It has long been suggested that the autistic mind and PTSD might be linked. However, a recent study has shown that it goes beyond mere correlation.
Researchers from the University of Queensland and Australian National University recently found that autistic individuals are indeed more prone to developing PTSD, and their trigger event would often be considered less traumatic if it happened to a neurotypical person.
What Does This Research Mean?
Autistic people have historically been told that their big reactions to minor events are unwarranted.
However, now that it’s known that there are actual, visible differences between their brains and the neurotypical brains, it’s definitely time to reevaluate.
“Some events that would be trivial for the neurotypical population might be disastrous for the neurodivergent population, ” Australian National University’s Dr. Al Abed told Insight Plus.
Furthermore, Abed spoke about how PTSD may be presented in autistic people. He hypothesized that meltdowns, for example, can be a core trait presentation; PTSD can cause. This difference means it’s time to rethink everything we thought we knew about meltdown triggers.
Presently, it’s believed that an autistic meltdown can be caused by:
- Unmet needs
- Sensory overload
- Communication difficulties
- Emotional triggers
- Routine changes
- High demands
- Exhaustion
Emotional triggers were commonly thought to include frustration, anxiety, or feeling misunderstood. These are all immediate feelings, though. Abed now believes PTSD may be an underlying cause in meltdowns that otherwise seem to come out of nowhere.
What Causes PTSD in the Autistic Brain?
Post-traumatic stress disorder, more commonly referred to as PTSD, comes from witnessing or experiencing a traumatic event.
For a neurotypical person, this can mean being in an active combat situation, having your house burn down, suffering a violent assault, etc. Neurodiverse individuals, however, may develop PTSD from repeated microaggressions or bullying.
The good news is that Abed and his team discovered that recontextualization is the best way to deal with PTSD, regardless of whether they have a neurotypical or neurodiverse patient.
Essentially, recontextualization involves remembering as many details of the event as possible and changing your relationship to the memory. By making the memory “good” again, it’s possible to treat PTSD successfully.
How Will This Impact the Medical World?
Currently, the fifth edition of the Diagnostic and Statistical Manual of Mental Disorders does not include some of the most common PTSD triggers for autism.
Instead, it relates PTSD to traumatic events that go well beyond what an autistic patient may have suffered.
Now that there’s new research into the autistic brain, it’s vital to update medical thinking. Rather than telling an autistic person that they’re “overreacting” to events, it will be crucial to take a step back and reevaluate the situation from the autistic perspective.
To learn more, you can turn to websites like wpspublish.com. WPS has the latest Autism Diagnostic Interview, which provides important answers to your child’s health. You can also find unique tools like the (SCQ) Social Communication Questionnaire and (MIGDAS™-2) Monteiro Interview Guidelines for Diagnosing the Autism Spectrum, Second Edition.
