The Inter-Relationship of Emotion Regulation, Self-Compassion, and Mental Health in Autistic Adults.

Background: Emotion regulation is one of the key factors that influence mental health outcomes in autistic and nonautistic populations. Recent research has also identified self-compassion as a negative correlate of depression and positive correlate of psychological well-being in autistic adults. Empirical evidence from the general population supports the notion that being kind and compassionate toward oneself during stressful and difficult moments can help with one's ability to regulate negative emotions, which then has flow-on effects on mental health outcomes. However, the inter-relationship between self-compassion, emotion regulation, and mental health has not been examined in autistic samples. Therefore, the aim of this study was to determine if emotion regulation mediates the relationship between self-compassion and anxiety or depression in a sample of autistic adults. Methods: Participants were 153 adults (meanage = 35.70, standard deviationage = 12.62) who had either self-reported a clinical diagnosis of autism spectrum disorder or self-identified as autistic. They completed an online survey capturing self-compassion, emotion regulation, anxiety, and depression. We hypothesized that emotion regulation would mediate the relationship between self-compassion and anxiety or depression, and self-compassion would not mediate the relationship between emotion regulation and anxiety or depression. Results: As predicted, only emotion regulation mediated the relationship between self-compassion and mental health outcomes. Self-compassion did not mediate the relationship between emotion regulation and mental health outcomes. Conclusion: This study provides preliminary evidence for the role that self-compassion plays in improving emotion regulation and mental health in autistic adults. If this mechanism of emotion regulation mediating the relationship between self-compassion and mental health is consistently found in future studies, then it would be helpful for future research to examine the clinical benefits of including a self-compassion component in emotion regulation interventions to improve mental health outcomes of autistic adults.

Why is this an important issue?: Many autistic individuals are diagnosed with mental illnesses such as anxiety or depression. Having a mental illness leads to negative consequences such as feelings of loneliness and sleep problems. Research findings show that improving autistic people's ability to regulate emotions can reduce symptoms of mental illnesses. Being compassionate toward ourselves during stressful and difficult moments can help us better regulate our negative emotions such as anger, sadness, and fear. Better emotion regulation then improves mental health. Research in the general population supports this proposal. But no research has studied the relationship between self-compassion, emotion regulation, and mental health in autistic adults. What was the purpose of this study?: This study aims to look at the relationship between self-compassion, emotion regulation, and mental health in a sample of autistic adults. What did the researchers do?: We designed an online survey and asked autistic adults to complete this survey. Several autism and autistic organizations around the world helped us spread the word about this study (we are grateful for their support!). The survey contained questions capturing people's self-compassion levels, emotion regulation difficulties, and symptoms of anxiety and depression. One hundred and fifty-three autistic adults completed the survey. These participants either self-reported a diagnosis of autism or self-identified as autistic. What were the results of the study?: We found that autistic adults with higher levels of self-compassion had better emotion regulation and fewer symptoms of anxiety and depression. What do these findings add to what was already known?: Researchers and clinicians have designed various treatments to improve autistic people's emotion regulation. And we know that some of these treatments also improve mental health. We need to identify the components that should be included in the treatments to make them most effective. If future research continues to find this relationship between self-compassion, emotion regulation, and mental health, then adding a self-compassion component to emotion regulation treatments may be helpful. What are potential weaknesses in the study?: This study has several weaknesses: Online survey design­we could not conduct diagnostic assessments to confirm the participant's autism diagnosis. But we have used a questionnaire called the Autism Spectrum Quotient; all participants who self-identified as autistic met the cutoff for autism.Data collection­we collected data from participants at one point, which meant we could not identify the direction of the relationships between variables.Gender of autistic people­a larger proportion of our participants were women, which does not match the typical autism gender ratio of 1:4 (female:male). How will these findings help autistic adults now or in the future?: We hope this study will start the conversation on the relevance of increasing self-compassion for improving emotion regulation and mental health in autistic adults. Therefore, this study may inform the design of future interventions for improving autistic adults' emotion regulation and mental health.

The identification of exceptional skills in school-age autistic children: Prevalence, misconceptions and the alignment of informant perspectives.

BACKGROUND: Although autism is commonly described in terms of deficits, many autistic individuals have been found to demonstrate exceptional skills. The shift to a strengths-based approach in the field of autism necessitates increased understanding of these skills. AIMS: This study examined (1) rates of exceptional skills in autistic school-age children as reported by parents and teachers, (2) associations between exceptional skills, autism severity and intellectual disability and (3) correlations between parent and teacher reports of exceptional skills. METHOD: Parents and teachers of 76 children attending autism-specific schools in Australia completed online questionnaires. Thereafter, 35 parents and teachers who identified their child as having one or more exceptional skills were interviewed by a clinical psychologist. RESULTS: Forty parents (53%) and 16 (21%) teachers reported that their child had at least one exceptional skill (agreement between the parent and teacher reports was low; κ = .03, p = .74). In comparison, clinical psychologist assessments identified 22 children (29%) as having at least one such skill. No statistically significant relationships were identified between exceptional skills, autism severity and intellectual disability. CONCLUSION: While different exceptional skills were identified, regardless of children's intellectual functioning or autism severity, parents and teachers varied substantially in their evaluations of these skills. Furthermore, the identified prevalence rates of exceptional skills did not always align with the rates identified in previous studies. The study findings highlight the need for definitional consensus on different types of exceptional skills, and the importance of multiple criteria/multi-instrument approaches in the identification of exceptional skills in autistic children.

"Self-compassion changed my life": The self-compassion experiences of autistic and non-autistic adults and its relationship with mental health and psychological wellbeing.

Self-compassion is a gentle way of relating to oneself, linked to a host of mental health benefits in non-autistic people. Although many autistic individuals report high anxiety and depression symptoms, no research to-date has examined the self-compassion experiences of autistic individuals and determined if self-compassion is associated with psychopathology. Therefore, the purpose of the current study was to address this research gap. The participants (153 autistic and 93 non-autistic adults) completed on online survey and 11 autistic participants were also interviewed. Autistic participants reported significantly lower self-compassion than non-autistic adults, and in both groups, those with higher self-compassion reported higher psychological wellbeing and lower depression symptoms. Demographic predictors of self-compassion were identified. These findings have both clinical and research implications.