Psychiatric comorbidity in young adults with a clinical diagnosis of Asperger syndrome.

Lugnegård et al. (2011) looked at 54 young adults who carried an Asperger diagnosis.

A clinician interviewed each person and checked records for any past or current mental-health condition.

The team simply counted how many met criteria for depression, anxiety, or other psychiatric disorders.

Seven out of ten had lived through at least one major depressive episode.

Half also met criteria for an anxiety disorder such as social phobia or panic.

The numbers show that extra mental-health problems are the rule, not the exception, in this group.

Chien et al. (2021) tracked a whole nation and found the same pattern: depression risk stays high in adults with Asperger profiles, especially women.

Supekar et al. (2017) show the picture changes with age—depression and schizophrenia rise after young adulthood while ADHD and epilepsy fade—so Tove’s snapshot fits the early part of that curve.

Laugeson et al. (2014) give hope: CBT can cut anxiety in autistic youth, suggesting that screening followed by talk therapy may lower the heavy load Tove saw.

Ben Hassen et al. (2023) hint at why the load is so high—adults with ASD struggle to name and feel emotions—so untreated alexithymia may feed the depression numbers.

If you serve adults with an Asperger diagnosis, always add brief depression and anxiety screens to your intake.

Early flags let you refer for CBT, adjust goals when mood is low, and track whether your behavioral plan is helping the whole person, not just their social skills.