Your son seems to be the one person in a million, perhaps literally, who is in my particular situation! I figure you and him have pretty much tried everything by this point to get him back to normal, and I understand how it can lead to discouragement. I know what it's like to try and try and try and try and try and try and try, and STILL not succeed, not just at fixing the aforementioned symptoms, but at many goals I would like to accomplish. I say that because I figure he can say the same thing regarding himself.

I am sorry to hear that your son is having a very rough time. As for your son's depression, my advice would be to guard the way he thinks about himself. Having intrusive thoughts, I know well that defeatist and discouraging thoughts are going to pop in his head regardless of whether or not he is wilfully choosing to think on them, but I believe it would make a significant difference if he does not wilfully think such things. Much of the time depression is rooted in the way we think about ourselves and life. I make sure to guard my thoughts and I believe the peace I have regarding my situation is due in large part from this. Doesn't mean I'm thrilled about everything that goes wrong in my life, but I'm not consumed by it.

I was pleased to see your reply and know that there's somebody out there who's in the same boat as I am.

@asdmom Welcome to Mayo Clinic Connect. It sounds like you and @klash89 can certainly share common experiences, and they offered some great insight.

I think that for many of us on the autism spectrum also deal with depression of some sort. It may come from feeling we are so different, how we live, how we view the world, etc. It's hard to get out of that rut, and can take a lot of work. For me, finding something that engages my sense of accomplishment has helped. It reminds me that I can do something.
Ginger

As I said in the initial post, it is likely that my condition is related to hyperstimulation, given the symptoms. Actually, I strongly suspect that is what it is. In case your son has not tried this yet, give relaxation techniques a shot. In particular, guided imagery relaxation exercises can help to temporarily lower intrusive thoughts, which can then make it easier to relax. It did not help to lower my intrusive thoughts, but it might work for him. For people trying to recover from hyperstimulation, it usually takes 3 months of daily practicing relaxation exercises (30 minutes twice daily) to first notice improvement in symptoms. The process can be sped up by pouring in more time for doing it in a day. I'll point out that it's not considered healthy to go for more than 2 hours total of relaxation practice in a day.

In addition, screen use may be playing a role in the progression of his symptoms. I would recommend that he uses the computer, phone, etc. at a low brightness, not for more than 2 hours in a day, and that it not involve much stimulating elements, like rapidly changing colors. Video games in particular can overstimulate someone with ASD. And if you have not tried this yet, abstinence from electronics for a few months should be given a shot (except when using them is necessary), at the same time you try the relaxation techniques.

Bear in mind that I did all of this and it still did not help, but it has helped others with hyperstimulation. If your son does this stuff and still does not improve, tell him that it did not work for me either and that he's not alone. Also, it may be a sign that ASD can complicate hyperstimulation and prevent recovery in a way that the medical community is not yet aware of.

Of course, given the fact that he has probably been in this mess for a long time, y'all may have already tried this stuff. I just wanted to give this advice in case you haven't.

@asdmom I think in this past month I have finally found something that, I think, is bringing real results in regard to my condition with hyperstimulation. I experimented with spending huge chunks of my days lying in bed sleeping, I'm talking about 5-7 hours. I started doing that each day around Dec. 16th of last year, and also keeping energy output lower. Since I started that, there have been periods of time on some days recently in which the intrusive thoughts noticeably back off. And this very morning, I woke up and my body actually felt somewhat like getting up, which is a rare occurrence. Although, I continued to stay in bed after that until my alarm went off, and when I woke up then, that energy was gone, strangely. I have known that in order to combat hyperstimulation one needs to give the body rest, but what I didn't realize is that in my particular case that rest needed to come in the form of lots and lots of sleep. Still not 100% sure this will ultimately end up working, as my symptoms are still very much there, but this condition is SUPPOSED to take a long time to recover from, around a year's length of time. I'm just saying that this new method I'm trying has been bringing noticeably better results than any thing I have previously tried. Actually, everything else I tried would bring in little to no results at all. I have been supplementing this rest with making sure to use electronic screens as little as possible and practicing relaxation techniques. I am finding that since I began my sleep campaign, some of the relaxation techniques seem to be more effective. Sleeping all day isn't a lifestyle I can recommend, UNLESS somebody is stuck with my condition and nothing else works. Let me add that I have been making sure to get in 30 minutes of walking each day to maintain a decent amount of exercise.