Brief Report: Screening Adults with Autism Spectrum Disorder for Anxiety and Depression.

Nah et al. (2018) gave the 2-minute DASS-21 to 59 autistic adults. Ages ranged from 18 to 65. The team wanted a quick way to spot anxiety and depression in this group.

No control group. No treatment. Just a simple cross-sectional snapshot.

Forty-six percent scored in the moderate-to-extremely-severe range for anxiety. Thirty-nine percent hit the same level for depression. That means nearly half of the adults you serve may carry untreated mood distress.

The DASS-21 took only a few minutes and was easy to complete.

Cederlund et al. (2010) did a similar small study ten years earlier. They used the longer BDI and also found high depression scores in young autistic men. The new data show the quick DASS-21 works just as well and now includes women.

Matson et al. (2011) found the same a large share mood rate, but in children. Parents reported the symptoms. The numbers look like a contradiction, but they aren’t—kids grow up, yet the risk stays high across the lifespan.

Yarar et al. (2022) later showed younger autistic adults report more anxiety than older ones. Yong-Hwee’s sample was mostly young, so their a large share figure may be the upper end of what you’ll see.

Drop the DASS-21 into your intake packet tomorrow. It costs nothing and flags half of your adult clients who need a mental-health referral. Pair the score with a quick question about bullying or social stress, since van Schalkwyk et al. (2018) link peer victimization to anxiety in teens. Early mood data lets you write better behavior plans that don’t accidentally punish escape-maintained avoidance.