Abstract
There have been few studies of psychopathology in adult with autism. This study examined psychiatric co-morbidity in 147 adults with intellectual disability (ID) and autism and 605 adults with ID but without autism. After controlling for the effects of gender, age, psychotropic medication and level of ID, people with autism and ID were no more likely to receive a psychiatric diagnosis than people with ID only. People with autism were less likely to receive a diagnosis of personality disorder. These findings cast doubts on the hypothesis that adults with ID and autism are more vulnerable to certain psychiatric disorders than non-autistic adults with ID.
This is a preview of subscription content, log in via an institution to check access.
Similar content being viewed by others
References
American Psychiatric Association. (1994). Diagnostic and statistical manual of mental disorders, 4th edn. Washington: author.
Aylward, E. H., Minshew, N. J., Field, K., Sparks, B. F., & Singh, N. (2002). Effects of age on brain volume and head circumference in autism. Neurology, 59, 175–183.
Baron-Cohen, S. (2003). The essential difference: The truth about the male and female brain. New York: Basic Books.
Bolton, P. F., Pickles, A., Murphy, M., & Rutter, M. (1998). Autism, affective and other psychiatric disorders: Patterns of familial aggregation. Psychological Medicine, 28, 385–395.
Bouras, N., Cowley, A., Holt, G., Newton, J. T., & Sturmey, P. (2003). Referral trends of people with intellectual disabilities and psychiatric disorders. Journal of Intellectual Disability Research, 47, 439–446.
Bradley, E. A., Summers, J. A., Wood, H. L., & Bryson, S. E. (2004). Comparing rates of psychiatric and behaviour disorders in adolescents with young adults with severe intellectual disability with and without autism. Journal of Autism & Developmental Disorders, 34, 151–161.
Clarke, D. J., LittleJohns, C. S., Corbett, J. A., & Joseph, S. (1989). Pervasive developmental disorders and psychoses in adult life. British Journal of Psychiatry, 155, 692–699.
Deb, S., Mathews, T., Holt, G., & Bouras, N. (2001). Practice guidelines for the assessment and diagnosis of mental health problems in adults with intellectual disability. UK: Pavillion.
Deb, S., Thomas, M., & Bright, C. (2001). Mental disorder in adults with intellectual disability, 1: Prevalence of functional psychiatric illness among a community-based population aged between 16 and 64 years. Journal of Intellectual Disability Research, 45, 495–505.
Eisenberg, L., & Kanner, L. (1958). Early infantile autism, 1943–1955. In: C. F. Reed, I. E. Alexander, & S. S. Tomkins (Eds.), Psychopathology: A source book (pp. 3–14). Cambridge, MA: Harvard University Press.
Fombonne, E. (1999). The epidemiology of autism: A review. Psychological Medicine, 29, 769–786.
Fombonne, E., Mazaubrun, C., Cans, C., & Grandjean, H. (1997). Autism and associated medical disorders in a French epidemiological survey. Journal of the American Academy of Child & Adolescent Psychiatry, 36, 1561–1569.
Ghaziuddin, M., Ghaziuddin, N., & Greden, J. (2002). Depression in persons with autism: Implications for research and clinical care. Journal of Autism & Developmental Disorders, 32, 299–306.
Giovanardi-Rossi, P., Posar, A., & Parmeggiani, A. (2000). Epilepsy in adolescents and young adults with autistic disorder. Brain Development, 22, 102–106.
Gillberg, C. (1991). The treatment of epilepsy in autism. Journal of Autism and Developmental Disorders, 21, 61–77.
Gillberg, C. (1999). Autism and its spectrum disorders. In: N Bouras (Ed.), Psychiatric and behavioural disorders in developmental disabilities and mental retardation (pp. 73–95). New York: Cambridge University Press.
Gillberg, C., & Billstedt, E. (2000). Autism and Asperger syndrome: Co-existence with other clinical disorders. Acta Psychiatrica Scandinavica, 102, 321–330.
Howlin, P. (2000). Outcome in adult life for more able individuals with autism or Asperger syndrome. Autism, 4, 63–83.
Howlin, P. (1997). Autism: Preparation for adulthood. London: Routledge.
Lainhart, J. E. (1999). Psychiatric disorders, executive function and the broader autism phenotype in parents of autistic probands. Molecular Psychiatry, 4, 303.
Morgan, C. N., Roy, M., & Chance, P. (2003). Psychiatric comorbidity and medication use in autism: A community survey. Psychiatric Bulletin, 27, 378–381.
Moss, S., Prosser, H., Costello, H., Simpson, N., & Patel, P. (1998). Reliability and validity of the PAS-ADD Checklist for detecting psychiatric disorders in adults with intellectual disability. Journal of Intellectual Disability Research, 42, 173–183.
Mouridsen, S. E., Rich, B., & Isager, T. (1999). Psychiatric morbidity in disintegrative psychosis and infantile autism: A long-term follow-up study. Psychopathology, 32, 177–183.
Petty, L. K., Ornitz, E. M., Michelman, J. D., & Zimmerman, E. G., (1984). Autistic children who become schizophrenic. Archives of General Psychiatry, 41, 129–135.
Piven, J., & Palmer, P. (1999). Psychiatric disorders and the broad autism phenotype: Evidence from a family study of multiple incidence autism families. American Journal of Psychiatry, 156, 557–563.
Posey, D. J., & McDougle, C. J. (2000). The pharmacotherapy of target symptoms associated with autistic disorder and other pervasive developmental disorders. Harvard Review of Psychiatry, 8, 45–63.
Seltzer, M. M., Krauss, M. W., Shattuck, P. T., Orsmond, G., Swe, A., & Lord, C. (2003). The symptoms of autism spectrum disorders in adolescence and adulthood. Journal of Autism and Developmental Disorders, 33, 565–581.
Sturmey, P., & James, V. (2001). Letter to the Editor. The administrative prevalence of autism in the Texas school system. Journal of the American Academy of Child and Adolescent Psychiatry, 40, 621–622.
Volkmar, F. R., & Cohen, D. J. (1991). Comorbid association of autism and schizophrenia. American Journal of Psychiatry, 148, 1705–1707.
Volkmar, F. R., & Nelson, D. S. (1990). Seizure disorders in autism. Journal of American Academy of Child and Adolescent Psychiatry, 29, 127–129.
World Health Organization (1992). The ICD-10 classification of mental and behavioural disorders – clinical descriptions and diagnostic guidelines. Geneva: author.
Author information
Authors and Affiliations
Corresponding author
Rights and permissions
About this article
Cite this article
Tsakanikos, E., Costello, H., Holt, G. et al. Psychopathology in Adults with Autism and Intellectual Disability. J Autism Dev Disord 36, 1123–1129 (2006). https://doi.org/10.1007/s10803-006-0149-3
Published:
Issue Date:
DOI: https://doi.org/10.1007/s10803-006-0149-3