Autism and Psychosis: Why We Need New Stories
Autism and psychosis are two words that rarely appear together outside of a diagnostic manual. For many, they belong to separate worlds of psychiatry, carrying with them layers of misunderstanding and fear. However these two states of being often co-occur, and when they do, people like me are left searching for language and for care that doesn’t exist.
This is why I wrote A Guide to Autism and Psychosis.
For too long, Autistic people who experience psychosis have been erased from both autistic spaces and psychiatric ones. In one world, we are told psychosis is too messy, too pathological to belong in conversations about autism. In the world of psychiatry, we are treated as if our Autistic identity is incidental.
But I believe our lives demand a more integrated story.
Autism and psychosis are not mutually exclusive. They shape and inform one another. They intersect with all aspects of Autistic experience. We are not Autistic and Psychotic in isolation, pur neurocognitive style is a composite of these experiences, with each influencing the other; and when services fail to see this complexity, people like us fall through the cracks.
This book is not written from the detached gaze of a clinician. It is written from lived experience. It is part memoir, part guide, part manifesto. My aim was to create something that could speak both to Autistic people navigating psychosis and to all who support us.
Inside, you’ll find:
A reframing of psychosis beyond the pathologising lens of psychiatry.
Exploration of how Autistic perception and monotropism influence psychotic experiences.
Reflections on trauma, addiction, and burnout as they intertwine with psychosis.
Practical considerations for support, and self-understanding.
Above all, you’ll find the insistence that Autistic people deserve to tell our own stories and write our own narratives.
Why Now?
Throughout September, Amazon have made the Kindle edition of A Guide to Autism and Psychosis available for just £0.99. This is am invitation.
An invitation to rethink old assumptions.
An invitation to hear a story rarely told.
If you’ve ever wondered how autism and psychosis intersect, whether because of your own life, the life of someone you love, or the work you do, this book is for you.
Get your copy here for £0.99/on Kindle throughout September
A Final Thought
We live in a world that still treats both autism and psychosis as pathologies to be cured, rather than ways of being that deserve understanding and respect. Every time one of us tells our story, we chip away at that narrative.
This book is one such story. I hope you’ll read it, not just for me, but for the many Autistic people whose experiences of psychosis remain invisible.
Click Here To Pick up A Guide to Autism and Psychosis on Kindle for £0.99 this September
