Mental health nursing and autism: I am a mental health nurse so why did it take me so long to realize I’m autistic?

Abstract

Accessible Summary What is known on the subject? Women with autistic spectrum disorder are likely to be diagnosed with other mental health needs and to have experienced trauma. Mental health nurses are likely to encounter women who possibly fit the criteria for a autistic spectrum diagnosis, but who have not been offered appropriate support or signposting. What the paper adds to existing knowledge Using my own lived experience as a late diagnosed woman with autism and as a mental health nurse, I identify some of the gaps in training and knowledge that mental health nurses have. What are the implications for practice? Suggestions are made as to how improvements in mental health nurses’ knowledge of autistic spectrum disorder in women could enhance mental wellbeing for this group of people.

Autistic nurses: do they exist?

“…To find more information, I did also search in Google on the same search terms as in the databases. What I found was that in popular media and in the sparse existing research, there are few examples of nurses on the autism spectrum (Wallis, 2012; Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC), 2019; Briefing, 2020;Sweetmore, 2021). Hence, we can for certain conclude that nurses with autism do exist.…”

Training matters: neurodevelopmental disorders in psychiatric practice

“…It has been highlighted that there are gaps in mental health nursing training regarding neurodevelopmental disorders (Sweetmore 2022)…”

“…It has been highlighted that there are gaps in mental health nursing training regarding neurodevelopmental disorders (Sweetmore 2022), although communication skills commonly feature as a core component. Learning disability nursing training provides a grounding in key neurodevelopmental disorders in the context of intellectual disability, but anecdotally such training is not adequately focused on the full range of mental health comorbidities presenting in individuals with neurodevelopmental disorders and additional mental health needs.…”

Enhancing the nursing profession's awareness of neurodiversity

“…We assert that neurodiversity may well be a remaining bastion of exclusion. Sweetmore (2022), a mental health nurse, offers an insightful if sobering account of gaps and missed opportunities of her own experience as an autistic woman availing of and working within services. Her work, in particular, illustrates issues of underdiagnosis and masking in women, and the potentially serious attendant mental health implications.…”