Why is the research needed?
Mental health difficulties are common in autistic people. Over 60% of autistic people have a diagnosed, co-occurring mental health condition and 1 in 4 autistic adults have attempted suicide. Autistic people are also more likely to experience trauma, and these traumatic experiences negatively impact autistic people’s mental health. There is very little research that considers the relationships between trauma, mental health, and risk of suicide in autistic people. In addition, we do not have clinically representative statistics on risk of suicide in autistic people in the UK. This research is important for clinicians and policymakers to understand how autistic people are accessing support when struggling with their mental health, and how we can improve the support that they receive.
What are we doing?
We aim to explore how traumatic experiences are associated with poor mental health and risk of suicide in autistic people, evaluate the equity of the mental health support available for autistic people, and understand autistic people’s diagnosis of mental health conditions.
We will use data collected from surveys of autistic people and their families to understand the relationships between trauma, mental health, and suicide in autistic people. We will also use national medical records from the Clinical Practice Research Datalink (CPRD) to report how often autistic people attempt and die by suicide, and how often they access support for their mental health.
How are we working with communities, services and organisations?
We spoke to autistic people and people who support them about their experiences of trauma, mental health, suicidality, and accessing support in several focus groups. These focus groups helped us to develop our ideas and research design. They are also helpful for helping us to interpret our findings towards the end of the project. We are continuing to do community engagement for each of these projects.
What will the impact and benefits of this research be?
We will be able to show how many autistic people are struggling with their mental health or experiencing suicidality. By providing more information about the support they receive, we aim to improve mental health care for autistic people. We also hope to strengthen the evidence for considering trauma when supporting autistic people with their mental health, as well as inform training programmes for health professionals to raise awareness of autism, trauma, and mental health conditions. This work can guide what support is offered and how it is delivered.
What do we have planned for knowledge mobilisation and implementation?
We will publish our findings in peer-reviewed academic journals and present them at academic conferences. Over the project, we have attended meetings in parliament with policymakers and key stakeholders to discuss these topics and the latest research. We will continue to publish press releases on our research when it is published so that clinical services and policymakers can understand what our findings mean.
Related papers, outputs and resources
Read the related article, titled ‘The Vulnerability Experiences Quotient (VEQ): A Study of Vulnerability, Mental Health and Life Satisfaction in Autistic Adults'
Read the paper, titled 'Traumatic Experiences, Psychological Distress and Suicide-Related Behaviours in Autistic Adults'
- Publication of findings in peer-reviewed journal articles.
- Presentations at conferences, seminars, and meetings.
Who is involved?
- Principal Investigator: Professor Simon Baron-Cohen, University of Cambridge
- Principal Investigator: Dr Elizabeth Weir, University of Cambridge
- Tanatswa Chikaura, University of Cambridge
- Dr Sarah Griffiths, University College London
- Professor Tamsin Ford, University of Cambridge
- Dr Simon White, University of Cambridge
- Dr Carrie Allison, University of Cambridge
- Dr Mirabel Pelton, University of Cambridge
- Dr Tanya Procyshyn, University of Cambridge
Get in contact
Email Tanatswa Chikaura, Dr Elizabeth Weir or Professor Simon Baron-Cohen at tac64@medschl.cam.ac.uk, Dr Elizabeth Weir, emw60@medschl.cam.ac.uk or emw60@cam.ac.uk.
Project PEDHSC55
Project MHSC08
Project MH57
Project MHSC07
Project MH55
Project MH59