Publish date: 18 January 2024
A new research paper about the presentation of autistic service users with mental health difficulties has been published.
The study was completed by Emily Josyfon a 16-25 specialist community mental health link worker who is based in the Hounslow West MINT team.
It discuses the prevalence of alexithymia (difficulty identifying and describing emotions) in autistic service users and how alexithymia may interact with sensory processing differences to negatively impact mental health outcomes.
The study also discusses ways that all services can make adaptations to treatment programmes, especially psychological therapies, to make treatment more successful and accessible for autistic people.
Emily said: "The research paper is an adapted version of my dissertation that I completed as part of my clinical neurodevelopmental sciences masters at King's college London.
"I finished the masters in 2022 and continued to work on the manuscript for a further year with my supervisor Dr Bethany Oakley, in my free time whilst working in the Hounslow West MINT team."
Autistic people (and especially those diagnosed late, in adulthood) report substantially poorer co-occurring mental health outcomes compared to the general population (e.g., depression and anxiety), which negatively impacts their quality of life. Co-occurring mental health difficulties are most notably observed in individuals presenting at services seeking diagnosis or treatment.
However, despite the evident need for mental health support, autistic adults describe multiple barriers to accessing mental health interventions, and poorer rates of intervention success, in community and post-diagnostic settings.
One reason posited for these barriers is that autistic and non-autistic communities are often offered the same mental health intervention approaches, despite evidence suggesting subtle mechanistic differences underpinning mental health difficulties experienced between the two groups.
Emily said: "The study aimed to interrogate potential mechanisms that may underlie mental health difficulties in autistic service users.
"Specifically in contrast to most prior research that of course on community samples of autistic people. The current paper focused on how alexithymia and its relationship with sensory processing differences may negatively impact mental health difficulties in autistic service users."
You can read Emily's research paper here: https://www.mdpi.com/2227-9032/11/24/3114
You can find out more about research at West London NHS Trust here: www.westlondon.nhs.uk/research