Mirabel Pelton

Coventry University | CU · Centre for Intelligent Healthcare

Autistic adults experience more frequent suicidal thoughts and mental health difficulties than non-autistic people, but research has yet to explain how these experiences are connected. This study explored how anxiety and depression contribute to suicidal thoughts according to Interpersonal Theory of Suicide for autistic and non-autistic adults. Par...

Importance: The behavioral and cognitive symptoms of severe psychotic disorders overlap with those seen in dementia. However, shared brain alterations remain disputed, and their relevance for patients in at-risk disease stages has not been explored so far. Objective: To use machine learning to compare the expression of structural magnetic resona...

Subtle subjective visual dysfunctions (VisDys) are reported by about 50% of patients with schizophrenia and are suggested to predict psychosis states. Deeper insight into VisDys, particularly in early psychosis states, could foster the understanding of basic disease mechanisms mediating susceptibility to psychosis, and thereby inform preventive int...

Cannabis use during adolescence is associated with an increased risk of developing psychosis. According to a current hypothesis, this results from detrimental effects of early cannabis use on brain maturation during this vulnerable period. However, studies investigating the interaction between early cannabis use and brain structural alterations hit...

In schizophrenia, neurocognitive subtypes can be distinguished based on cognitive performance and they are associated with neuroanatomical alterations. We investigated the existence of cognitive subtypes in shortly medicated recent onset psychosis patients, their underlying gray matter volume patterns and clinical characteristics. We used a K-means...

The current study explored whether people who camouflage autistic traits are more likely to experience thwarted belongingness and suicidality, as predicted by the Interpersonal Psychological Theory of Suicide (IPTS). 160 UK undergraduate students (86.9% female, 18-23 years) completed a cross-sectional online survey from 8th February-30th May 2019 i...

This study explored whether the Interpersonal Theory of suicide informs our understanding of high rates of suicidality in autistic adults. Autistic and non-autistic adults (n = 695, mean age 41.7 years, 58% female) completed an online survey of self-reported thwarted belonging, perceived burden, autistic traits, suicidal capability, trauma, and lif...

Depression frequently occurs in first-episode psychosis (FEP) and predicts longer-term negative outcomes. It is possible that this depression is seen primarily in a distinct subgroup, which if identified could allow targeted treatments. We hypothesize that patients with recent-onset psychosis (ROP) and comorbid depression would be identifiable by s...

Background Bullying as a specific subtype of adverse life events is a major risk factor for poor mental health. Although many questionnaires on bullying are available, so far none covers bullying retrospectively throughout school and working life. To close this gap, the Bullying Scale for Adults (BSA) was designed. Methods Based on data of 622 par...

Background: Autistic adults are more likely to engage in suicidal thoughts and behaviours but there is little research to explore the underlying reasons. It is unclear whether self-report suicide scales that have been designed for non-autistic people accurately measure suicide risk constructs in autistic people. Therefore, this study explored, for...

This poster sets out the background and proposed studies for my PhD. Please let me know what you think!

Autistic adults are more likely to die by suicide than the general population but no validated measures exist to understand risk. This study asks whether autistic people are more likely to acquire ‘capability’ for suicide, as described by the Interpersonal Theory of Suicide (ITS). It hypothesises that autistic people experience more painful and fri...

There is increasing recognition of the co-occurrence of autism and schizophrenia spectrum disorders. However, the clinical significance of this on outcomes such as depression and suicidal thinking has not been explored. This study examines the association of autism spectrum traits, depressive symptoms and suicidal behaviour in individuals with psyc...

Lay summary: Recent research has shown that people with high autistic traits are more likely to attempt suicide. However, no studies have explored why. We found that people with high autistic traits were more likely to experience feelings that they do not belong in the world, are a burden on others, and depression, which may increase their likelih...