Autism in adults: common characteristics and problems

When we hear the word "autism" the first thing that comes to mind are children with difficulties in socializing, communicating with others and, also, some type of intellectual disability.

This description is not generalizable at all, first because autism spectrum disorders are associated with different degrees of affectation, having very functional autistic people and, second, because autism is not only a matter of children, it is also presented by Adults.

Next we will address the issue of autism in adults, explaining why there are cases in which ASD is diagnosed in adulthood, what problems and explanations may be behind and the importance of investigating this disorder in adult life.

• Related article: "Autism Spectrum Disorders: 10 symptoms and diagnosis"

How is autism expressed in adults?

In popular culture, you have a pretty bad idea of ​​what autism is and how it is diagnosed. Many people imagine autism as having serious problems with socialization, unable to communicate, very sensitive to noise, and with severe intellectual disability. Believing that this definition accurately describes the majority of autistics, many people believe that autism is something that cannot go unnoticed in childhood.

While it is true that some autistic people can meet the description just mentioned, we must not ignore that autism refers to a whole spectrum of disorders, not to a specific way of being. People with autism can be very diverse, have very different degrees of affectation and their ability to function on a day-to-day basis is not the same in all of them.

Autism Spectrum Disorders or ASD are defined as chronic neurological dysfunctions with a strong genetic basis that, since early ages, lead to problems of social interaction, communication and lack of flexibility in reasoning and behaviors various. The seriousness of the problems that can occur in these areas is very varied, causing there to be people who they will need a lot of help while others, with certain difficulties, will be able to cope with the problems of the day to day.

Many people find out they have autism as adults. The reason for this is that they are people with a more or less mild ASD, manifesting relatively mild problems within the typically affected areas in people with autism. They have had problems throughout their lives and they never saw themselves as completely normal people, but since his problem was mild, there was never a need to go to a professional to receive a diagnosis. They were seen as weird, manic, or overly sensitive for their age, but never viewed as probably autistic.

As we said, many people have a very specific idea of ​​what it is to be autistic. This stereotype implies prejudices about how functional the autistic person can become, thinking that a person with ASD is going to be condemned to receive support for her entire life, she will never be able to work or be independent. However, many autistic people who do not even know they are autistic have good jobs, have managed to start a family, enjoy a good financial situation and they do not seem to need much support, although they may have had more difficulties than one person neurotypic.

Why is it not detected in childhood?

There may be several reasons why an adult person with ASD was not diagnosed in their childhood. As we said, contrary to what many believe, the ASD does not have to attract as much attention as one thinks. Yes, there are problems with sociability, communication, little flexibility in routine changes and other warning signs but, since these people have mild autism, their behavior is seen as strange but not too worrisome and his parents saw no reason to take them for professional consultation.

Another thing that can happen is directly related to the heritability of autism. As we said, autism has a high genetic component, so that in the same family there may be several members with the disorder. What sometimes happens is that the parents of the child with ASD will not take him for consultation because the behavior of his offspring resembled that of one of his parents, attributing this to the fact that he had inherited his own personality. What really happens is that this father had an ASD and, since his son behaved like him, he saw no reason to worry.

The support of family members, teachers and the own personality and ability to overcome many boys and girls with ASD can help to mask the problem. disorder, making their difficulties go unnoticed and eventually overcoming them without seeing the need to resort to psychological support or psychiatric. The person with autism has been learning techniques to efficiently manage her difficulties, without knowing that they were actually caused by a disorder, which has led me to have a life with more or less success.

How people with mild autism progress through life in the same way that others do with some difficulty or not, at first they do not consider going to a psychologist to find out whether or not they have the disorder. In addition, in our society we have very internalized the idea that whoever has a more or less functional life can hardly have a psychological disorder, so as these people move on with their lives they do not see the need to go to a mental health professional.

Another reason why it goes unnoticed in childhood is not presenting intellectual difficulties combined with obsessive behaviors. Some boys and girls with autism are very good at all kinds of tasks where you have to find a pattern, which is very useful in subjects like math, physics, and chemistry. Like many parents and teachers focus exclusively on academic achievement, if they see that their child is already good at are satisfied and do not consider the need to address the social sphere or communication problems with the rest.

• You may be interested in: "Autism: 8 things you didn't know about this disorder"

The main problem of adults with autism

The main problem for adults with ASD, no matter how successful, is social relationships, and this affects both your personal and work life. It is difficult for them to make friends, and it is even more difficult for them to keep them. While some can be very good at making friends and even seem to be very outgoing and sociable, their cordiality is rather scarce. Communication problems lead to misunderstandings and create uncomfortable situations that lead to the loss of friends.

Another aspect is their difficulty in lying, grasping sarcasm or making use of social conventions. Many people with ASD are very sincere and honest, sometimes so direct that they collide with social habits and requirements considered culturally friendly. For example, if someone asks them if the dress he has put on suits him well and it turns out that he looks horrible, the autistic person can be very sincere to the point of hurting him without want it.

Communication and sociability problems may seem minor if you're generally functional, but they do involve significant problems in the long run. Being so sincere, honest and not understanding or making use of social formalities makes your relationships, especially sentimental ones, more likely to fail. In fact, this is the main reason why many functional autistic people who get married end up divorcing after a few years.

How is it detected in adults?

As we said, there are not a few autistic people who discover that they are autistic as adults and, also, have the suspicion that their own parents were. But it also happens the other way around: having a child who is suspected of being autistic and, during the diagnosis, beginning to suspect that they are too. Many adults are diagnosed soon after their child's diagnosis is confirmed. and this story is becoming more and more common.

Over the years, parents have become aware of the need to go to the psychologist with their children at some point in their development. While it is still not the general rule, many parents do, especially if they notice something strange about their children. They hope that it is nothing, but they say that prevention is better than cure and they go to the professional's office. There they discover that yes, their children have ASD and that it has been good to confirm it soon so that they can intervene as soon as possible.

As every good father should do, Many of those who discover that their children have ASD begin to document themselves to make sure they handle the situation to the best of their ability.. During their research they begin to realize that they themselves have characteristics that could well be considered typical of an autistic person, so they decide to go to a psychologist's office and be evaluated where they receive confirmation that they also have TORCH.

Everyone is different and everyone assumes the diagnosis differently, however many people feel relieved after learning that they have ASD. After years of misunderstanding, of being called "weirdos," of being blamed for behaving too roughly or not being interested in their social relationships, these people discover that they are this way because of a mental disorder, not because of a lack of interest or incompetence Social.

Understanding and assuming your disorder, people with ASD feel much better, they see themselves more capable of taking care of themselves, understanding the difficulties of their daily life, progress in her work, social and personal life. In addition, once the diagnosis is confirmed, they begin to receive psychological strategies to manage the aspects of the disorder, notably improving their lives. If the patient was one of those who before knowing that they had ASD was functional, now it will be even more so.

Focused on childhood, ignoring adulthood: the situation of autistic adults

So far we have discussed the lives of autistic people who are diagnosed with the disorder as adults. As we have said, among the reasons why a person with ASD has not been diagnosed in childhood is to present mild symptoms of the disorder. As in his childhood the problems of communication and social interaction did not attract much attention, his environment did not worried too much, besides that he has had a more or less normal growth and has reached adulthood with a life more or less functional.

However, not all people with ASD have this "luck." Those that manifest the disorder with the worst severity are easily diagnosed in their childhood since they attract a lot of attention. This is one of the reasons why both diagnosis and treatment for people with ASD are focus a lot on the early years because that is where the disorder is first detected "classic". Nevertheless, This disorder does not go away with the passage of time: it is still there in both adolescence and adulthood.

It is true that in recent decades there have been progress both in the diagnosis and in the understanding of ASD, with more and more professionals. However, considering that many professionals who specialize in childhood autism are still lacking, the situation is even worse for adult autism. Autism in adults has not been as investigated or treated as that detected in children, which is a problem because after all autistic children become autistic adults and will require help.

Leaving aside autistic adults who have been functional for most of their lives without knowing they had the disorder, the overall situation for adults with autism is not very encouraging. At the end of compulsory education, where there is support given by the state, this aid suddenly ends, leaving Autistic people alone in front of the world, a world that they find difficult to understand and that generates anxiety, stress and confusion. As a consequence, many autistic people stop studying and relatively few (compared to the general population) manage to find a job without help.

Taking into account all this andThere is a need for more research on autism in adulthood, improving existing therapeutic techniques, and creating new in order to provide well-being to these types of patients. Those with ASD should also be kept busy at work, since it has been seen that working helps them to become more independent in addition to making their symptoms milder and learning ways to manage their daily life, applicable both to the work environment and family.

Bibliographic references:

• American Psychiatric Association (APA). (2013). Diagnostic and statistical manual of mental disorders (5th ed.). Arlington, VA: American Psychiatric Publishing.
• Hall, D. (1991). Shy, withdrawn or autistic? British Medical Journal, 302, 125-136.
• Alonso, J. R. (2020). Autism in adults. Neuroscience: José Ramón Alonso's blog. Recovered from: https://jralonso.es/2020/12/14/autismo-en-adultos/