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Mental Health Services for Autistic Individuals Across the Lifespan: Recent Advances and Current Gaps

  • Autism Spectrum Disorders (ES Brodkin, Section Editor)
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Abstract

Purpose of Review

This synthesis of recent mental health services research with autistic individuals presents significant advances, current gaps, and recommendations for improving mental healthcare for this population.

Recent Findings

Recent advances include improved understanding of co-occurring mental health conditions among autistic individuals, a growing evidence base for interventions to address them, the development and implementation of new service models to support mental health for this population, and a substantial increase in mental health services and implementation research focused on autism. Ongoing challenges include a lack of mental health interventions designed for community implementation with autistic individuals, limited workforce capacity, complex and disconnected service systems, and racial, ethnic, and socioeconomic disparities in accessibility and quality of mental health services.

Summary

Despite the advances in our understanding of mental health needs and mental health services for autistic individuals, several critical gaps remain. We encourage future efforts to develop and test interventions that can be used in community settings, train and incentivize the workforce to provide them, realign policies and funding with best practice, and embrace an equity-focused approach to autism research and care.

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      Funding

      This work was supported by grants from the NIMH (K23 MH115100, PI: Dickson; K23 MH110602, R34 MH120190, PI: Stadnick).

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      Authors and Affiliations

      1. Department of Psychiatry, TEACCH Autism Program, University of North Carolina-Chapel Hill, Chapel Hill, NC, USA

        Brenna B. Maddox

      2. Child and Adolescent Services Research Center, San Diego, CA, USA

        Kelsey S. Dickson, Nicole A. Stadnick & Lauren Brookman-Frazee

      3. Department of Child and Family Development, San Diego State University, San Diego, CA, USA

        Kelsey S. Dickson

      4. Department of Psychiatry, University of California San Diego, San Diego, CA, USA

        Nicole A. Stadnick & Lauren Brookman-Frazee

      5. Dissemination and Implementation Science Center, University of California San Diego Altman Clinical and Translational Research Institute, San Diego, CA, USA

        Nicole A. Stadnick & Lauren Brookman-Frazee

      6. Department of Psychiatry, Perelman School of Medicine, University of Pennsylvania, Philadelphia, PA, USA

        David S. Mandell

      7. Rady Children’s Hospital, San Diego, CA, USA

        Lauren Brookman-Frazee

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      1. Brenna B. Maddox
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      2. Kelsey S. Dickson
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      3. Nicole A. Stadnick
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      4. David S. Mandell
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      5. Lauren Brookman-Frazee
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      Correspondence to Brenna B. Maddox.

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      Maddox, B.B., Dickson, K.S., Stadnick, N.A. et al. Mental Health Services for Autistic Individuals Across the Lifespan: Recent Advances and Current Gaps. Curr Psychiatry Rep 23, 66 (2021). https://doi.org/10.1007/s11920-021-01278-0

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