The blog is written by Dr. Miriam Martini, who works with MQ companion Dr. Mark Taylor at the Karolinska Institutet in Sweden.
Autism is a lifelong neurodevelopmental condition that shapes the way people communicate, interact and perceive the world. While autism has long been stereotyping into a “male condition,” we now know that women and girls with autism are often overlooked or misdiagnosed.
So, what happens during that time when autism is not noticed? Many people with autism, especially women, find themselves taking psychiatric care for mental health difficulties before considering them.
In the new research funded by MQ, we hope to better understand this journey. We looked at 11 different psychiatric diagnoses such as depression, anxiety, eating disorders, ADHD, and self-harm and tracked whether they appeared before someone eventually became diagnosed with autism.
Our findings reveal a clear difference between women with autism and men.
More than half of autistic women (54%) were diagnosed with at least one mental illness before the diagnosis of autism. By comparison, for 41% of autistic men, this is correct. Prior to the diagnosis of autism, 28% of women and 13% of men recorded two or more psychiatric diagnoses.
The most common diagnosis above is ADHD, anxiety and depression. Interestingly, although women are more likely to receive most of the psychiatric diagnoses we studied, they are actually less likely to be diagnosed with ADHD compared to men with autism. These gender differences are not limited to specific ages or time periods – from 2010 to 2020, different age groups are consistent at the time of autism diagnosis.
We also looked at what happens after an individual has received a diagnosis of autism. In many cases, psychiatric diagnosis continues to go beyond the autism recognition point. During the five years after autism diagnosis, 23% to 88% of patients with mental health diagnoses continue to receive care for the same condition.
Especially for autistic women, anxiety, sleep problems and self-harm are more likely to persist over time than autistic men.
These findings may indicate early onset and increased continuity of mental health problems in women with autism, consistent with our previous research on MQ-funded hospitalization studies in the College of Mental Health Problems and Psychiatric College.
However, not all mental symptoms may stem from a separate mental health condition. In some cases, these symptoms may be better understood in the context of autism. Our findings suggest that contact with psychiatric services does not necessarily contribute to autism diagnosis.
This underscores the importance of careful assessment of difficulties in psychiatric care to ensure that the underlying neurodevelopmental status is not overlooked, especially in people with complex or multiple mental health difficulties. Correct diagnosis is crucial – it can better understand your own challenges and tailor-made support.
