Autism & mental health | Divergent Voices - hosted by Purple Ella

In the first episode of Divergent Voices, autistic advocate and YouTube Content Creator Purple Ella, chats to Neurodevelopmental Specialist Hannah Hayward and autistic Blogger and advocate Emily-Katy, about managing your mental health as an autistic person.

Divergent Voices is created by Clinical Partners for the NHS. The series is part of autism unlocked - a dedicated space for autistic people and their families to receive expert advice and guidance on a range of issues. Divergent Voices combines personal stories and unique insights from autistic people, along with practical strategies from leading clinicians.

In this video:
00:12 Autism and co-occurring mental health conditions
05:43 How to recognise you are having a mental health challenge
08:59 Strategies for supporting your mental health
13:49 Tips for talking to your GP

Featured speakers:

Purple Ella
YouTube Content Creator

Emily-Katy
Blogger at Authentically Emily

Hannah Hayward
Neurodevelopmental Specialist with Clinical Partners

Additional resources:

Where to find an advocate:

Visit the autism unlocked website:

Find out more about Clinical Partners:

[bhutjolokia]

The more we mask, the more bad anxieties come to life. It's so so important for us to listen to what our bodies are telling us, stim stim stim and stim. This is one of the important aspects to regulating our central nervous system, just do it. 7 months unmasked and i stim everywhere and while engaging in conversation back and forth rocking, hands moving. I'm Autistic/ADHD, repetitive ticking and also an empath. Let just say there is nothing easy about navigating through it but i have done the other most important thing and that is to accept ourselves for who we are. As hard as it is to do, at the end of my day i am happy with my day and will not let bumps in the road define my day. I have times of calm, like a rainy day where my day is just blah and not productive, it's what i needed for that day. Chasing stimuli from 2 different motors in my head is weird but free!! No more tug of war in my thoughts after the change, heart palpitations have cut by 90% and don't take as much magnesium taurate to alleviate the palpitations. Better quality of life and longer life if we stay in tune with our needs. Thank you!!👍😎👻🤪🌶

[NotAyFox]

Excellent video and production. I wish I had access to this kind of insight 20 years ago, when my mental health started to deteriorate. Not that it would help much in terms of expert help, but it would maybe help me make better life decisions instead of doing what I thought was expected of me. Even today, I have to explain things like this to my psychiatrist of 20+ years. We've only just recently worked out the sources of my anxiety, because I was not able to recognize and verbalize it myself before. No amount of psychotherapy or CBT helped at all. I do get some relief from anti-depressants and anxiolytics, but that's just a crutch for decades of trauma from trying to survive as autistic in allistic world.

[chloebunde]

Thank you for this channel. This is such a good resource to have so many different voices in the conversation. Thank you!

[jeffcallahan]

Wow! What a terrific video. The conversational tone of the presentation works really well, especially with how clear and depth fuel the discussion.

[benjaminford]

Thank you. Very important discussion. As an autistic CBT therapist working in IAPT I wholeheartedly endorse everything that you say in this conversation.
You might like to know that the BABCP now has a Neurodiversity Special Interest group, first public outing at the annual conference in July in London, and we will be trying to increase awareness of neurodiversity and the abilities of therapists to understand needs and adapt accordingly.

[briena]

Very interesting and helpful. I liked the advice to make a list and come prepared for a GP appointment. I tend to feel healthy the moment I enter a doctor's office. 😊

[shelbyharper]

Absolutely love this video! I am self diagnosed with autism at this point but I am going for my intake appointment at the end of next month to be officially diagnosed and since figuring out I am autistic it has been the most freeing thing in the world. I have been misdiagnosed since the age of 6-7 with anxiety, depression, ocd, and one person even mentioned bipolar at one point.

[WilliamFontaineJr]

Wonderfully informative, easy to listen to, having different perspectives to the same question builds trust and a broader knowledge base. I am looking forward to more of this format, it is an improvement in every way. Thank you.

[milagrosmos]

Thank you. I love hearing other women's experiences.

[amandasymon]

Learnt so much - Wow! I have been nodding all the way through this video. I just need to be brave enough to fight to be helped - So exhausted from masking/isolating and feeling totally alone. Thank you so very much 🙏

[BipolarCourage]

For last 30 of 50 years I have suffered from serious mental illness, with 5 presentations to New Zealand Mental Health Services (who only take moderate to severe) plus inpatient for 2 months in Australia. It's been a difficult & frustrating journey. My main diagnoses are bipolar affective disorder type 1 & PTSD. A psychiatrist said I have clinically significant autism spectrum features but am below threshold for ASD diagnosis. Nothing is done about adult autism anyway. I am on meds for bipolar & have therapy for PTSD.

[lakritzeslena]

I've not watched the entire video yet but had to comment on your experiences in clinics- cracking yokes and then being obviously unwell. That's something that followed me from 14 on, admitted to Psychiatry, they were not sure what to do with me, and since i talked about suicidal thoughts, they put me on antipsychotics and just dimmed me down so i was no struggle.
And then again and again psychiatrists and my school psychologist could not really make sense. I was just lena. Special, weird.
And then i got the diagnosis borderline and from rhen on, no one cared to question that. (Until i went to get diagnosed when i was 39. Now I'm 41, and trying to get an autism assessment, but the current state of german autism assessment is not good, right now there are no open waiting lists if im not mistaken).

[katedhotman]

I don't know when I'm stressed, anxious or upset for days or weeks at a time, then suddenly burst into tears or snap / melt down or just have my body break down physically (migranes, get ill, hives etc). This has made my work life unbearable as people just think I'm unstable or bitchy. Is the best way to handle this to disclose to people so they can be more understanding? Or just isolate completely / withdraw from the "normal" world....

[kikitauer]

Unfortunately even mountains of evidence will sometimes not help when dealing with doctors. I went to my GP once. I told her I have a double vision and she straight up told me: No, you don't. I know double vision is not exactly mental healt issue but I feel in some sense it is even worse.

[amybaker]

I didn't think of how you're in a different country than I am. I'm in the US. Do you happen to know of advocacy for here?