Depression and other "side effects"

[Perspective1]

Hi,

I have been thinking this thru now for long time, and now I have come to the conclusion that side effects, like Depression and others, which are mentioned as side effects of the Autism spectrum, are not inherently side effects of the Autism spectrum itself.
I will explain this opinion by the example of Depression.

To be able to explain this I have thought of a convincing metaphorical analogy.

Let's say, a dog wants to be a human. The dog can walk on two feet for as much as it wants, but it will never become human itself, just by walking on 2 feet, like humans do. It will also never be able to communicate like humans do, even if the dog tries as hard as possible, which makes it feel bad about the situation.
If it is an intelligent dog, it will realise this very soon, and then it has to decide whether it wants to continue trying to become human by adapting it's behaviour to humans behaviour, or accept itself as a dog.
Also while trying to adapt to being human, it will very soon get problems with it's body, to walk permanently on 2 feet is not healthy for the dog.

For an Autist it is his natural behaviours that his body and mind desire from him to live. If an Autist tries to change his behaviours to adapt to behaviours, that not deduce for his nature, his mind and body will experience similar problems, that a dog will experience while trying to get human. Not satisfying the Autisms need for his natural behaviours will deep inside create a lack of something, and will with increasing time make it harder for himself, to identify himself with what he thinks or wishes to be. While every effort is wasted, knowing that he will never truly be a neurotypical human, he has increased chances of developing Depression and more serious problems with his own selfimage.

My opinion is that all those so called side effects of Autism are side effects of the influence that his environment has on the Autist, his adaptation and his rejecting environment makes Autists sick, not Autism itself. People who define Autism as sickness only try to make Autists feel sick, probably without knowing that or intention, but for sure without caring about it at all.

Mental sanity requires a person, that can accept himself as what he is, and identify himself as himself only.

 

[Fitzo]

I have never thought depression was a side effect, rather a co-morbid condition that many live with. Recognising the triggers for depression can help people to avoid it, but it often takes many years to figure out what they are. Then it's a choice between participating in life or avoiding it. If you want to have relationships, jobs and leisure activities that involve other people, it's almost impossible to avoid the risks that accompany them.

 

[Progster]

I agree with @Fitzo that depression is a co-morbid condition. You can have depression without having autism, and not all people with autism develop depression - they are just more likely to do so and depression in autistics is quite common. I agree that the effects of autism can lead to depression, but depression is not inevitable.

 

[Gracey]

I'd always believed depression to be a result of ...something...rather than a side effect.

Your example with the dog walking on two legs may mean the dog is always falling short of expectations, self imposed or otherwise, affecting it's perception, self belief or worth possibly leading to an inability to function as an upright walking dog.

Self sabotage and constant negative judgement of self may eventually lead to a depressive state? Being a result of the dogs circumstances, perception, learned behaviour(?) Over a period of time.



I think my question would be where the belief of a dog walking upright originated from (for the dog)? How it ever started to believe it was supposed to.

 

[Ylva]

It seems like the most obvious thing that depression is a result of how we are treated. I'm surprised that anyone thinks it's just "part of who we are" the same way our autism is.

 

[Perspective1]

I have never thought depression was a side effect, rather a co-morbid condition that many live with.

Yes, it's called a co-morbid condition, sometimes my lack of english skills get obvious.
I needed many years to find out, that my depression did only get intense, when I have stress. So finding a way to avoid most of the stress will keep me not affected by depression.

@Ylva
So far I have only heard and read that depression is connected with autism, but that is not true in my opinion anymore. Depression is connected with environmental influence only.