Aspergers and Depression!?

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Do many people with Aspergers suffer from depression too? I feel so depressed, but I don't know why. When I'm doing something I'm fine, but when I'm a alone, by myself I'm feel myself sinking deeper and deeper, please explain!?

I'll be honest to state that I have had to deal with depression for over 20yrs now via medication and therapy but, don't let this make you think I'm in bad shape no, in fact I personally feel that there has/is people with Aspergers along with dealing depression it is something that not a great many people are going to acknowledge. Anyways, this is my stance on this topic..

ProfessorX

I'm in the same boat today. I'll try to lift myself out of it by keeping busy. Right now I have a lot of cleaning up around the house to do. After that I'll probably go eat out somewhere as that usually lifts my spirits.

Well, who wouldn't be depressed when having to put up with so much extra s**t in life? Being more of an easy target for bullies, being socially awkward and being unable to make friends properly, being easily overwhelmed or agitated, having sensory issues that often cause problems, being misunderstood....all of those things. I am speaking from an Aspie's point of view, not so much from a person with lower functioning Autism.

Also living a life where you're in the minority and NTs always have the upper hand in most situations and you being blamed for being the bad one in the situation just because you're an Aspie. That is so unfair to me. Also always having to put up with double standards; ''it's all right if somebody else does it but if you do the exact same thing, it's not OK''. Ugh! It is really unfair!

I've been diagnosed with Dysthymic Disorder several years ago but I think I'm just a melancholic and introvert person. Not everyone is meant to bounce around like a squib and yell yippee all the time.

Furthermore, feeling depressed is not the same as suffering from depression. The fact that you're feeling great as long as you're busy contradicts the idea of a depression because in that case you would feel depressed all the time.

I have an ASD and also have been treated for depression on and off for the last 12 years (off usually because I just gave up on the idea of things ever getting better so I quit treatment, rather than because I actually felt better).

My current psychiatrist denied for a long time that I had depression - believing I everything was due to anxiety due to the ASD - but I was diagnosed with severe depression when in psychiatric hospital last October/November. I am still struggling with it ... this past week has been really bad and the possibility of another stay in psychiatric hospital has been raised.

I am often asked if I feel depressed or feel low ... and I honestly can't answer that question because I don't know what feeling depressed feels like compared to anything else.

(Edited to delete unnecessary detail)

Last edited by YellowBanana on 17 Jan 2013, 4:55 pm, edited 1 time in total.

Hmm, good point. I feel depressed sometimes, but I don't consider myself to have depression. I usually feel more depressed when I know something is going to happen that I'm not going to like. Right now I'm feeling more depressed than usual because the UK is right in the middle of a big freeze and it doesn't look like we're going to have any temperatures above 1 for a long time yet, and they keep forecasting snow, which makes me anxious, and which is now causing me to feel depressed, especially knowing I've got a few days off work coming up and all it's going to be is snow, snow, snow, so I can't do anything.

Anyway, enough of me ranting. Yes, I feel depressed on and off, and I can have bouts of depression, but I don't think I have got depression as such.

Depression is a common co-morbid with ASD. My original diagnosis (before ASD) was depression and anxiety and now it is Asperger's and dysthymia, which is a chronic type of depression (meaning long-term but not generally as serious).

I suffered from depression and anxiety for years. I had no idea I was ASD. I never got medicated, and managed to beat back most of the depression and some of the anxiety using cognitive behavioral therapy methods (CBT) that I got from the book "Feeling Good", and from therapy. The idea is you identify negative thoughts (like "No one likes me" or "I'm a failure"), and replace them with more truthful and positive thoughts, ("Some people like me", and "I can be successful").

Anyway, even though the depression nearly disappeared, the anxiety is still a problem. It's less disabling (I can go to the grocery store without suppressing constant panic), but it's still there and still prevents me from doing things I want. I no longer carry around a lot of negative tapes to boost my fears, and the fears are still there.

Now I'm starting to learn that I'm not the same as everyone else when it comes to sensory tolerance and social processing, and I'm sure that's at the root of what's left of the anxiety. When I'm in a high-anxiety state for several days, I actually wish for the depression side of the cycle to happen, because I get so tired of anxiety. Thankfully, these days the depression part only lasts a few hours or maybe a couple of days, and is pretty mild.

Depression seems to dog us. Whether it's a neuro wiring problem, or just because we're outside the herd is something for scientists to determine. But I've always noticed that there are a lot of seriously depressed people posting on this website.

CBT sounds like a useful approach. Temple Grandin also recommends it and a few years ago I thought I'd give it a try.
However, it didn't work because the kind of negative thoughts you describe are emotional thoughts and they relate to other people and interactions. Those thoughts are more or less assumptions, not thoughts that would deal with factual reality.

If a person doesn't think along those lines, CBT is useless. I've never felt depressed due to thoughts about being liked etc. but about facts like cruelty to animals, loss of a beloved animal through dead, overpopulation, environmental destruction, condition of rainforests etc.

I think if a person is really realistic he can't avoid feeling depressed about the state of affairs. Anything else would mean to suppress reality in favor of delusion.

To really determine if you have depression there are questionnaires or quizzes a person can take. The Beck Depression Inventory is one such questionnaire and also a counselor or psychiatrist should have a list of questions to determine if a person may be depressed. Depression is different than feeling the normals ups and downs of life. A person who is depressed does benefit from some type of treatment or even reading a helpful book such as Feeling Good (I have read some of this book and I want to read the whole book from beginning to end and try all the exercises, etc since I like structured activities and want to look at things logicially).

When I get out and do things outside I do feel better than when I stay home alone. Also having a goal in mind helps me to focus on moving towards something and helps get rid of the negative feelings. It is not always easy though and I really feel a person who feels depressed must take things one day at a time and take small steps towards becoming well and less depressed.

I've been dealing with major depression for over 14 years. I've tried positive thinking, but it doesn't make the depression better. If I think about all the ways it could be worse, it helps a little.

I think to some parts it's the environment and the stress being different that makes me depressive, but I think that also autistic people are more prone being depressive out of neurpsychological reasons.
Depressions have different reasons. A lot of autistic ppl (not all!) have too much serotonine in their brain so at least in those cases depression has different reasons. That could also be the reason why depression in autism usually is very hard to treat.

Also autistic ppl who are depressed have very often atypical depression, me too.
I tend to have agitated depression, but not always.

But I may be bipolar, but my depression still mainly work the "autistic way".
Nonautistic ppl with bipolar disorder are totally different. Their thinking pattern is different, it is more "bipolar", mine is still "autistic" no matter what.

I think many people with Asperger's have the tendency to suffer with depression. It doesn't matter whether or not they are legitimately diagnosed with depression. Along with depression, I am diagnosed with social anxiety. Aspies also deal with social anxiety whether or not they are legitimately diagnosed with it.

I'm not depressed, but I heard that depression can be co-morbid with AS.