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Autism is a neurodevelopmental condition, which is defined by social communication difficulties, increased sensory sensitivity, restricted interests and difficulties adapting to unexpected change (APA, 2013). The current prevalence in the general population in the UK is around 1.1%, although barriers to diagnosis remain, with a suggested large number of people being undiagnosed (Brugha et al., 2016).
In addition to this, Cassidy et al. (2014) suggest that autistic people are at significantly higher risk of experiencing suicidal thoughts and behaviours in comparison to non-autistic individuals. Autistic individuals show a higher prevalence of suicidal ideation (19.7% to 66%), and suicide attempts (1.8% to 36%) (Cassidy, 2020). Self-reported autistic trait are also associated with increased risk of suicidal behaviours and thoughts (Pelton et al., 2020). An explanation for this could be cognitive inflexibility in individuals with autism, which might make it challenging to see options out of crisis (Cassidy, 2020).
https://www.nationalelfservice.net/lear ... sm-suicide