Depression and its measurement in verbal adolescents and adults with autism spectrum disorder

Abstract

In a sample of 50 verbally fluent adolescents and adults with autism spectrum disorders (ASD) (age: 16-31 years; verbal IQ: 72-140), we examined the pattern of response and associations between scores on common measures of depressive symptoms, participant characteristics, and clinical diagnosis of depressive disorders. Beck Depression Inventory, 2nd edition (BDI-II) item descriptives in this ASD sample were compared to previously published data from a large typically developing sample, with results suggesting that cognitive-attributional symptoms of depression may be particularly prevalent in ASD. Scores on a variety of self- and parent-report depression measures were not associated with chronological age or verbal IQ, and were relatively highly correlated with each other and with clinical diagnosis of a mood disorder. The BDI-II and the Adult Self-Report “Depressive” scale best identified both depressed and non-depressed participants in this sample, though neither was particularly strong. Validation studies of depression measures in the ASD population are necessary to advance research into this prevalent and impairing comorbidity.

Self and informant reports of mental health difficulties among adults with autism findings from a long-term follow-up study

“…Findings from this and other studies highlight the lack of appropriately validated measures to assess mental health problems in adults with autism (Brugha et al, in press;Gotham et al, 2015) and, without these, affected individuals are less likely to receive appropriate diagnostic and intervention services. However, the scarcity of professionals who have expertise in diagnosing and treating mental health problems in individuals with autism remains a major challenge (Underwood et al, 2010).…”

Depressive and Anxiety Symptom Trajectories From School Age Through Young Adulthood in Samples With Autism Spectrum Disorder and Developmental Delay

“…44,45 The availability of better-tailored services could decrease lengthier (thus more costly) service use. We need instrument validation for depression assessment in this population, 33 and it likely will be valuable to widen our scope beyond categorical comorbidity to the pervasive issue of affective distress in ASD. We know little about internalizing phenomenology or prevalence in the early and late phases of development within DD populations.…”

“…These instruments generally have been found to have high sensitivity but low specificity for emotional health disorders in some samples with ASD, 32,33 and, by contrast, to under-report emotional health problems in comparison to self- and teacher-report ASEBA versions in ASD. 34 We modeled ASEBA variables for all participants, regardless of language level, after our preliminary findings indicated that neither verbal IQ nor ADOS module was related to rate of anxious/depressive symptom growth, our primary outcome of interest.…”

Suicidality in Autism Spectrum Disorder: a Commentary

“…Cognitive symptoms of depression (e.g. negative attributions) are more prevalent than affective or somatic symptoms in those with ASD compared to the general population (Gotham et al 2015). Accordingly, there may be subtle but important differences in the relationship between ASD, depression and suicidality, including specific depression profiles that may be associated with an increased risk.…”