At last I have got around to responding to Professor Dame Uta Frith's TES piece, in which she questions the autism spectrum

In a nutshell, I disagree...

"yes, autism is a broad and diverse category — that doesn’t mean there’s something wrong with the category itself"

medium.com/@suefletcher...

5 yrs ago @shanclapoint.bsky.social and I found most autism intervention studies published in ABA journals were authored by researchers who were also clinicians/ consultants, but this COI was almost never declared. We have an update! Things are now... worse! 1/6 journals.sagepub.com/doi/epdf/10....

Masking varies so much between and within people - and we still don't know how masking of autism interacts with other aspects of identity. Understanding each individual's experience of masking is the best way to support them. 4/4

In clinical settings, the CAT-Q may be useful as a starting point for discussions about masking. But it should not be used to determine whether or not someone is autistic, or as an outcome to evaluate interventions. 3/4

Key takeaways: The CAT-Q was developed as a research tool but doesn't capture all aspects of camouflaging; more tools and better evaluations of them are needed for research purposes. 2/4

New paper alert! We summarise current knowledge on how to use the CAT-Q in research and clinical settings, and offer recommendations on what (not) to do, as well as priorities for future research. 1/4

The Use and Misuse of the Camouflaging Autistic Traits Questionnaire in Autism Research and Clinical Practice: Issues, Considerations, and Suggestions - Benjamin Ross Hannon, Laura Hull, Meng-Chuan La... In this Perspective, we summarize the evidence to date around the use of the Camouflaging Autistic Traits Questionnaire (CAT-Q) as a tool in research and clinic...

Sharing our opinions and words of caution on the (mis)use of the Camouflaging Autistic Traits
Questionnaire (CAT-Q), via @autisminadulthood.bsky.social :
journals.sagepub.com/doi/10.1177/...

Are we really overdiagnosing mental illness? It’s tempting to dismiss the proliferation of labels as a fad, but there’s more to this phenomenon than a simple culture-war reading allows

I'm in the Guardian today, writing about the question of overdiagnosis of mental illness. I argue we need to stop seeing this as a binary yes/no question - is overdiagnosis happening or is the increase real? - and acknowledge that multiple things can be happening at once

tinyurl.com/yzsey97c

NHS closed Tavistock over care complaints – there were only eight An eye-opening FOI report has revealed that just eight people complained about the Tavistock gender clinic's care provision in 10 years.

In a functional country, this would be a scandal. A service suffering only from chronic underfunding was ripped apart because the media created a myth of 1000s of complaints of malpractice. The truth - as in my family’s experience - was very different.
www.thepinknews.com/2026/02/11/n...

I'm editing a Special Collection for Women's Health on autistic women and girls' health and wellbeing -
particularly interested in submissions from the Global South and with under-researched groups! journals.sagepub.com/topic/collec...

Autistic traits and suicidality in midlife and old age: investigating mediating effects of mental health and social connectedness - Nature Mental Health Nuzum et al. used cross-sectional data from the UK PROTECT study to evaluate the relationship between high autistic traits and suicidality in older adults.

Another new open-access paper (w/ Dr Elly Nuzum, Prof Josh Stott and Dr Amber John) has been published in Nature Mental Health!

Using data from PROTECT (n=9979, age 50+), we found that the relationship between #autistic traits and #suicidality was mediated by mental health and social problems.

Symptom change in depression and anxiety during psychological therapy for autistic adults - Nature Mental Health Pender et al. evaluated depression and anxiety symptom trajectories in autistic adults receiving routine therapy in UK primary care.

Our new study, just published in Nature Mental Health: Symptom change in depression and anxiety during psychological therapy for autistic adults... [1/8]

🧵⤵️

#autres #mentalhealth

www.nature.com/articles/s44...

Are you an autistic person aged 18+ from the Global Majority, who has received talking therapy for support around anxiety? We hope to include a diverse range of voices to inform our study, which involves a 75 minute online interview. To find out more, please follow this link: dub.sh/LzKn6is

Are you an autistic person aged 18+ who camouflages, and is interested to take part in a study evaluating support for people who camouflage? It involves 3 support sessions, weekly questionnaires, and a final interview. To find out more, please follow this link - qualtrics.ucl.ac.uk/jfe/form/SV_...

#AutRes #devpsy

An advert for an online survey measuring masking in children. Contact laura.hull at bristol.ac.uk for more information.

Research request: looking for parents and teachers to help me pilot a new questionnaire of masking behaviours in children. As long as you are a parent/teacher of children aged 8-12 in the UK (whether they are neurodivergent or not) you're eligible! Contact me (email below) for more info.

Congratulations Lizzie!!

Photo of a tortoiseshell cat sitting in the sun with eyes closed and a contented expression

#HiSciSky Finally dipping my toes into this brave new world! I'm a researcher at the University of Bristol looking at masking/camouflaging and mental health in neurodivergent people. Have a cat picture (Minna enjoying the sunshine)! #AcademicSky #AutRes