‘If I don’t Do It, I’m Out of Rhythm and I Can’t Focus As Well’: Positive and Negative Adult Interpretations of Therapies Aimed at ‘Fixing’ Their Restricted and Repetitive Behaviours in Childhood
Open accessAbstract
Restricted and repetitive behaviours (RRBs) are observed in many children presenting with characteristics of autism and are frequently the targets of psychological interventions. This study used Interpretative Phenomenological Analysis (IPA) to identify positive and negative interpretations from four young adults who received behavioural interventions in their childhood designed to ‘fix’ RRBs. Two superordinate themes were identified: (1) Doubt, stigma and being fixed according to others, and (2) Embracing Authenticity. They highlighted juxtaposed positions from exclusion, rejection, criticism, and self-doubt in childhood, to rejecting societal censure and embracing authentic growth in adult life. As adults, though the participants recognised themselves as neurologically different from others, they redefined themselves through a lens of neurodiversity, and therefore as not needing to be fixed.
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McCormack et al. (2023) showed in a qualitative study that reduction of core autistic traits, such as restricted and repetitive behaviours, can lead to worse mental health outcomes, including increased depression, anxiety, and stress levels.
“For example,McCormack et al. (2023) showed in a qualitative study that the reduction of core autistic traits, such as restricted and repetitive behaviours, can lead to worse mental health outcomes, including increased depression, anxiety, and stress levels.”
From Rethinking psychological interventions in autism: Toward a neurodiversity‐affirming approach. (2025) · cites this paper as McCormack et al., 2023
The Discussion (page unavailable) reports that interventions restrained participants’ repetitive behaviours at the expense of their internal processing, and that one participant said restricting these behaviours caused agitation. The Conclusions (page unavailable) describe distress associated with criticism and interruption of those behaviours. The qualitative study does not show that reducing core autistic traits increased depression, anxiety, and stress levels as specific outcomes. (LLM, conf=0.88)
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Towards Safe Self-Stimulatory Behaviors in Autistic Children: HarmAlert4AutisticChildren (HA4AC)
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- Authors
- McCormack, L., Wong, S. W., & Campbell, L. E.
- Affiliations
- University of Newcastle Australia (AU)
- Corresponding author
- McCormack, Lynne
- Venue
- Journal of Autism and Developmental Disorders
- Published
- 2022-07-04
- Volume
- 53
- Issue
- 9
- Pages
- 3435-3448
- ISSN
- 0162-3257 (ISSN-L)
- 1573-3432
- PMC
- PMC10465631
- OpenAlex
- W4283816207
- Cited by
- 15
- References
- 58
- Citations by year
- 2026: 5 · 2025: 4 · 2024: 3 · 2023: 2 · 2022: 1
- FWCI
- 1.29
- Type
- journal article
- Language
- en
- Open access
- hybrid
- doi.org
- Locations
- Journal of Autism and Developmental Disorders (publishedVersion, cc-by)
- PubMed Central (publishedVersion, cc-by)
- PubMed (publishedVersion)
- Figshare (submittedVersion, cc-by)
- NOVA (University of Newcastle Australia) (submittedVersion, cc-by)
- Funders
- The University of Newcastle
- Topics
- Life Sciences › Neuroscience › Cognitive Neuroscience › Autism Spectrum Disorder Research
- Social Sciences › Psychology › Clinical Psychology › Family and Disability Support Research
- Social Sciences › Psychology › Developmental and Educational Psychology › Behavioral and Psychological Studies
- Keywords
- restricted and repetitive behaviors, autism spectrum disorder, young adults, neurodiversity, stigma, self-doubt, authenticity, adult perspectives
- MeSH terms
- Autism Spectrum Disorder, Autistic Disorder, Behavior Therapy, Child, Emotions, Humans, Young Adult, Social Stigma
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