Autistic psychiatrists’ experiences of recognising themselves and others as autistic: a qualitative study

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

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Doherty, M., Chown, N., Martin, N., & Shaw, S. C. (2024). Autistic psychiatrists’ experiences of recognising themselves and others as autistic: a qualitative study. BJPsych Open, 10(6), e183-e183. https://doi.org/10.1192/bjo.2024.756

Journal or book title
BJPsych Open
Publisher
Royal College of Psychiatrists
Volume
10
Issue
6
Pages
e183-e183
Article number
e183
Publication date: 30 Oct 2024 Added to AutiHub: 5 Jul 2026 Type: Article Article language: English
Publisher source (DOI) Full text OpenAlex source

This publication is integrated into AutiHub through:

Authors

Publication authors
4
Publication authors identified as autistic
3 / 4 (75.0%)
  1. Mary Doherty *
  2. Nicholas Chown *
  3. Nicola Martin
  4. Sebastian C.K. Shaw *

Abstract

BACKGROUND: Diagnosis of autism falls under the remit of psychiatry. Recognition that psychiatrists could be autistic is recent. Psychiatrists are the second largest specialty group in Autistic Doctors International, a peer support group for autistic doctors. AIMS: To explore the experiences of autistic psychiatrists in relation to recognising themselves and others as autistic. METHOD: This was a qualitative study using loosely structured interviews and an interpretive phenomenological analysis. RESULTS: Eight autistic senior psychiatrists based in the UK participated. One had a childhood diagnosis, two had been diagnosed in adulthood and the remainder self-identified as autistic as adults. Recognition of autism followed diagnosis of their children or encounters with autistic patients. Barriers to self-recognition included lack of autism training, the deficit-based diagnostic criteria and stereotypical views of autism. Recognising that they were autistic led to the realisation that many colleagues were also likely to be autistic, particularly in neurodevelopmental psychiatry. All participants reported the ability to quickly recognise autistic patients and to develop a good rapport easily, once they were aware of their own autistic identity. Difficulties recognising patients as autistic occurred before self-recognition when they shared autistic characteristics and experiences. 'If we don't recognise ourselves as autistic how on earth can we diagnose patients accurately?' CONCLUSIONS: Autistic psychiatrists face multiple barriers to recognising that they are autistic. Lack of self-recognition may impede diagnostic accuracy with autistic patients. Self-recognition and disclosure by autistic psychiatrists may be facilitated by reframing the traditional deficit-based view of autism towards a neurodiversity-affirmative approach, with consequent benefits for autistic patients.

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: 2 Oct 2026 11:54.

Cited references
46
With a DOI
40
Without a DOI, from raw bibliography text
6
14 / 46 (30.4%) cited references include at least one author identified as autistic.
References with data to complete
4 / 46 (8.7%)
References with detected author names
42 / 46 (91.3%)
Without detected author names
4
Without a structured title
3
Without a stable identifier
6
References with raw author names still to review
3
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
187
From DOI or external metadata
187
From validated raw bibliography text
0
Raw names already validated
0
Raw names still to review
3
102 / 187 (54.5%) names are linked to an author already present in AutiHub. 85 / 187 (45.5%) names are not yet linked.
Names linked to a person identified as autistic
33 / 187 (17.6%)
Calculated across all author names detected in the cited bibliography. Among names linked to an author already present in AutiHub: 33 / 102 (32.4%). Distinct people identified as autistic: 17 / 164 (10.4%).
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