What You Are Hiding Could Be Hurting You: Autistic Masking in Relation to Mental Health, Interpersonal Trauma, Authenticity, and Self-Esteem.

The results of this study highlight the relationship between autistic masking and past interpersonal trauma, finding that autistic masking behavior is associated with mental health, self-esteem, and authenticity risks for autistic adults. We call into question the teaching of autistic masking strategies in therapies and education programs for autistic people based on the negative associations with autistic masking presented in this study and other research in this field.