Adolescence is a time for new adventures -- such as depression. It's not clear whether depression is more common in person's with Asperger's syndrome, but since depression is associated with stressful life events it would be surprising if it were not associated with high-function autism spectrum disorder.
As of Nov 2012 there is no useful academic research on the management of depression in the context of autism syndromes at any age. There's no We do wonder sometimes where all the NIH autism syndrome money is going.
I found two somewhat useful references:
- UK Asperger's Foundation: Depression or mental health in Asperger's Syndrome (discusses other mental health disorders but focuses on depression)
- Autism, PDD-NOS & Asperger's fact sheets | Coping with depression as an adult on the autism spectrum
Physicians used to be taught that there was a clear line between "pathological" depression and the "normal dysphoria" of life in an often difficult world. I was never convinced by that argument. I'm not sure there's even a very sharp line between non-psychotic and psychotic depression -- though that transition is relatively clear. That line is probably even harder to spot in persons with stressful disabilities such as Asperger's. The focus then is on decreasing ability to perform activities of daily living, such as school work. The fear, of course, is suicide.
It's not hard to find semi-scholarly articles claiming that suicide rates are increased with Asperger's syndrome, but even there we see caveats (emphases mine):
... An increased risk of suicide is observed in persons with Asperger syndrome, with risks possibly rising in proportion to the number and severity of comorbid maladies...
In other words we don't know. My own suspicion is that we'll find:
- cognitive-behavioral therapy is useful
- decrease academic stress
- cautious use of antidepressants -- notoriously tricky in adolescents. May prefer to avoid SSRIs.
