Improving mental health outcomes for autistic women

Overview

From the outdated assumption that there is one autistic female for every ten autistic males, we now believe that the actual figure may be more like 1:2. Why is this? Are numbers increasing? Was an entire generation of autistic women and girls overlooked because they presented in ways that did not meet the criteria for classically male presentation?

Autistic women are at high risk for mental health problems. Rates of self-harm are high, and they are 13 times more likely to die from suicide than non-autistic women. Suicide risk appears to be linked to higher levels of ‘masking’ (i.e. making conscious efforts to conceal autistic features to better ‘fit in’). There is currently considerable clinical and research interest in the overlap and misdiagnosis of borderline personality disorder in young autistic women.

This session will explore the differences in the way that autistic women present and examine how to differentiate between the features of autism and anxiety, depression or borderline personality disorder. It will offer suggestions of strategies that can be deployed to improve the significantly worse mental health outcomes for autistic people with these disorders, while affirming the strengths of autistic people and acknowledging the challenges of being neurodivergent in a neurotypical world.

Objectives

After attending this session, delegates will be able to:

• indicate the epidemiology of autism currently presenting in women
• explain why autism has been persistently under-diagnosed in women
• recognise the common signs of autism in women and how to see behind any ‘masking’
• differentiate between the characteristics of autism and anxiety, depression and borderline personality disorder in autistic women
• adapt medication and treatment plans to deliver better outcomes for this population (also applicable to autistic men).

Speakers

Chair: Dr Conor Davidson, Leeds and York Partnership NHS Foundation Trust, Leeds