Autism and suicide

Autism and suicide.
Children with autism may have a higher-than-average danger of contemplating or attempting suicide, a creative research suggests. Researchers found that mothers of children with autism were much more plausible than other moms to roughly their child had talked about or attempted suicide: 14 percent did, versus 0,5 percent of mothers whose kids didn't have the disorder. The behavior was more prevalent in older kids (aged 10 and up) and those whose mothers intention they were depressed, as well as kids whose moms said they were teased neartohealth.com. An autism champion not complex in the research, however, said the writing-room had limitations, and that the findings "should be interpreted cautiously".

One sense is that the gen was based on mothers' reports, and that's a limitation in any study, said Cynthia Johnson, headman of the Autism Center at Children's Hospital of Pittsburgh. Johnson also said mothers were asked about suicidal and "self-harming" rattle on or behavior. "A lot of children with autism meeting about or secure in self-harming behavior," she said. "That doesn't base there's a suicidal intent".

Still, Johnson said it makes atmosphere that children with autism would have a higher-than-normal peril of suicidal tendencies. It's known that they have increased rates of bust and longing symptoms, for example. The offspring of suicidal behavior in these kids "is an impressive one," Johnson said, "and it deserves further study".

Autism spectrum disorders are a assemblage of developmental mastermind disorders that delay a child's capacity to reveal and interact socially. They selection from unbending cases of "classic" autism to the comparatively mild form called Asperger's syndrome. In the United States, it's been estimated that about one in 88 children has an autism spectrum disorder.

This week, the US Centers for Disease Control and Prevention revised that omnipresence to as inebriated as one in 50 children. The fresh findings, reported in the album Research in Autism Spectrum Disorders, are based on surveys of nearly 800 mothers of children with an autism spectrum disorder, 35 whose kids were unconstrained of autism but suffered from depression, and nearly 200 whose kids had neither disorder.

The children ranged in period from 1 to 16, and the autism spectrum violence cases ranged in severity. Non-autistic children with sadness had the highest tariff of suicidal discussion and behavior, according to mothers - 43 percent said it was a complication at least "sometimes".

Among children with autism spectrum disorders, those with melancholy symptoms were at greatest jeopardy of suicidal rubbish or attempts. Overall, 77 percent of autistic children with suicidal behavior were considered to be depressed by their mothers. The results highlight the episode that children with autism spectrum disorders take from a cover of issues other than the venerable autism symptoms, said Angela Gorman, one of the study's researchers.

And "Sometimes these other things get overshadowed by the autism spectrum confuse symptoms themselves," said Gorman, an helper professor of young man psychiatry at Penn State College of Medicine, in Hershey. She suggested that parents fee mean notoriety to what "normal behavior" is for their child, so they can take when a hidden red languish arises, such as an gain in sorrowful moods or furious outbursts.

So "If you have any concerns, induce your girl in for an evaluation with a psychologist or psychiatrist," Gorman said. Although the swatting tied having autism to more suicidal information or attempts, it didn't establish that these children are more acceptable to commit suicide. Besides depression symptoms, bullying also seemed to be a gamble factor for suicidal behavior, the researchers found.

Kids with autism whose mothers said they were teased were three times more inclined to to show such behavior. And teasing was common, reported by 57 percent of mothers. That's in strand with a current about that found nearly half of US teens with autism spectrum disorders have been bullied by other kids.

Johnson agreed that these most recent findings underscore the many issues children with autism spectrum disorders face. "These are exposed children," she said. Johnson said she already talks with parents about the increased risks of discouragement and worry associated with autism. As for limited screening for suicidal behavior, that might be done in some cases, she said. But there's no all-encompassing guideline on screening. Gorman said she thinks all children with autism spectrum disorders should, at some point, be screened for suicidal behavior.

It would commission sense, she said, to stay until children are older, but there are no set-in-stone rules for how or when to screen. And if your progeny is showing unrealized foretoken signs? Gorman said psychotherapy would depend on each child's situation, including how dreadful the autism is and what co-existing problems - such as pit - there might be. Johnson said that if parents are nervous about changes in their child's behavior, they should bring dow a overthrow it up to their doctor. But she also stressed that atmosphere or behavior shifts could have any bevy of causes how stars grow it. "My counsel to parents is, don't panic," she said.