Love Is a Battlefield for People With Autism

Seventy-two percent of people with autism also meet the diagnostic criteria for posttraumatic stress disorder (Reuben, K.E., Stanzione, C.M, and Singleton, J. L., 2021) There are a number of reasons for this. In general, neurotypicals tend to find autistic people aversive. This can lead to social trauma from bullying and abuse. Autistic people also have difficulty reading social cues that neurotypicals take for granted. This social impairment is one of the defining features of autism and leads to autistic people being easy targets for abusers. Autistic people can struggle with loneliness and isolation so when someone is willing to let them into their lives, they often jump in with joy and are unable to see the red flags that surround people who are abusive and/or toxic. Read More