Mental health services failing children with autism

Thousands of children with autism in England are needlessly facing a future of mental health problems, because the NHS does not know how to help them. You Need to Know, a new campaign by the National Autistic Society (NAS), aims to tackle an unfit mental health system that fails two thirds of children with autism and often makes their mental health worse.

Over 70% of children with autism have a mental health problem, such as depression, Obsessive Compulsive Disorder and Anxiety Disorder, despite the fact that many of these problems are preventable. Autism is a complex disability and so when mental health problems do develop in children with the condition they are much harder to recognise, diagnose and treat without appropriate knowledge. Tragically, they are often dismissed as an unfortunate, but unavoidable side effect of having autism.

Mark Lever, chief executive of the NAS said; “Too many children with autism are developing preventable mental health problems and find themselves up against a broken system that doesn’t understand them or their needs. All too often they receive inappropriate, ineffectual and sometimes harmful treatments. This has a devastating effect on families many of whom develop their own mental health problems as a result. Parents and professionals alike are crying out for more autism support. The NHS needs to know how to help them, and the Government needs to know it can’t wait.”

Over 450 parents surveyed for the You Need to Know campaign revealed: 

• Mental health services failed to improve the mental health of two thirds of children with autism
• 43% of parents said their child’s mental health had got worse because they could not get the services they needed
• Over half of parents do not think that mental health services know how to communicate with their child
• 83% of the children first experienced mental health problems before the age of ten and half before the age of five

Nine out of ten parents said that the mental health problems their child faced had had a negative impact on their own mental health and that of the whole family. Over a quarter of family members needed support from mental health services as a result.

One young woman told the NAS; “[they] didn’t try to get to know me or find out anything… It just traumatised me so much and made things worse. I mean, when I went in to the meeting I was miserable and depressed. When I came out I was suicidal. I was trying to throw myself out of my windows and hang myself… It took me several years to recover and I didn’t ever want anything to do with them.”

The research clearly demonstrates that autism is not a Government priority for mental health services. Consequently, many professionals interviewed for the study had not been given basic autism training and needed specialist knowledge and support to adapt their treatments. This leaves them frustrated by the limited service they are able to provide. A dearth of specialist autism provision often results in long waiting times and vulnerable families being turned away. In stark contrast, the minority of parents who said they had been able to get specialist autism help in their local area were twice as likely to say their child’s mental health had improved.

With the right support at the right time children with autism can have good mental health just as anyone else can - the You Need to Know campaign aims to make this a reality. The NAS is calling for the Government to act now to make mental health services work for children with autism and change their future. This includes autism training for mental health professionals and access to specialist autism support in every area.

The NAS has also developed an information guide about mental health and children with autism to empower families and help them access the support they so desperately need.

For more information, visit www.autism.org.uk/youneedtoknow