Interview with Professor Tony Attwood: autism and mental health

Professor Tony Attwood is an international author, Clinical Psychologist and consultant and Professor at Griffith University, Queensland. Tony has written several publications on Asperger's Syndrome. His book, Asperger's Syndrome, has now been translated into several languages.

Professor Tony Attwood kindly agreed to be interviewed for Network Autism when he attended the NAS Autism and Mental Health Conference in May this year. We asked Tony a series of questions: you can view the full interview or clips of the individual questions below.

Full interview

Individual question clips

1. Can you tell us how you initially started to work in the field of autism?

2. You have written extensively on Asperger syndrome, what lead you to focus on this in particular?

3. You have been a leading voice in autism for a number of years, can you tell us how you have seen autism change over this period?

4. What is meant by differential diagnosis?

5. Can you tell us a little about why it is important to distinguish mental health and autism?

6. Can you tell us more about CBT and what adaptions need to be made to CBT to make it effective for autistic people?

7. What do you think is the most important thing for professionals to understand in terms of autism and mental health?

8. One of your key areas of interest is gender and autism, particularly women. How have you seen understanding of this area grow over the past 10 years?

9. What key advice would you have for professionals working with autistic people?

10. What are your views on Asperger syndrome being removed from the DSM and, potentially, being removed from the ICD?

Author: Professor Tony Attwood

Date added: 12th August 2015