Mental Health Aspects of Autism and Asperger Syndrome

Abstract

I did not expect to find much in this US text written by a child psychiatrist to be of practical use to UK practitioners. But I discovered a most readable book that does more than the title suggests. It highlights the fact that people with pervasive developmental disorders (PDDs), with or without intellectual disability, are predisposed to high levels of mental distress: in fact, comorbidity is more likely to be the rule than the exception. This fact has been disputed in the past, due to the erroneous belief that they lack the cognitive and emotional maturity to experience states such as depression and anxiety. The author reminds us that many such problems are treatable, hence the need to be alert to their potential presence and to recognise indicators of common mental health problems, in particular new maladaptive behaviours or worsening of ‘old’ symptoms.