Influences on suicidality and suicide-prevention needs for the autistic community: Qualitative insights from multiple perspectives

This publication is included in the Autistic Autism Scholarship Project. six authors of this publication are identified as autistic in the project.

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Kirby, A. V., Feldman, K., Clark, W., Darlington, A., Atisme, A., Duncan-Ishcomer, B., Kripke‐Ludwig, R., Joyce, A., Lee, W., Rodriguez, K., Siddeek, Z., Murthi, K., Keeshin, B., Coon, H., & Nicolaidis, C. (2025). Influences on suicidality and suicide-prevention needs for the autistic community: Qualitative insights from multiple perspectives. Autism, 30(1), 61-73. https://doi.org/10.1177/13623613251368019

Publication date: 4 Sep 2025 Added to AutiHub: 22 Aug 2026 Type: Article Article language: English
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Authors

Publication authors
15
Publication authors identified as autistic
6 / 15 (40.0%)
  1. Anne V. Kirby
  2. Kristina Feldman
  3. W. Clark
  4. Amber Darlington
  5. Alissa Atisme
  1. Bobbi Duncan-Ishcomer *
  2. Rachel Kripke‐Ludwig *
  3. Andrea Joyce *
  4. Whitney Lee *
  5. Kayla Rodriguez *
  1. Zack Siddeek *
  2. Kavitha Murthi
  3. Brooks Keeshin
  4. Hilary Coon
  5. Christina Nicolaidis

Abstract

Autistic individuals are disproportionately likely to experience suicidal thoughts, feelings, and actions. Addressing suicidality is also a high priority of autistic community members. The goal of this study was to understand broad influences on suicidality and suicide-prevention needs for the autistic community. Using a community-based participatory research approach, we conducted a reflective thematic analysis of qualitative interviews with 16 autistic adults, 8 family members, and 14 mental health providers. Themes summarizing influences on suicidality and suicide-prevention needs centered on three broad thematic concepts: (1) Pervasive negative societal attitudes and social experiences have a lasting impact on autistic people’s feelings of worth; (2) negative experiences and stressors add strain, making life feel overwhelming and hopeless; and (3) difficulty regulating and managing emotions can increase the likelihood of suicidal feelings and actions. Participants provided autism-specific recommendations to incorporate into suicide prevention. The findings emphasize the need for multifaceted suicide-prevention efforts supporting autistic people through improved societal treatment, community-level supports, and individually tailored services. Lay Abstract Autistic people experience suicidal thoughts, feelings, and actions more often than non-autistic people. Autistic community members say this is an important research topic. The goal of this study was to understand broadly what kinds of things might lead autistic people to feel suicidal. We also wanted to know what is needed for suicide prevention for the autistic community. The research team for this study included autistic community partners using an approach called community-based participatory research. The study team did interviews with 16 autistic adults, 8 family members, and 14 mental health providers. The results show that different types of experiences can lead to suicidality. One influence is the negative treatment of autistic people. Negative experiences, challenges, and stressors can also make life feel overwhelming for autistic people. Finally, difficult emotions can be hard to manage. There are many things that participants thought would help autistic people feel less suicidal. The study shows that autistic people need to be treated better and need more community supports to help prevent suicidal feelings. They need individualized services to help manage their emotions.

Bibliography cited by this reference

Cited references are imported from external metadata sources when they are available. The list may be partial.

Cited bibliography overview

These indicators describe the bibliography cited by this publication. An author name is counted each time it appears in one cited reference, so the same person can be counted more than once. Names not yet linked to an author already present in AutiHub are treated as unknown, not as non-autistic. Last computed: 17 Oct 2026 01:27.

Cited references
54
With a DOI
50
Without a DOI, from raw bibliography text
4
16 / 54 (29.6%) cited references include at least one author identified as autistic.
References with data to complete
2 / 54 (3.7%)
References with detected author names
52 / 54 (96.3%)
Without detected author names
2
Without a structured title
2
Without a stable identifier
3
References with raw author names still to review
0
References with external metadata lookup issues
0
These indicators apply to cited references displayed on this page, after technical duplicates have been merged. A reference without a DOI can still support author statistics when a title and author names are available.
Author names detected in the cited bibliography
254
From DOI or external metadata
254
From validated raw bibliography text
0
Raw names already validated
0
Raw names still to review
2
170 / 254 (66.9%) names are linked to an author already present in AutiHub. 84 / 254 (33.1%) names are not yet linked.
Names linked to a person identified as autistic
43 / 254 (16.9%)
Calculated across all author names detected in the cited bibliography. Among names linked to an author already present in AutiHub: 43 / 170 (25.3%). Distinct people identified as autistic: 30 / 186 (16.1%).
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