Anxiety disorders
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What is anxiety?
Anxiety is a natural response to stress or perceived threats. Feeling anxious is a normal part of life. Many worry about things such as health, money, school, work, or family.
But anxiety disorders involve more than occasional worry or fear. For people with them, anxiety is constant, is felt in many situations (including ones that were previously enjoyable), and can get worse over time, especially if untreated by a medical professional.
How common is anxiety?
Anxiety disorders are among the most common co-occurring conditions in autistic people. They are not alone. About one-third of all U.S. adolescents and adults experience an anxiety disorder, per the American Psychological Association (APA), and rates have been steadily rising.
Signs of anxiety in autism
Anxiety can intensify challenges associated with autism, such as social withdrawal, stronger rigidity and insistence upon routines. It can also lead to shutting down, self-injury and/or aggression. Sensory overload, social difficulties, and changes in routine can worsen anxiety. Many people with autism have difficulty controlling anxiety once something triggers it.
Because people with autism may have trouble assessing and expressing how they feel, behavior often provides the best clues in those experiencing anxiety. Anxiety can trigger a racing heart, rapid breathing, muscle tension, stomach aches, sweating and obsessive thoughts. Some may experience panic attacks, a sudden wave of fear or discomfort or a sense of losing control even when there is no clear danger or trigger.
Social anxiety, a persistent and/or intense fear of new people, crowds and social situations, is especially common among people with autism with studies indicating as many as 50% of autistic people experience it. By nature, social situations are unpredictable and can take a lot of energy from autistic people to process.
Anxiety can be a long-term condition and in severe cases, become incapacitating. For example, working, socializing, or daily living tasks may be difficult or impossible to do. The experience of anxiety can lead to depression or other mental health issues. When not managed, it can make autism symptoms worse. So it’s important that it is diagnosed and addressed by a mental health professional.
Treatment options for anxiety and providers who can help
Recently neuroscientists discovered structural differences in autistic people’s amygdala, the brain’s emotion and fear center, that indicate anxiety is different for those with autism spectrum disorder than it is for everyone else. It only makes sense then that management would be different for autistic people, too. Unfortunately, few studies have been conducted on the treatment of anxiety in autistic adults, and fewer useful conclusions around best practices have been made.
However, anxiety disorders are highly treatable. There are many effective treatments to help manage and significantly reduce anxiety symptoms in autistic people. These include but are not limited to: cognitive behavioral therapy (CBT), occupational therapy (to address sensory needs), applied behavior analysis (ABA) and medication. Explore these in Common mental health therapies and treatment for autistic people.
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