Advancing our understanding of self-harm, suicidal thoughts and behaviours in autism

Until recently, self-harm, suicidal thoughts and behaviours have not received extensive attention in autism research. The extant research evidence indicates high rates of selfharm and suicidality in autistic people, but little research exploring why, or how this could be prevented. This special issue brings together a guest editorial team of autism, self-harm and suicide researchers, to enable researchers internationally to present scientific developments on the topic of self-harm, suicidal thoughts and behaviours in autistic people. Here we present the most recent advances in this important topic, and recommendations for future research in light of the autism community’s priorities for suicide prevention.