How can psychologists meet the needs of autistic adults?

Abstract

In a recent editorial, Mandy described an autism mental health crisis because autistic people are more likely to experience mental health concerns, yet they are less likely to get help. When autistic people do seek support, services tend not to be well matched to their needs. Alongside the six ideas Mandy suggested for addressing the mental health crisis, we think it is essential for psychologists to start changing the way they work to improve the person-environment fit for autistic clients. The relationship between a psychologist and their client influences the gains a client makes from engaging in therapy. The way psychologists are trained to build an effective working relationship with clients is based on neurotypical communication styles. The double empathy problem tells us that autistic clients relate to others differently to non-autistic clients, and so we propose that psychologists, especially when not autistic themselves, need to build the therapeutic relationship in a different way. We feel this is important, as the relationship between a psychologist and client is understood to be an important factor in how much the client can benefit from therapy. In this letter, we draw upon Bulluss' call for cultural competency when working with autistic clients, and further insights from autistic psychologists, and propose that psychologists rethink some taken-for-granted aspects of practice to be better able to create a sense of interpersonal safety when working with autistic clients.