Mental Health Aspects of Autism and Asperger Syndrome

Book excerpt: Annotation Despite increasing interest, very little is known about the occurrence of psychiatric disorders in persons with autism and Asperger Syndrome. Mental Health Aspects of Autism and Asperger Syndrome alerts parents and professionals to the occurrence of common emotional and psychological problems in autism (e.g. schizophrenia, violence, depression, anxiety, tics) and provides sound advice for the detection and treatment of psychiatric problems in people with ASDs. The conditions described in this book are those that Dr Ghaziuddin, an experienced psychiatrist specialising in autism, has most commonly seen in autistic children and adults, although Dr Ghaziuddin clearly states that he is not proposing a direct link between psychiatric disorders and autism, but is rather recognising the need to systematically characterise commonly occurring disorders, with the hope that this will lead to their early recognition and treatment.