Scholarly Saturday- #Aspergers and psychiatric disorders

Scholarly Saturday- Aspergers and Psychiatric disorders.

In a recent post I described my struggle with providing clinical case management services for youth diagnosed with an autism spectrum disorder and a mood disorder as well.   My small sample size of 3 autism spectrum clients are also diagnosed with a significant mood disorder. The work of Mukaddes, Herg U Ner, and Tanidir (2010) elaborates on this including a sample size of 30. They noted significant comorbidity with both ADHD and Mood Disorders. Researchers also caution that this to is a small sample size but these needs to be examined carefully.

The discussion demonstrates the need for a good assessment and rule out of various factors. A good resource for assessment and treatment would be  Clinical Assessment and Intervention for Autism Spectrum Disorders (Practical Resources for the Mental Health Professional) .   This offers a detailed assessment and describes treatment implications for psychiatric disorders.   This should help treatment teams problem solve this often challenging presentation.

Mukaddes, N.M.;  Herg U Ner, S.  and Tanidir, C. (2010)  Psychiatric disorders in individuals with high-functioning autism and Asperger’s disorder: Similarities and differences. The World Journal of Biological Psychiatry; 11: 964–971