Aspies on Mental Health: Speaking for Ourselves

Dr. Luke Beardon is Senior Lecturer in Autism at The Autism Centre, Sheffield Hallam University, UK. Dean Worton has Asperger Syndrome, and runs a successful website that supports adults with AS in the UK. He hosts meetings for its members, and works as a technical officer in the public sector.

Touching on everything from difficulties at work and college to coping with low self-confidence, self-harm, alcohol, misdiagnosis, sectioning, counselling, medication and battles with mental health services, the book provides a window into how people with AS experience mental health issues, and what can be done to help.

Introduction. 1. Mental Health Services and Me: What Worked, and What Didn't. Janet Christmas. 2. Coping with Depression: Positive Advice for Aspies. Debbie Allan. 3. My Fur-lined Bucket: Alternative Methods of Dealing with Mental Health Issues. E Veronica Bliss. 4. This Aspie Life: The Undiagnosed Aspie Experience. 8ball. 5. A Colourful Rainbow: Embracing Autism as a Neurological Difference, Rather than a Mental Health Disorder. Melanie Smith. 6. Getting the Right Diagnosis, and its Impact on Mental Health: Is this the Best the NHS Can Do? Cornish. 7. Positive Mental Attitude: Coping with Setbacks, Knowing Your Own Strengths, and Finding Happiness Any Way You Can. Dean Worton. 8. "It's all in your head": The Dangers of Misdiagnosis. Neil Shepherd. 9. A Fairytale Life It Isn't (AKA Chapter 9): Alcohol, Self-harm, and the Benefits of Exercise. Alexandra Brown. 10. "Getting My Life Back": A Mother's Struggle to Get Mental Health Services for Herself and Her Son. Anne Henderson. 11. A Week in the Life Of: Strategies for Maintaining Mental Health as an Aspie. Steve Jarvis. 12. My Plastic Bubble: Dealing with Depression, Anxiety, and Low Self-confidence. Wendy Lim. 13. The Art of Being Content: Asperger Syndrome, Buddhism, and Me. Chris Mitchell. 14. A Journey Looking for Answers About the Way I Am. Anthony Sclafani. 15. A Label that Fits: Diagnoses, Self-harm, and Mental Health. Natasha Goldthorpe. 16. Through the Looking Glass into Lynette Land: Making Humour Work. Lynette Marshall. 17. Mental Health and the Workplace: Dealing with Criticism, Coping with Stress, and Taking Control of Your Environment. Dr. Christopher Wilson.