Autistic People’s Experiences with Mental Health Services: an Umbrella Review

Twice as many autistic people as non-autistic people are diagnosed with mental health conditions. However, there are significantly elevated unmet mental healthcare needs and an expanding need-treatment gap. This umbrella review synthesises and appraises reviews relating to autistic people’s access to, and experience with, mental health services. Searches were undertaken in nine databases in 12/22 and 03/24 (PROSPERO CRD42023395760). Reviews were included if they reported on qualitative, quantitative or mixed-methods studies of autistic people’s access to or experiences with mental health services. Two reviewers independently screened 7,622 titles/abstracts and 102 full texts. The 17 included reviews focused on four areas: barriers and facilitators to accessing mental health services ( k = 10), autism training, knowledge, and experience of mental health practitioners ( k = 4), autistic people’s access to, and predictors of access to, mental health services ( k = 5), autistic people’s experience with technology and telehealth in mental health services ( k = 4). Autistic people experience a broad range of challenges when accessing mental healthcare services. Strategies to support access are urgently required to address need-treatment gaps and improve mental health outcomes for autistic people.