Stress related to social stigma negatively impacts mental health of autistic people

Stress related to social stigma may be the reason why autistic people experience the mental health problems that the general population, dispelling past theories that the condition itself is the origin of such distress.

In the first study of its kind, published in the Journal of Society and Mental HealthUniversity of London, University of London, University of London, University of London, Faculty of Medicine, University of London.

Researchers testing the 'minority stress theory' conducted with 111 participants, who thought themselves to be autistic, to badess stressors that were thought to lead to a decline in their mental health. Minority stress describes chronically high levels of stress faced by members of stigmatized minority groups, which the researchers believed would also apply to autistic people.

The survey covered six key areas of minority stress, including 'victimization and discrimination' and 'outness', which badessed the degree to which they were peers, colleagues and health care providers. Other areas investigated included 'everyday discrimination', 'expectation of rejection,' 'physical concealment,' and 'internalized stigma'. Researchers tested the degree to which exposure to these minority stressors had a negative impact on participants' mental health in the form of psychological distress and a decline in well-being.

For the first time, researchers have found that these social problems are predictive of higher levels of psychological distress and lower levels of emotional, psychological, and social well-being. Importantly, the research shows that these unique forms of mental stress can explain the mental health problems of stigma. Minority stress can be addressed through better education and understanding of the autistic community.

Previous research in this area is more important than non-autistic people to die by suicide, emphasizing the urgent need for additional mental health support for this group. Insights gathered from this research could help to transform the concept of mental health in society.

Lead author Monique Botha, a Post Graduate Researcher at the University of Surrey, said: "These are the findings of this study. what directly is connected to social stress, which goes beyond the effects of everyday stress.

Such insights may be used in the context of the treatment of mental illness, and thus suicide in autistic population. "