
Predictors of mental health in employed adults with autism spectrum disorder - laurex
https://onlinelibrary.wiley.com/doi/full/10.1002/aur.2064
======
adolph
_" positive well‐being can be understood to encompass the hedonic experience
of subjective happiness and life satisfaction, and the eudaimonic perspective
of psychological functioning and self‐realization"_

I had never heard the term "eudaimonic" before and it is an interesting idea.

[http://positivepsychology.org.uk/the-concept-of-
eudaimonic-w...](http://positivepsychology.org.uk/the-concept-of-eudaimonic-
well-being/)

------
gervase
From an outsider's perspective, it seems like an obvious hypothesis that
increased happiness is negatively correlated with depression.

My question is, is this work assessing whether an existing, confirmed
hypothesis (e.g. happiness counters depression) holds true for a different
population, or is it assessing whether this hypothesis holds true at all [0]?

The paper appears to focus entirely on ASD subjects, so this delineation was
not clear to me, at least on an initial skim of the paper.

Also, I feel like a more detailed treatment of hedonic and eudaimonic
happiness from the perspective of ASD would have been beneficial in providing
a better context to the reader. Maybe this is well-known in the domain?

[0] and happens to focus on this population for access, funding, or other
ancillary reasons

~~~
roywiggins
From the paper, apparently this is entirely consistent with the general
population:

"These results are consistent with research in the general population
[Teismann, Brailovskaia, et al., 2018; Teismann, Forkmann, et al., 2018;
Wilhelm et al., 2010] that shows well‐being functions as a buffer or
protective factor against depression."

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jgrowl
"We studied mental health and well‐being in newly employed adults with autism
who were participating in a supported employment program."

Is the study trying to show that people with autism get brought up to the
general population's base-line when there is a supported employment program?

~~~
lugg
Yes.

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roywiggins
"Our findings suggest that positive well‐being may protect against symptoms of
depression in people with autism."

Wait, so the theory is that if you're generally happy, you're less likely to
be depressed? I know that depression and sadness are very different things,
and happy people get depressed, but... it sure seems like you'd expect a
correlation.

Not only does this seem a little bit obvious, it also doesn't seem immediately
useful. And further down it notes that this is entirely consistent with
research in the general population, so this result is... also totally
unsurprising. Is there a reason _at all_ to believe that this would be true
for people generally but not for people with ASD?

~~~
cbhl
As far as I can tell, "well-being" specifically refers to the 14-item version
of the "Warwick-Edinburgh Mental Wellbeing Scale", which contains items like
"feeling useful" and "dealing with problems well" (things that you'd expect
one would rate higher if you have a job).

[https://warwick.ac.uk/fac/sci/med/research/platform/wemwbs/](https://warwick.ac.uk/fac/sci/med/research/platform/wemwbs/)

You literally self-rate the fourteen items on a scale from 1 to 5:
[https://warwick.ac.uk/fac/sci/med/research/platform/wemwbs/w...](https://warwick.ac.uk/fac/sci/med/research/platform/wemwbs/wemwbs_14_item.pdf)

~~~
JimboOmega
What does it mean to score very poorly on this?

My therapist uses a different questionnaire that has more negative questions
like "Little interest or pleasure in doing things" or "Poor appetite or
overeating". I tend to do alright on that one.

However, I score over 2 on only a few of the items on the list you posted, and
a lot of them are solidly 1. There's a feeling of tension, anger, and
frustration I just can't shake.

There's a big difference (to me anyway) in the wording between "Feeling bad
about yourself – or that you are a failure or have let yourself or family
down" and "I’ve been feeling good about myself"

I wouldn't say that I feel like a failure (and I have nobody who cares enough
to let down), but I sure haven't been feeling good either.

I don't know quite how to express this doctors and mental health professionals
in a way they understand, though, and this scale really kind of illustrates it
for me, so I'm wondering what that means?

~~~
master-litty
I don't have specific advice regarding the score, but I do suggest any advice
provided here be taken with a grain of salt. Not because of the community (I
like to think we're all well-intending here, it isn't about that) but because
we're simply strangers, and we don't know enough about you to provide an
accurate answer.

Find a good mental health professional who will take the time and care to
understand you, and show them the same thoughts you've shared here.

You shouldn't have to change your vernacular with a mindful professional.
There's plenty of leads they can follow here -- And if you want effective
answers about your feelings, that's who should be doing it! A true
professional dedicated to figuring these things out with you.

------
ziont
i think theres lot of mis self diagnoses going on right now.

99% of people who are self diagnosed ASD, are 80% more likely to self
diagnose.

This means that for the vast majority of engineers going around wearing their
Aspergers badge are _not_ on the autism spectrum disorder.

~~~
PhasmaFelis
You know, I'm not sure why people get so snooty about self-diagnosed ASD.
(Speaking as some who was formally diagnosed as a child.) Our definition of
autism is based on symptoms. This isn't like someone with a rash deciding it's
caused by imbalanced humors. It's more like someone noting that their skin is
red, itchy, and has little bumps on it, and deciding that they have a rash.

Also, the study specifically dealt with people who had formal diagnoses
already, so I'm really not sure how your comment is even relevant.

~~~
dragonwriter
> Our definition of autism is based on symptoms. This isn't like someone with
> a rash deciding it's caused by imbalanced humors. It's more like someone
> noting that their skin is red, itchy, and has little bumps on it, and
> deciding that they have a rash.

No, it's not. A rash is a symptom, not a disorder diagnosed from a complex
combination of symptoms; it's more like self-diagnosis of AIDS prior to the
discovery of the role of HIV, and the use of HIV testing.

~~~
PhasmaFelis
Our definition of autism, like many psychological conditions, is based on
symptoms--behavior and development--not causes. We're learning more about the
underlying reasons why brains work the way they do, so that may change
eventually. But right now, if you have a large number of autistic symptoms,
you most likely meet the diagnostic criteria for ASD.

In young children, the visible symptoms of autism may mimic other
developmental conditions, so a professional diagnosis is important. An
intelligent adult can make the distinction for themselves, given enough
information. (Though they'll still need a diagnosis to seek treatment or
accommodations.)

~~~
dragonwriter
> Our definition of autism, like many psychological conditions, is based on
> symptoms--behavior and development--not causes.

That's also true of many physical conditions with unknown causes, hence the
comparison to pre-knowledge-of-HIV AIDS as a more apt comparison than a rash.

> But right now, if you have a large number of autistic symptoms, you most
> likely meet the diagnostic criteria for ASD.

By DSM 5 criteria, you need either two or three symptoms (depending on exactly
where you bound así for symptom) symptoms, manifesting by a particular time,
with specific social impact, and all the potential symptoms (and the impact)
are defined in a way that even an intelligent layman in a position to be
objective rather than applying a bias from their own position is likely to
have trouble applying them well.

