King's College London, Social, Genetic and Developmental Psychiatry Centre, Institute of Psychiatry, Psychology and Neuroscience - PO80, De Crespigny Park, Denmark Hill, London, SE5 8AF, United Kingdom.
King's College London, Social, Genetic and Developmental Psychiatry Centre, Institute of Psychiatry, Psychology and Neuroscience - PO80, De Crespigny Park, Denmark Hill, London, SE5 8AF, United Kingdom.
Res Dev Disabil. 2021 Mar;110:103836. doi: 10.1016/j.ridd.2020.103836. Epub 2021 Jan 13.
Mental health problems are common amongst adults with an Autism Spectrum Disorder (ASD). Stressful and traumatic life events can trigger or exacerbate symptoms of anxiety, depression and PTSD. In the general population, transdiagnostic processes such as suppression and perseverative thinking are associated with responses to trauma and mental health symptoms.
This study explored the relationships between thought suppression, perseverative thinking and symptoms of depression, anxiety and PTSD in ASD adults who reported exposure to a range of DSM-5 and non-DSM-5 traumatic events.
59 ASD adults completed a series of online self-report questionnaires measuring trauma, transdiagnostic cognitive processes, and mental health symptoms.
Probable PTSD rarely occurred in isolation and was associated with depression and anxiety symptoms in trauma-exposed ASD adults. All cognitive processes and mental health symptoms were positively associated with one another, regardless of whether the trauma met DSM-5 PTSD Criterion A. When accounting for both cognitive processes, only thought suppression significantly predicted PTSD and anxiety symptoms, while only perseverative thinking significantly predicted depression symptoms.
These preliminary results suggest that different cognitive processes more strongly affect anxiety/PTSD versus depression symptom severity in trauma-exposed ASD adults, although co-occurring symptoms are common. Implications for assessment, treatment and future research are discussed.
精神健康问题在自闭症谱系障碍（ASD）成人中很常见。压力和创伤性生活事件会引发或加剧焦虑、抑郁和创伤后应激障碍的症状。在一般人群中，跨诊断过程，如抑制和固执思维，与对创伤和精神健康症状的反应有关。
本研究探讨了在报告接触一系列 DSM-5 和非 DSM-5 创伤事件的 ASD 成人中，思维抑制、固执思维与抑郁、焦虑和创伤后应激障碍症状之间的关系。
59 名 ASD 成人完成了一系列在线自我报告问卷，测量创伤、跨诊断认知过程和精神健康症状。
可能的创伤后应激障碍很少单独发生，与创伤暴露的 ASD 成人的抑郁和焦虑症状有关。所有认知过程和精神健康症状彼此之间都呈正相关，无论创伤是否符合 DSM-5 创伤后应激障碍 A 标准。在考虑到两种认知过程时，只有思维抑制显著预测了 PTSD 和焦虑症状，而只有固执思维显著预测了抑郁症状。
这些初步结果表明，在创伤暴露的 ASD 成人中，不同的认知过程对焦虑/创伤后应激障碍症状与抑郁症状的严重程度的影响程度不同，尽管共病症状很常见。讨论了对评估、治疗和未来研究的影响。
