common conditions in families with autistic individuals

Post Reply New Topic

I wanted to know what are the common conditions in families with autistic individuals. I read that ADHD incidence is higher, along with bipolar disorder, but I don't know if it is true. Also I would like to know what else is common in those families? And any speculation or research on the reasons?

in my family i have a LOT of Codependency, alchoholism, borderline Personality Disorder, Anxiety, ADHD, OCD, Schizophrenia. im actually the only one with autism.

My moms side of the family had alcohol problems but never any autism or mental problems on ether side. I am the only person in my whole family that got autism.

In my family we have - OCD, ADHD, and dyslexia (as well as ASD).

We also have mathematicians, engineers, rocket scientists, computer programmers, physicists, and a large number of chefs.

My mother has what, in Freud's day, would have been called Hysteria.

Otherwise, just regular NT neuroses

There's anxiety, depression and ADHD in my family. I'm sure there's more but my family doesn't discuss those "unpleasantries". I know that both my mother and grandmother have done short stints hospitalized under psychiatric care.

There's a slightly higher risk of schizophrenia. Autism itself is, of course, more common in families of autistics.

There are higher rates of autoimmune disorders in general and some of them in particular. I would need to go and reread all the papers to list which ones in particular had statistical significance and which didn't, but in general did, and some in particular did.

So far then schizophrenia, ocd, ADHD, bipolar, anxiety, depression, learning disabilities.,, very interesting. Does anyone know why this is so? I get the relation of ocd and autism for instance, but not schizophrenia.
in my family my father has sensory processing issues, my grandmother has a personality disorder, my mother is prone to anxiety and depression. Those are the ones I believe, at least. None has ever been to a psychologist. There are also 4 highly gifted people or so (my sister, my cousin, my uncle, my father's mother, which by the way may have been an aspie)

my mother has an autoimmune disease. What is the relation to autism?

Last edited by linatet on 31 Mar 2014, 11:51 am, edited 1 time in total.

What I've read in one study is that mood disorders on the mother's side and autism/autistic traits on the father's side are most common.

really?
but do you mean the mother and father sides or male and females of the family? For instance, if it is sides then the mother's brother has depression and the father's mother has asd? Or it would be like the uncles no matter the side have autistic traits and the aunts have anxiety or depression? Do you understand my question? It is a little bit confusing,
my mother is prone to anxiety and depression but maybe this is because of her autoimmune disease's medications and treatments and also the unpredictability of her health. They say when she was in her twenties before the first disease attack she was a very calm person.

Many of the aforementioned disorders (autism, ADHD, bipolar disorder, major depressive disorder, and schizophrenia) share some common genetic links [article].

My mother's side of the family seems to have the schizophreniform/Broad Autism Phenotype disposition; most of the cases are mild enough to be subclinical, though my mother's schizophreniform symptology (persistent delusions with some paranoia) may be veering into clinical territory. There are also quite a few medical doctors and artists on this side of the family (though this may be more cultural than familial). My father's side of the family has cardiac issues, and a few of us have had osteochondromas (benign bone abscesses).

I do understand your question and I'm not sure. I don't have the study anymore. I'll do a quick search and see if I can find it, if not then sorry.

In my family: dad has autistic traits like preoccupation with subjects and going on about them without realizing he's boring people and rigidity, mum has sensory issues, shyness and anxiety, one cousin on my mum's side has depression, aunt on my mum's side has depression and anxiety, another cousin on my mum's side has a learning disability. No cousins on my dad's side because my dad was an only child.

I have a lot of cousins, but two or three of them (and I think my dad too) have learning difficulties but it doesn't interfere with their lives as much as what Asperger's does, only every now and then.

My mum's dad was an alcoholic (he died from cancer over 15 years ago).

My brother has depression and low self-esteem, and poor motivation, but not Asperger's.

A lot of people on my mum's side don't have a lot of confidence and most have quite low self-esteem and are sensitive people.

My mum's mum has Alzheimer's. My dad's dad did too, but he died last year.

Otherwise, I'm the only one in the family who is on the Autism spectrum. I thought one of my cousins had Asperger's, but he turns out to be quite a confident young adult with a good paid job, a girlfriend, a descent group of mates and lots of confidence to try daunting experiences on his own. Yes I know a person with Asperger's can be just as capable of all that as NTs can be, but if he is on the spectrum, he's lucky he has fallen on to his feet. Maybe he got the confidence from his parents and his older sister, I don't know. My issues seem to just be sinking more and more into a downward spiral as the days go on.

I am just asking because if it is about family sides this is veeeeery interesting. Like, people with autistic traits being attracted by people with mood disorder etc. I would like to read researches on that.
at least in my family autistic traits come from father and mood disorders from mother, even though the aspie was my father's mother. That is interesting isn't it?

I think there is something about sensitivity. It is one of the most common female traits described by Tania Marshall, Rudy Simone and Attwood. Besides many aspies are know for being emotionally sensitive, empaths and/or sensitive to criticism.
if we read about Aron's highly sensitive people we see that in nt's there seems to be a connection between sensory processing sensitivity and emotional sensitivity, also needing time alone and meltdowns.
another group that has sensitivity as common trait are the highly gifted children. I read it is common for families with autistics to have intelligent people (don't know if it is true though)
my father is a sensitive person, and in his family side there are other sensitive people too.
I think there is a connection sensitivity-autism, and also introversion, bipolar, anxiety, depression, social anxiety, sensory processing issues with sensitivity, but by far this is pure speculation.