Autism and depression

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I'm not sure if it's a chemical inbalance that exists as a result of autism or if the experiences associated with being autistic cause one to be depressed. Either way, it's pretty damn common.

Yep. Serious depression since my early teens. Throw in an anxiety and panic disorder with a touch of OCD and you have the makings of a really screwed-up life. But, what do you do? It's the only life you've got...just keep plodding on.

I have both. It's maddening.

I think a lot of the depression is not the result of the Autism itself, but how you re treated because of it.

My guess is that there is a link, because frequently we are misunderstood. Others don't treat us the same and we get negative feedback.

That's also the way I see it. I children are treated like gold, they're going to grow up to feel happy and free. If children are treated like excrement, that's how they're going to feel as adults.

Very serious depression and anxiety.

Depression is different for everyone. It can be triggered & aggravated internally or externally. For some, its mild, others its severe. Regardless of your experience, it doesn't make it any less painful & debilitating.

My Experience:
When I was 13 years old my dad got a new job & my parents, older brother & I moved to Colorado. We arrived 2 weeks before I started 7th grade. I hated the move; I dreaded the new life I was about to begin. In the end I loved it. That December I turned 14 years old. The following January I caught a nasty virus. A week later I had mostly recovered & we went to Estes Park over MLK weekend. I hated it & threatened to kill my mom. My parents thought it was because I was a teenager, my autism, & anxiety. Over the next week I was sleeping all day, I barely ate & drank, I had lost interest in everything. At the end of the week I told my parents I didn't care whether I lived or died. My parents told me that they expected I would of committed suicide with 1-2 days. They immediately pulled me out of school, put me in counseling & on a antidepressant. The psychologists said that depression & PTSD is often comorbid with the autism spectrum. I ended up going the depression route. I saw the light at the end of the tunnel & started pulling myself out the hole I was in. I spent the following year in after school social groups and was back in school that fall.

The depression lasted for about three years. It shifted my baseline; I was more sensitive, emotional, & couldn't handle things as well. Suicidal thoughts would pop in my head periodically. It aggravated the anxiety issues I already have, including social anxiety. According to a diary entry, some of the thoughts & feelings included: little confidence in myself, a lot of anger, scared, good friends, little thought to my own health, smart, lonely, hope, worthless to some, self ashamed, guilt, never satisfied, kind, hurt myself, & useless.

What I didn't know back then was for the two years before MLK weekend I was apathetic. I didn't care about my health anymore. I was moving through the motions, barely engaging.

The depression still lingers in the shadows & I'm still on the antidepressant 11 years later. However, today I am doing much better. One of the key pieces to my recovery has been the two dogs I grew up & my beasties--dog & kitten. I am living independently & am graduating with my bachelors.

That's my thought. I was a VERY happy go lucky child at an early age, even though I was bullied and was the black sheep of my (extended) family as far back as I can remember. It only started to develop in Junior High when I realized no matter how nice, kind, friendly I was nobody wanted to spend time with me and most people enjoyed being cruel to me.

I recently told my therapist being rejected constantly would be okay if I was a jerk, racist, misogynistic, etc but being friendly, warm, reasonably well liked and generous and still nobody wants to spend time with you makes you really wonder what is wrong with you. That's not even mentioning having a typical Aspie memory means I remember EVERYTHING and developed a form of undiagnosed PTSD. There is also a STRONG family history of both depression and (especially) anxiety so that doesn't help either!

I agree with this too. It's not autism that causes depression, but trying to cope with it in an unaccepting environment.

Not exactly, being born with ASD does not ensure depression but it most likely occur because of the schism between us and everyone else and all the things that occur because of it.

I was born with ASD. I acquired depression when I got stomped as a child because of my ASD.