Individuals with autism and elevated traits are more likely to die by suicide than the general population. Since the barriers to gaining a diagnosis, as well as sufficient support remain, it is important to increase awareness and access to specialist mental health services (Cassidy, Goodwin, Robertson & Rodgers, 2021). Use of validated screening tools may improve the number of referrals and access to support (Cramm-Crosbie, 2019). In focusing on removing barriers to receiving treatment, individually tailored support programmes should be developed and offered to autistic individuals. Facilitating mental health support may enable autistic individuals to reach out in crisis, to reduce autistic individuals’ high risk of suicide (Cassidy et al., 2021) and prevent suicide.
The findings show an exponential increase of autism diagnosis over the past 20 years. As this was the first study to detect increasing reporting of diagnosis across developmental age bands and gender (especially among adults and females), replication of these findings is needed.
The review supports evidence that there is much potential for training parents of autistic children in order to educate and equip them with the knowledge and skills necessary to help support their children. A common feature in response to the training was that knowledge of what to expect and how to respond enabled them to respond with confidence, leading to less stress.
Needle phobias are common in children and adults worldwide. One effective intervention for this phobia is exposure therapy where a participant is gradually exposed to increasing levels of the fear‐evoking stimulus while differential reinforcement is applied. This intervention, however, may be difficult to implement with some medical procedures as it may be difficult to obtain unfettered access to medical facilities and equipment for the purposes of exposure. Virtual reality may overcome these obstacles.. To read the full article, log in using your MPFT NHS OpenAthens details.
Leading learning disabilities research advocate Irene Tuffrey-Wijne uses her role to ‘shout about’ the need to involve service users in healthcare decisions that affect them
Irene Tuffrey-Wijne has made it her life’s mission to campaign on behalf of people with learning disabilities and autism when it comes to end of life care and bereavement. To read the full article, log in using your MPFT NHS OpenAthens details.
This is an important judgement as it further clarifies what is an acceptable care setting. The appearance of the proposed service did not match with the residential area it was located within and was too big - there was a supported living service on the same site. This did not promote integration with the local community.
Journal of Abnormal Psychology (Oct 10, 2019). DOI:10.1037/abn0000471
Past findings on working memory (WM) ability in individuals with autism spectrum disorder (ASD) are mixed. The present objective was to assess not only the integrity of WM capacity, but also the potential contribution of filtering ability and attentional selection to WM performance, in individuals with ASD.. To read the full article, log in using your NHS OpenAthens details.
Psychological Medicine; Cambridge Vol. 49, Iss. 13, (Oct 2019): 2247-2255. DOI:10.1017/S0033291718003136
Background
Autism spectrum disorder (ASD) and obsessive–compulsive disorder (OCD) are neurodevelopmental disorders with considerable overlap in terms of their defining symptoms of compulsivity/repetitive behaviour. Little is known about the extent to which ASD and OCD have common versus distinct neural correlates of compulsivity. Previous research points to potentially common dysfunction in frontostriatal connectivity, but direct comparisons in one study are lacking. Here, we assessed frontostriatal resting-state functional connectivity in youth with ASD or OCD, and healthy controls. In addition, we applied a cross-disorder approach to examine whether repetitive behaviour across ASD and OCD has common neural substrates.. To read the full article, log in using your MPFT NHS OpenAthens details.
A cross-sectional study examined data from the national census to explore links between learning disability and autism on mental health and poor general health. To read the full article, log in using your MPFT NHS OpenAthens details.
Today, we are launching Not Enough, our campaign to demand better support and services for autistic people in England.
Ten years on from the Autism Act and government has not done enough to live up to its promises to autistic people and their families. We are calling on the Government to introduce specialist autism support in every council in England and to give councils the money they urgently need to fix the crisis in social care.
The first aim of this study was to explore the lived experiences of parents caring for their autistic children and their experiences with safety for these children. The second aim was to elicit safety recommendations from the parents of autistic children.. To read the full article, log in using your NHS Athens details. To access full-text: click “Log in/Register” (top right hand side). Click ‘Institutional Login’ then select 'OpenAthens Federation', then ‘NHS England’. Enter your Athens details to view the article.
The Children & Young People’s Autism Service will be launching on Tuesday 1 October – this is the interim autism service for south Staffordshire being provided by Midlands Partnership NHS Foundation Trust (MPFT).
MPFT has been working closely with the current provider, Midlands Psychology, and the CCGs to ensure as smooth a transition as possible for patients, carers and their families and will be contacting each one individually following the changeover.
Free access. A systematic literature review was conducted to evaluate previous research that examined intellectual disability (ID) or autism spectrum disorder (ASD) in relation to memory distortions (i.e. suggestibility and false memories). There were two goals for the current study; the first goal was to identify significant trends in past literature that fulfilled previously established selection criteria. The second goal was to establish reliability and effect sizes for suggestibility and false memory for samples with diagnoses of ID or ASD.
Eloise Stark seeks to understand psychiatrists' knowledge, attitudes and experiences in identifying and supporting their patients on the autism spectrum.
Book Review. A blend of personal and family experiences, and research evidence, this book focuses on girls and women on the autism spectrum, an area that has up to now been neglected. To read the full article, log in using your MPFT NHS OpenAthens details. To read a copy of the book in this review, please contact the library