Autism and coexisting psychological disorders

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Is it possible to have Autism and other mental health problems? I was wondering if anybody else suffers from a fear of surgical operations and a fear of death, and constant anxiety about them. Could these phobias stem from my Autism, or are they totally unrelated?

Look it up on Wikipedia

Autism is not a mental health problem. It's a developmental disorder.

Okay, so autism doesn't generally make one feel "insane", feeling "sick" and "crazy" inside the head, and retreating into complete isolation everyday? How about strange perceptual feelings and experiences about one's body and about the world? eg. feeling rather pecular and freaked out to be a human and have a brain inside your head... strange reality/world perceptions.

It is considered a mental disorder in the DSM......which makes sense as it is a difference in how the brain works and mostly effects the mind.

so yeah a developmental disorder can certainly be considered a mental health problem, though I am not quite sure how autism is specifically a developmental disorder but it would still be mental health related.

Well you could look into depersonalization/derealization.......neither of those are disorders but they are symptoms that can exist with more than one disorder. But yeah depersonalization is when you feel kind of detatched from yourself and maybe wierd about yourself..and derealization is when you feel sort of detatched from the world which can make your perceptions of reality a bit strange.

I get that a lot.......though chances are its more related to my depression, anxiety and PTSD then having AS in my case.

I'm guessing that they are unrelated. Did you have any surgical interventions in the past, that could have caused these phobias?

I believe autism/asperger's especially, slightly increases the risk for mental disorders... Anxiety and depression especially

Drawing from my own experiences, autism without other issues alongside is virtually nonexistent. I have been diagnosed with Obsessive-compulsive personality, ADHD, and an eating disorder- NOS alongside my autism. I haven't met a lot of people with autism, but all of the ones I have, clearly had symptoms of other conditions. Whether or not these other conditions are a part of autism, or are simply separate conditions entirely, isn't clear to me, but I would reckon to believe the former.

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Check out "Problem Child," my memoir of life with autism.

I agree I've noticed this too.

I have Asperger's and schizophrenia, with suggested OCD and, as many autistics, I have anxiety problems.

The ICD-10 (the World Health Organisation's version of the DSM) has put autism and Asperger's into the mental/behavioural disorders section (I have a hard copy of the ICD-10 in my room so I am sure).

I think the ICD-10 is going to be more useful in the future than the DSM-5.

The short answer
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Autism may not be specifically related to a fear of death, but anxiety and obsessiveness are a huge part of ASD. So obviously any fears that you have will probably be aggravated by your autistic symptoms.