Autism and Depression

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I'm wondering if many autistic (particularly Asperger's-diagnosed) people are also diagnosed with depression? I was diagnosed with depression about three years before I was diagnosed with Asperger's, but I get the feeling that the mental roadblocks in communicating with others and fitting in and all the like would cause... you know. Great sadness.

I'm just a little unconvinced, because I wasn't diagnosed until I was well 19 years old and so when I was growing up as a teenager I just kind of assumed I was a weirdo who messed up all the time because I was... I don't know, socially ret*d, or just not mentally engaged enough, or something along those lines. I imagine that if you knew you were socially awkward - having it attached to a pre-existing condition, rather than just "be" - it would diminish confusion somewhat. I'm not sure, but that seems a solid theory to me, at any rate.

So, someone answer me. Are people with Asperger's at a higher risk of depression and suicide and such, or am I just clutching at straws in an attempt to justify my own depression now that I have been diagnosed?

Actually yes, they are at a higher risk for depression, but they can also live a "normal" life in an environment that fits to them.

I also have depressions, maybe even bipolar, well maybe even schizoaffective. At least it feels like it at the moment...!
I'll get checked.
And of course that's not and easy situation, but you can get a lot better with therapy and also maybe medication.

Last edited by Raziel on 13 Sep 2012, 6:48 am, edited 1 time in total.

I get depression in waves. If I think too deeply about not being normal, I get really depressed. Even when I think back to school days, I get a wave of depression because I didn't have any friends at school and I felt like I was the ''class weirdo'', and I always think, ''why did it have to be me? If I was born NT like everyone else then there's a 99 percent chance I would have fitted in one way or another.''

And then I get depression when I think of the future too, like not being able to retire, feeling incredibly lonely when my parents die in years to come, wanting a relationship but backing away when somebody does ask me on a date (don't quite know what's going on there), and lots of other things are worrying me too, of what's going to become of me and what all this social anxiety will mean once I start employment, and later on in life.

I don't think there is much to be happy about for anyone these days, unless you're rich and will always be wealthy, or confident and will always have friends and respect, no matter what. And it's really easy to say ''get a career and make money from it then'', because it's not always as easy as that. I don't really know anybody who has succeeded well in business, and you need a bit of social or intellectual confidence to even start up a good career, and you need to know what you really want to do, and I wouldn't even know where to start.

Oh, life is s**t.

I also live with depression. I’m mildly depressed right now and have learnt to cope with it. Keeping the mind busy or relaxing to music before I go to sleep helps me.
I also live with Anxiety; It seem to come as a package when it comes to conditions like Bi-polar and Autism, anxiety and depression.

"I suppose thoughts do weigh something, or they wouldn’t weigh so much on our mind...

I go through very long spells of depression. I usually feel this way because of the way in which society treats Autistic people.

I was diagnosed with severe depression at 19, and just last year (I'm now 33) was diagnosed with Bipolar II...they missed it all that time because they never asked me relevant questions (Self-advocacy is very difficult for me, so if they don't ask, I won't offer.) I am now in the process of getting an Asperger's diagnosis. The woman I am working with now, who is a specialist in autism, says that almost all of her patients are depressed, and that much of her therapy involves addressing the depression.