Self-compassion as an antidote to self-stigma and shame in autistic adults

What is already known about the topic? Autistic individuals are frequently exposed to stigmatizing attitudes and discrimination. Negative stereotypes about autism, such as dangerousness or inability to work, are very frequent in our societies. Through exposure to these stigmatizing ideas, autistic people can internalize these ideas and begin to believe them to be true about themselves. This is self-stigma. Past research conducted with non-autistic individuals indicate that self-stigma can lead people to feel ashamed of who they are and deteriorate their mental health. What this paper adds? In this paper, we found that self-stigma in autistic people increases depressive symptoms through feelings of shame. We then showed that relating to self with compassion -- that is, to be friendly toward oneself (kindness), be aware of one’s feelings and thoughts (mindful awareness) and realize that everyone feels pain and makes mistakes (common humanity) -- helps reducing the negatives consequences of self-stigma on mental health. We also demonstrated that camouflaging does not modify the impact of self-stigma on mental health. Implications for practice, research or policy? Because self-compassion can protect from the negative effects of self-stigma, future research should explore how to adapt existing compassion focused interventions and evaluate their feasibility and efficacy to reduce self-stigma and shame in autistic people.