Why is this important?

 Autism and depression can share features such as changes in sleep, appetite, energy, social engagement, and routines. This overlap can make depression harder to recognise in autistic adults, particularly if assessment relies on brief screening tools or on stereotyped expectations of how depression “should” look. By examining how autistic adults describe depression and how these descriptions align with current diagnostic criteria, this research aims to support more accurate recognition and identification.

What's our approach?

This PhD research brings together evidence from a systematic review, autistic adults and supporters, and psychologists. Across these three studies, we examine how depressive symptoms are experienced, described, and recognised in autistic adults, how these accounts map to diagnostic symptom constructs, and where autism-related communication, sensory experience, and emotion description may influence interpretation.

The impact of our work

This research aims to improve how depression is recognised in autistic adults by clarifying both DSM-aligned symptoms and autism-salient expressions of those symptoms. The long-term goal is to inform practical, autism-informed assessment guidance and contribute to the development and validation of depression assessment approaches that better reflect autistic adults’ experiences.

Explore the three studies

This PhD research includes three connected studies. Each study page provides a plain-language summary and links to the full paper (open access where available)

Study 1: Systematic review

A systematic review of how depression has been described in autistic people across the lifespan.

Link: Study 1 summary

Link: Published open-access paper

Study 2: Autistic adults and supporters

A qualitative study of how autistic adults experience and describe depression, including perspectives from supporters.

Link: Study 2 summary

Link: Preprint (OSF) paper

Study 3: Psychologists’ clinical perspectives

A qualitative study of how psychologists assess depression in autistic adults, including how they apply diagnostic criteria and interpret autism-salient presentations.

Link: Study 3 summary

Link: Preprint (OSF) paper