.

Export reference: BibTeX RIS (EndNote, ProCite, RefMan) HTML/Text

Persistent link: https://EconPapers.repec.org/RePEc:nat:nathum:v:7:y:2023:i:10:d:10.1038_s41562-023-01718-2

Ordering information: This journal article can be ordered from
https://www.nature.com/nathumbehav/

DOI: 10.1038/s41562-023-01718-2

Access Statistics for this article

Nature Human Behaviour is currently edited by Stavroula Kousta

More articles in Nature Human Behaviour from Nature
Bibliographic data for series maintained by Sonal Shukla () and Springer Nature Abstracting and Indexing ().