Why do those with AS tend to suffer from depression?

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I can understand why people with AS suffer from anxiety, in terms of a simple reaction to any number of given situations (social or otherwise) or stimuli. But why depression? The reason I ask is I've only recently been diagnosed with AS yet have had bouts of depression throughout my adult life and I'm damned if I really know 'why'. What's the connection? Can anyone elaborate? Thanks.

Small/non-existent social support network.

I've found that it's much harder to get things done and connect with the wider world if you're isolated/ or surrounded by stressed out/unsympathetic people.

If you're chronically lonely, it's much harder to enjoy life and find the motivation to get on with things.

Solitude is good, but too much of it...

There are plenty of reasons. There really are.

I'll list a few reasons, from my opinions:

Naturally different brain connections
Lots of trouble in life
Few friends to help
Overwhelming stress

There's got to be plenty of other reasons too.

Feeling alienated from society would be the main reason for me.

I have depression because I can't get a girlfriend, my parents and brother can't handle me, my dad is an idiot, how messed up the world is issues I can not discuss, the fact I can't discuss those issues, the heresies

Because we spend our whole lives being excluded from a society that everyone else seems to fit into so easily. It's demoralising having to struggle with things that to others are just pure instinct.

For me depression is the flip-side to having a hyper-focused mind. I think as a result of becoming more self-aware I developed a harmful psychological adaptation where I suppress my natural mode of operation in order to fit in better. Over and over again I've realized that the key to my personal happiness is being myself and doing what I enjoy. Unfortunately this isn't good enough for society. We are supposed to strive for all the things society defines as important and this attitude is constantly forced on us.

In order to survive we have to be forced into a mold that doesn't fit our emotional needs. To get anywhere we have to act and lead a double life. If we can't find the correct balance between the two lives we become mentally and emotionally exhausted.

I also think a lot of us depressed aspies derive pleasure in a different way from the typical person. This causes us to start questioning the very foundations of our personal happiness and well-being. If the things I find joy in aren't ever reinforced by shared experience with another person they start to lose significance in my mind. The end result is a deep festering void.

^ Yes, Marshall. I agree with all of the above also, in my case.
Depression is also a consequence of the exhaustion that occurs when trying to live like most others.
And it is hard when what you love and how you want to live is not valued by society.

its like we are the monkey thats trying to reach for a bannana but the bars of our cage are holding us back.

show me the monkey that wont get upset by this.

im just kidding here.

how dare i compare autism to bars ! !! blasphemy..

Having a disability is depressing.

It's also a good excuse to be emo. Sometimes it's hard to separate emo from depression.

I find myself frustrated by my perpetual social awkwardness, which only goes away with people I've known for a while.

Depression's pretty common among NTs too are far as I know.

There are a lot of teens here, for whom depression is normal regardless of mental wiring.

Marshall just encapsualted it really well for me. If I ever have to explain it to a professional that is how i would like to put it (should have by now but UK NHS not well run these days, too many managers and careerists, not enough doctors, good nurses/non-doctor staff are a minority in my exp.).

Got a real cause to work toward now (with other people too!), just got to keep working on them people/life skills....and get a stable job

I have to play the odd duck in the pond here, and say that it was never a sense of social isolation that caused my feelings of depression. Rather, I can identify the cause of my personal depression as a fear of failure and a feeling that I had failed to realise my full potential and wasn't amounting to anything. It also didn't help that I wouldn't settle for second best, and feeling that my best wasn't good enough, I could never live up to the high standards I set for myself, resulting in giving up, apathy, and inertia.

I have read that this perfectionism and a fear of failure are common among those who are on the spectrum.

As for the (relative) social isolation or lack of understanding of social interactions and not going along with the mainstream not being cause for depression or even frustration for me, it's like this: that's where I always got my strength from, from being the odd one out, doing my own thing and walking my own road. The masses left me alone, and I left them alone in turn; everybody happy.

I do have to add that once I had started feeling depressed, the social isolation did intensify those feelings.