Autism and depression

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Hi I was wondering if Autism and depression go hand in hand because I sometimes go into modes of depression as well as fluctuations in self esteem from super confident and up beat to no confidence and being negative, is this normal?

I feel there's a link because people with autism have expectations which they don't feel they could meet because they have autism.

They feel stymied when others are meeting the expectations, while they, apparently, aren't.

It's frustrating and depressing.

Those suffering from Asperger Sydrome have a higher chance of getting mental health issues, including depression and anxiety.

I suffer from depression, anxiety, and some other stuff (undiagnosed).
I do also have AS.

But in my case my mother's side has a history of mental health disorders.

From what I understand, people with autism or autism-like disorder are just sensitive enough to be depressed or anxious. What I mean by that is that if autism is purely a neurological disorder, then that means our amount of sensitivity in more than just five senses can either lead us to be heavily emotional to a point or none so. So, autism and depression doesn't always go hand in hand, but any bit of overwhelming negativity can lead to it.

I've suffered from depression and anxiety since I was pretty young. I believe they are all commonly comorbid with ASD.

I have suffered from depression most of my life.

I don't know if this article will be of any help. But, I read it today, and it seems to have something to do with the subject of this thread......

http://www.autismdailynewscast.com/what ... paddy-joe/

I certainly have both aspergers and depression, but I do not ever fluctuate to any super confident up-beat mood really. I think it is common for people with aspergers to have depression and/or anxiety along with it.

Yep, random depression and such for me as well. Heck, I was getting it last night, for no particular reason that I could identify at the time. Best reason I had was "because".

I get the "because" a fair bit too but I'm left to wonder if there are the rare times when there is a reason but my inability to interpret and express my emotions lead me to not understand the reason. I know most of the time it comes and goes without much reason.

Yeah, I get the fluctuations too. I get upbeat and kind of excited, then I seem to exhaust myself and sink into a horrible, suicidal state.

Asperger's and bipolar, so yeah, my moods can be like a rollercoaster.

This pretty recent study - Suicidal Thoughts 10 Times More Likely in Adults With Asperger’s - examines the connection between autism and depression, which correlates to suicidality.

Not much of a surprise to me.

I've been struggling with depression my whole life. I think it is fueled (for me) by a sense of futility, that people will never live up to my expectations of them, nor will I live up to my own expectations. People who work closely with me say that I always seem to be like 20 moves ahead, and it can be depressing to see that most of the likely outcomes that far out are less than optimal. But my social frustrations make it hard to influence things towards a more forward-looking direction.

I remember reading it somewhere saying most autistic people develop anxiety, and many have depression. So they definitely go together. I think which one you get depends on your original personality. Depression comes from anger, anxiety comes from fear.

Me too - and I'm sure many here would also agree.

I hate it when I get like that it totally sucks!