Alexithymic and autistic traits: Relevance for comorbid depression and social phobia in adults with and without autism spectrum disorder.
Laura Albantakis, Marie-Luise Brandi, Imme Christina Zillekens and 6 others
PMID 32662285WHAT IT FOUND
In adults with autism, difficulty identifying emotions predicted depression, but autistic traits did not.
Conversely, autistic traits predicted social anxiety, while difficulty identifying emotions did not. Assessing emotional awareness is crucial for spotting depression risk in this population.
Key findings
01In the autism group, alexithymic traits predicted depressive symptoms, but autistic traits did not once alexithymia was accounted for.
02In the autism group, autistic traits predicted social phobic symptoms, while alexithymic traits did not once autistic traits were accounted for.
03In the non-ASD patient group, neither trait significantly predicted depressive symptoms, possibly due to heterogeneity and smaller sample size.
STILL TO COME
How it was doneWhat they foundWhat it means for SLPs
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What it does not show
The study is cross-sectional, so it cannot prove that alexithymia causes depression or that autistic traits cause social anxiety. The non-ASD clinical group was small (n=62) and heterogeneous, which likely reduced the power to find significant effects for depression. Self-report questionnaires were used for symptoms, which may be less reliable in populations with communication or introspection difficulties.
Declared interests
Funded by the Max Planck Society and the Else-Kröner-Fresenius-Stiftung. Authors declared no conflicts of interest related to commercial entities.
The easy way to misread this
Do not assume that autistic traits directly cause depression in adults with ASD. The study shows that once you account for alexithymia, autistic traits no longer predict depression severity. Ignoring emotional awareness deficits may lead to misattributing depression to autism itself.