Camouflage and autism
Open accessAbstract
The theme of camouflage recently gained unexpected momentum in autism research. Symposia and panel discussions are devoted to ‘ camouflage’ in autism conferences. Because of its association with intended deception, the term camouflage has poor fit with the autism world. However, psychopathologists have a long tradition of resorting to camouflage‐like terminology, from Freud’s reaction formation, to pseudoschizophrenia, to Winnicott’s false self, to masked depression, and even to the recent quasi‐autism, artfully telling us that what we see is actually not what we see but rather what we cannot see. Is ‘Camouflaged Autism’ the next in line nosographical pearl?
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Discussions about the validity and conceptual clarity of the so-called female autism phenotype, camouflaging and the female protective effect are ongoing.
“Discussions about the validity and conceptual clarity of the so-called female (autism) phenotype106,309,310, camouflaging109,311–315 and female protective effect226,316 are ongoing.”
From Sex and gender in neurodevelopmental conditions (2023) · cites this paper as [311]
The validity and reliability of camouflaging measures are not well established.
“Recent discussions and commentaries highlight potential problems within the field including variations in operationalisations and measurement approaches, under-established validity and reliability across measures, and a lack of representativeness within study samples (Fombonne, 2020;Lai et al., 2020;Williams, 2021).”
From Camouflaging in autism: A systematic review (2021) · cites this paper as Fombonne, 2020
Variations in how camouflaging is operationalised and measured are a problem in the field.
“Recent discussions and commentaries highlight potential problems within the field including variations in operationalisations and measurement approaches, under-established validity and reliability across measures, and a lack of representativeness within study samples (Fombonne, 2020;Lai et al., 2020;Williams, 2021).”
From Camouflaging in autism: A systematic review (2021) · cites this paper as Fombonne, 2020
There is currently no consensus on many of the associations between camouflaging and other constructs.
“Currently, a lack of consensus exists regarding many of these associations.”
From Camouflaging in autism: A systematic review (2021) · cites this paper as Fombonne, 2020
Study samples in the field lack representativeness.
“Recent discussions and commentaries highlight potential problems within the field including variations in operationalisations and measurement approaches, under-established validity and reliability across measures, and a lack of representativeness within study samples (Fombonne, 2020;Lai et al., 2020;Williams, 2021).”
From Camouflaging in autism: A systematic review (2021) · cites this paper as Fombonne, 2020
The CAT-Q showed potential as a measure of self-perceived camouflaging, with sound internal consistency and test-retest reliability and generally expected relations with gender, autistic traits, and mental health and wellbeing.
“the CAT-Q showed potential as measure of self-perceived camouflaging, demonstrating sound internal consistency and test-retest reliability and performing generally as expected when tested in relation to gender, autistic traits, and mental health and wellbeing”
From Camouflaging in autism: A systematic review (2021) · cites this paper as Fombonne, 2020
Several behaviours and strategies on self-report measures appear to overlap with established constructs such as social anxiety or safety behaviours, impression management, and passing.
“several behaviours and strategies included on self-report measures appear to overlap with behaviours associated with more established constructs such as social anxiety/safety behaviours, impression management, and passing (Fombonne et al., 2020;Lai et al., 2020;Williams, 2021).”
From Camouflaging in autism: A systematic review (2021) · cites this paper as Fombonne et al., 2020
Self-report and internal-external discrepancy methods have not been directly compared for concurrent validity in measuring the same underlying construct.
“self-report and internal-external discrepancy methods have not been directly compared, to determine the extent to which these show concurrent validity in measuring the same underlying construct (Fombonne, 2020).”
From Camouflaging in autism: A systematic review (2021) · cites this paper as Fombonne, 2020
Lower rates of males and men in self-report studies may have led to under-identification of camouflaging behaviours and strategies specific to those groups.
“the lower rates of males and men in self-report studies may have also resulted in the under identification of camouflaging behaviours and strategies specifically used by these groups (Fombonne, 2020).”
From Camouflaging in autism: A systematic review (2021) · cites this paper as Fombonne, 2020
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Cites
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Self-citationA radical change in our autism research strategy is needed: Back to prototypes
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- Authors
- Fombonne, E.
- Affiliations
- Oregon Health & Science University (US)
- Corresponding author
- Fombonne, Eric
- ORCID
- Fombonne, Eric
- Venue
- Journal of Child Psychology and Psychiatry
- Publisher
- Wiley
- Published
- 2020-07
- Volume
- 61
- Issue
- 7
- Pages
- 735-738
- ISSN
- 0021-9630 (ISSN-L)
- 1469-7610
- OpenAlex
- W3043705882
- Cited by
- 134
- References
- 12
- Citations by year
- 2026: 13 · 2025: 20 · 2024: 28 · 2023: 25 · 2022: 24 · 2021: 23 · 2020: 1
- Type
- journal article
- Language
- en
- Open access
- bronze
- doi.org
- Locations
- Journal of Child Psychology and Psychiatry (publishedVersion)
- PubMed (publishedVersion)
- Topics
- Life Sciences › Neuroscience › Cognitive Neuroscience › Autism Spectrum Disorder Research
- Social Sciences › Psychology › Clinical Psychology › Psychology and Mental Health
- Social Sciences › Psychology › Clinical Psychology › Psychoanalysis and Psychopathology Research
- Keywords
- autism spectrum disorder, camouflage, reaction formation, false self, masked depression, disease classification, autism diagnosis
- MeSH terms
- Biological Mimicry, Autistic Disorder, Child, Female, Humans, Deception, Male, Models, Psychological
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