When Mental Health and Neurodivergence Overlap: Understanding Anxiety, Depression, OCD, and Eating Disorders in Autistic and ADHD Young People

What Will You Learn?

• Explain why neurodivergent young people experience mental health conditions at higher rates, using specific biological, psychological, and social reasons
• Recognise how anxiety, depression, OCD, and eating disorders present differently in autistic and ADHD young people compared to standard clinical descriptions
• Identify when a behaviour or difficulty is a neurodivergent trait being pathologised rather than a genuine mental health condition
• Describe the role masking and camouflaging play in driving burnout and mental health deterioration, and explain what reducing that load looks like in practice
• Distinguish between autistic burnout and depression, and know when and how to seek appropriate support for each
• Support a neurodivergent young person through anxiety without inadvertently increasing demand, distress, or the pressure to perform wellness
• Evaluate whether a proposed mental health intervention is likely to be a good fit for a neurodivergent young person, and identify what adaptations to ask for
• Know exactly what questions to ask and what to look for when seeking mental health support for a neurodivergent child or young person