"Exploring Depression and Beating the Blues is a treatment programme we wrote in 2016 as a self-help guide for autistic adolescents and adults who are suffering from depression. The original treatment programme was designed over 6 years for autistic people, in consultation with autistic people. The result is a treatment for depression based on current best practice guidelines but modified for autistic people. Since 2016 we have learned a lot! Based on our new learning and neurodiversity-affirming practice we have thoroughly revised and updated our programme.

In this course we cover:

• How the signs of and reasons for depression may differ for an autistic person
• Strategies and ideas found to be useful for autistic people
• How autistic burnout and depression differ and the different strategies needed for recovery for each condition
• How to adapt CBT for autistic people to optimise treatment success, for example, how to treat problems with interoception and alexithymia that often underpin depression
• An eclectic approach because CBT is not always helpful for autistic people

This course can be delivered as an individual or group therapy programme or can be utilised as a self-help guide at home, with the assistance of a carer or family member if depression is mild or moderate. The course is designed to be beneficial for clinicians, parents and partners but would also be useful for an autistic teenager or adult. 

Pre Reading

Participants will benefit from reading our book before the course, though it is not essential:

Attwood, T. and Garnett, M. (2016) Exploring Depression and Beating the Blues: A CBT Self-Help Guide to Understanding and Coping with Depression in Asperger’s Syndrome [ASD-Level 1]. Published by Jessica Kingsley Publishers, London, UK. Web: www.jkp.com