Understanding Vulnerability in Girls and Young Women with High-Functioning Autism Spectrum Disorder

Susan Jane Bradley

doi:10.3390/women2010007

Abstract

There is a population of young women with autism spectrum disorder (ASD) who function relatively well so that their disorder is not easily recognized. If their difficulties with emotion regulation in childhood continue into adolescence they are vulnerable to the development of a number of mental disorders, treatment of which can be difficult if the presence of ASD is not understood. In this commentary, I use the example of gender dysphoria to illustrate the issues.

Highlights

Professor Emerita Department of Psychiatry, University of Toronto, Toronto, ON M5S 1A1, Canada; Abstract: There is a population of young women with autism spectrum disorder (ASD) who function relatively well so that their disorder is not recognized
As a Child Psychiatrist who founded the first academic clinic for children and adolescents with Gender Identity Disorder (GID) in Canada at the Clarke Institute of Psychiatry in 1975, I have become very concerned about the seeming lack of psychological understanding by care providers of young teens presenting with this disorder
Our clinic was led by Dr Ken Zucker after I moved to the Hospital for Sick Children, where I was Psychiatrist-in-Chief and Head of Child and Adolescent Psychiatry for the University of Toronto for ten years

Summary

Introduction

As a Child Psychiatrist who founded the first academic clinic for children and adolescents with Gender Identity Disorder (GID) in Canada at the Clarke Institute of Psychiatry in 1975, I have become very concerned about the seeming lack of psychological understanding by care providers of young teens presenting with this disorder. On in our clinic’s experience seeing children and teens with GID, we were less aware than we are today of high-functioning autism spectrum disorder (ASD).

Results

Conclusion