Positive Approaches Journal, Volume 11, Issue 2

Volume 11 ► Issue 2 ► August 2022

Data Discoveries

The goal of Data Discoveries is to present useful data using new methods and platforms that can be customized.

Research has identified high rates of co-occurring mental health diagnoses, like depression, anxiety, and obsessive-compulsive disorder (OCD), among individuals on the autism spectrum¹ and individuals with intellectual disabilities (ID). ² However, rates of how frequently mental health diagnoses occur in these populations often vary by study. Some studies show rates of co-occurring mental health as high as 79%³ in autism spectrum disorder (ASD) populations and some as low as 23.1%.⁴ Some studies show rates of co-occurring mental health conditions in ID populations as high as 67.2% (Bishop-Fitzpatrick, et al., 2019) in and some as low as 12.5%.⁴ The most common co-occurring diagnosis among the autistic population documented within this research base is attention-deficit/hyperactivity disorder (ADHD)⁵, which decreased with age⁶  and specific phobias among the ID populations.⁷ The presence of a psychiatric co-occurring diagnoses can have a host of impacts on individuals on the spectrum and individuals with ID and their families. Without intervention and treatment, mental health diagnoses can impact a range of life experiences, including employment and quality of life and can result in negative and unwanted outcomes like hospitalization and police contact.^8,9 Ensuring awareness of and support for services for identifying and treating mental health diagnoses can prevent these outcomes or lessen their impact.⁸

In Pennsylvania, the Autism Services, Education, Resources, & Training Collaborative (ASERT) conducted the 2018 Pennsylvania Autism Needs Assessment (2018 PANA). More than 8,000 autistic individuals and their caregivers completed the 2018 PANA, providing information about demographic, clinical characteristics, and other service experiences. In this sample, we found that 84% of autistic adults and caregivers of autistic individuals of all ages reported at least one mental health diagnosis. The most commonly reported mental health diagnosis in the entire sample was attention-deficit/hyperactivity disorder (51%). In adults over age 18, both self-reported and caregiver-reported, anxiety disorder was the most commonly-reported mental health diagnosis (50%). In children under age 18 in the caregiver-reported 2018 PANA attention-deficit/hyperactivity disorder was the most commonly reported mental health diagnosis (57%). For more information about the 2018 PANA and to view more data, visit: www.paautism.org/needsassessment.

The data dashboard below shows information on the prevalence of mental health conditions among the ID and ASD populations from peer reviewed research studies. The visual displayed on the first tab of the dashboard shows a timeline of publications from all peer-reviewed research focused on identifying mental health diagnosis occurrence among autistic individuals and individuals with ID. Each circle represents a publication, with the size and color indicating how often the article was cited by other research, which is an indicator of the impact or reach of that publication. To read the text, click on a circle to be directed to the abstract for each article and potential access options. The second tab shows the frequency of mental health condition co-occurrences among the respondents to the 2018 PANA. Together, these visuals demonstrate how research outside of Pennsylvania and among autistic Pennsylvanians has pointed toward understanding co-occurring diagnoses and supports how progress toward services for mental health diagnoses need to be accessed and delivered.

Conclusion