Automutilatie en suïcidaliteit bij mensen met autisme

Approximately 79% of people with autism experience comorbid problems at least once in their lives, including self-harm and suicidality. However, care providers still have little knowledge about why self-harm and suicidality occur more often and what health care is appropriate. This article examines the prevalence, predictive factors and appropriate care in self-harm and suicidality in people with autism. The results show that auto-mutilation is (or has been) present in 50% of adults with autism, and this increases the risk of suicidality. 37% of adults with autism have (had) suicidal ideations and 15.3% has made one or more suicide attempts. People with autism without intellectual disabilities have a fivefold risk of dying by suicide. This risk is not increased in autistic individuals with intellectual disabilities. In both self-harm and suicidality, the presence of comorbid problems such as ADHD appears to be the most important predictor. Thus, in preventing and treating self-harm and suicidality in people with autism, it is important to first assess and treat comorbid problems.