ASSESSMENT AND TREATMENT OF EMOTION REGULATION IMPAIRMENT IN AUTISM SPECTRUM DISORDER ACROSS THE LIFE SPAN
An authoritative state-of-the-science review framing emotion regulation as a transdiagnostic process — a strong conceptual backbone for how we think about self-regulation in autism.Carla A. Mazefsky, Caitlin M. Conner, Jessie B. Northrup, Kaitlyn E. Breitenfeldt, Kelly B. Beck, Susan W. White
This influential review takes a step back to define what emotion regulation actually is and why its impairment matters so much in autism. It frames regulation as a complex, interactive process spanning neurobiology, cognition, behavior, affect, and context — and traces how impairment shows up and can be addressed from childhood through adulthood. For a field that often treats emotion dysregulation as a symptom to suppress, this piece reframes it as a core, transdiagnostic target worth understanding and supporting directly.