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Mental Health and Autism

J

jliddell279

New Member
Hello everyone,



I am a student completing a masters in psychology completing my dissertation on autism and mental health literacy. My background is an autism liaison nurse in an acute hospital and have lots of experience working with autistic people with mental health difficulties.

I would love if you could take some time to complete my anonymous survey for my dissertation. There is more information attached about the study as well. Please find the link below for the survey.

Mental Health and Help Seeking in Autism



Kind regards


-James
 

Attachments

Hi James, I just completed your survey and I'm more than a little disappointed in it. Your questioning shows that you have a serious misconception about autism that needs to be corrected if you want to extend a career in the mental health industry.

Autism is not a mental illness.

A lot of autistic people might also have mental health problems, and if they do their problems will likely be compounded by autism, but those mental health problems are not caused by autism and are not a part of autism. I'm ASD2 and I don't have any mental health problems.
 
HI there,

Apologies if this was confusing in the survey but I was not implying that Autism is a mental illness. I am absolutely aware that these things are separate. What I am looking at is individuals who are autistic and have experienced mental health difficulties in some degree.

The questionnaire contains questions primarily about mental health. I don't believe there are many questions about Autism on it.

Apologies if there has been a misunderstanding but appreciate your feedback.
 
Outdated said:
Hi James, I just completed your survey and I'm more than a little disappointed in it. Your questioning shows that you have a serious misconception about autism that needs to be corrected if you want to extend a career in the mental health industry.

Autism is not a mental illness.

A lot of autistic people might also have mental health problems, and if they do their problems will likely be compounded by autism, but those mental health problems are not caused by autism and are not a part of autism. I'm ASD2 and I don't have any mental health problems.
Click to expand...
I took the quiz also. I can see why you felt the implication is that ASD is a mental illness, but I read it differently. I felt it was more a quiz that asked “You have Autism. Life can be difficult and you might feel like a professional could help. Would you seek help from a mental health professional for your trouble with social anxiety? Would you think less of someone who did?”

It felt like a way of gauging the general feeling of the ASD community as to whether or not we are comfortable seeking assistance, if we feel that help is easily accessible, and generally how much we understand about those who struggle with mental illness.

Although I definitely would say that a few of the questions were dangerously close to referring to the participant as having a mental illness.
 
HI

I have completed the survey. What is dysthmia - this word suddenly appears without a meaning being given.

I found the questions badly phrased at times., which will possible slant the results and your statistical analysis.
 
Alexej said:
HI

I have completed the survey. What is dysthmia - this word suddenly appears without a meaning being given.

I found the questions badly phrased at times., which will possible slant the results and your statistical analysis.
Click to expand...
I agree.

Some of the terminology became confusing also. “I would not / I would /I definitely would not……” I had to re-read a couple of the questions several times before I was sure I was answering correctly. It started to feel more like an I.Q test at times.
 
Alexej said:
HI

I have completed the survey. What is dysthmia - this word suddenly appears without a meaning being given.

I found the questions badly phrased at times., which will possible slant the results and your statistical analysis.
Click to expand...
Hello,

Thanks for taking the time to answer this. Apologies for the confusion - Dysthymia refers to mild depression. I should have changed the terminology to that. You can answer not sure on it though as that section of the questions is assessing mental health literacy. Answering not sure would still be important for the data.

Again, I really appreciate the time you've taken to do the survey.

Kind regards

-James
 
AspieChris said:
I agree.

Some of the terminology became confusing also. “I would not / I would /I definitely would not……” I had to re-read a couple of the questions several times before I was sure I was answering correctly. It started to feel more like an I.Q test at times.
Click to expand...
Thanks so much for taking the time to do this though.

I appreciate the feedback. Perhaps using less options for the multiple choice would have made the choices a bit easier.

Kind regards

-James
 
AspieChris said:
I took the quiz also. I can see why you felt the implication is that ASD is a mental illness, but I read it differently. I felt it was more a quiz that asked “You have Autism. Life can be difficult and you might feel like a professional could help. Would you seek help from a mental health professional for your trouble with social anxiety? Would you think less of someone who did?”

It felt like a way of gauging the general feeling of the ASD community as to whether or not we are comfortable seeking assistance, if we feel that help is easily accessible, and generally how much we understand about those who struggle with mental illness.

Although I definitely would say that a few of the questions were dangerously close to referring to the participant as having a mental illness.
Click to expand...

Thanks so much for taking the time to complete this though. I do appreciate your feedback.

Kind regards

-James
 
Some of the questions were confusing or leading, and I had to stop. My general lack of desire to associate with anyone should not be interpreted in the context of a bias against mental health.
 
OP, the recurring problem in counseling
  • ASD2s,
  • verbal ASD3s &
  • ASD1s with mental illnesses
is that most such counselors offer NT strategies, in NT-speak.

They might be perfectly fine strategies, but such advice usually presumes a social instinct that we (by definition) do not possess, such as correctly reading other people.

This frustrated my vocational rehab director to no end (before I was diagnosed).

It is like giving color-based instructions to someone with achromatic color blindness. You have to factor in one's limitations when teaching them.
 
I got thru a good amount of it but then was interrupted and could not complete.

I didn't hava any problem with the questions but they did at times seem awkward or unnatural to me. I am not sure why. Maybe it's just the nature of the subject of study.
 
I am in agreement that some of these questions suggest a cognitive bias. The OP purposely posted this on an autism forum and then asked members to participate in a questionnaire regarding mental health.

I tried my best to be as accurate as I could, but some of the questions I did not answer because they were rather leading, as written. Reminded me of those types of questions like, "So, when did you stop beating your wife?" When, in fact, you never beat your wife in the first place. The author wrote a handful of these questions regarding mental health in a manner that presumed that the person taking the questionnaire had a mental health condition and had experience with the mental health system, when, in fact, neither were true.
 
Hello everyone,

Please take the time to complete m a survey looking at mental health literacy in autism. It should only take you about 10 minutes and if you feel you cannot answer the questions then please just state not sure.

Here is the link and a bit more information about it below. Survey

Please read the participant information sheet as well.

Kind regards

-Jamie
  • PARTICIPANTS NEEDED

  • Are you autistic and have had difficulties in the past with getting help for your mental health?
  • What is this study about?

    Research has shown that autistic people have a higher probability of experiencing mental health difficulties than the general population. There has also been reports of difficulties accessing help from mental health services.

    This study will look at how autistic people understand mental health and any experiences they have had trying to get help.

    Why participate?

  • This research may be shared so can help mental health services better understand the barriers autistic people face. This could help them deliver better mental health support for people.

    Who can participate?

    The only requirement to participate is if you have a diagnosis of autism. You must be 18 or older to participate in this research.

  • You must be able to complete an online survey. You can ask for help to do this from a family or friend if you need to.

  • Please click this link to participate –

  • If you wish to get in contact about the study, me and my supervisors details are:
    James Liddell – [email protected]
  • Emma Davies - [email protected]
 

Attachments

@jliddell279 Sounds all well and good, but when you get around to coming up with your results, do explain that there are those on the autism spectrum that do not have "mental health issues" that require professional interventions and have not found a need to access the mental health system. Some simply have an ASD and have accepted, are content, and have adapted their lives with who they are. Some are significantly higher functioning, overall, than the general population, in fact. Be careful with your language, being careful to separate these two populations in order to reduce any cognitive biases the reader might have.
 
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Hello,

If you could take the time to complete my survey that would be greatly appreciated.

Mental Health Literacy and Help Seeking Behaviour

  • PARTICIPANTS NEEDED

  • Are you autistic and have had difficulties in the past with getting help for your mental health?

  • What is this study about?

    Research has shown that autistic people have a higher probability of experiencing mental health difficulties than the general population. There has also been reports of difficulties accessing help from mental health services.

    This study will look at how autistic people understand mental health and any experiences they have had trying to get help.

    Why participate?

  • This research may be shared so can help mental health services better understand the barriers autistic people face. This could help them deliver better mental health support for people.

    Who can participate?

    The only requirement to participate is if you have a diagnosis of autism. You must be 18 or older to participate in this research.

  • You must be able to complete an online survey. You can ask for help to do this from a family or friend if you need to.

  • Please click this link to participate –

  • If you wish to get in contact about the study, me and my supervisors details are:
    James Liddell – [email protected]
  • Emma Davies - [email protected]
 
Last edited by a moderator:
How many of you have being through text book so many times....

'Research has shown that autistic people have a higher probability of experiencing mental health difficulties than the general population.'
Like Dah, I live with it so I think I understand this issue.

So radical, how many of you are seeking a few sessions to help you, and in process I'd like to collect info.
Radical is where we really delve into self-isolation, depression and find new way??
To assess our mental state?
 
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