Autism Spectrum Disorder ASD & Anxiety: What’s the link?

A Quick Guide

Autism spectrum disorder is a neurodevelopmental disorder characterized by problems in social communication, limited interests, and repetitive patterns of behaviors. Even though anxiety is not a core aspect of ASD, approximately, 40% of individuals with Autism spectrum disorder also have some type of anxiety disorder. So it is crucial to identify anxiety in ASD so it can be treated accordingly. Because otherwise, it can lead to many problems in a person’s life, including depression, aggression, or self-harming tendencies. 

How does anxiety manifest in children with ASD?

When autistic children experience worry or anxiety, they may express it in ways that are similar to typical autism symptoms including compulsive and ritualistic behavior, and intolerance to routine changes. Additionally, autistic kids can’t always express their anxiety to you since they have a hard time recognizing their own nervous thoughts and sensations. As a substitute, you can see a rise in difficult behavior. Your anxious child might, for instance:

• Have greater difficulty sleeping
• Have temper tantrums or meltdowns
• Increasingly depend on obsessions and routines, such as spinning or aligning things.
• Perform hurtful acts toward themselves, such as hand-biting, skin-scratching, or head-bashing.
• Shrink from or avoid social interactions
• Stim with hands flapping, spinning, or rocking
• Stress considerably more on consistency and repetition

How do you recognize anxiety?

Due to some overlapping symptoms and different symptom presentations in children with ASD, it can be challenging to identify the presence of anxiety. Children with little verbal ability may be unable to communicate their internal feelings (such as concern), instead displaying anxiety through disruptive behaviors. Similarly, those with verbal fluency may struggle to comprehend and articulate their own feelings. Typically, anxiety may manifest differently at various points along the duration of ASD and in accordance with different environmental demands such as:

Obsessive-compulsive disorder (OCD)

It is characterized by intrusive and unwanted thoughts and partaking in compulsive behaviors, which frequently coexist with autism spectrum disorder (ASD). It is crucial to recognize co-occurring OCD in these children because, unlike repetitive behaviors typical of ASD, compulsions are used as a coping method for reducing anxiety.

Learn more on How To Deal With High Functioning Anxiety?

Other atypical anxiety symptoms

These include severe levels of distress caused by changes in a person’s routine or environment. Children and young adults with ASD frequently experience these.

Separation anxiety

It can develop when a child must split from attachment figures, such as when leaving the family for college. Social impairment may cause overly protective behaviors from parents, reinforcing the child’s avoidance behavior.

Social Anxiety

It is characterized as a severe fear or anxiety of being negatively evaluated in a social or performance circumstance, which can also make a child avoid social situations. Social communication deficit may highlight the emergence of social anxiety as the child matures and the environment becomes more demanding, particularly if the child is high functioning and conscious of his or her social inadequacy. In addition to limiting the child’s opportunities to practice social skills, it increases the risk of negative peer responses and even bullying.

Specific phobia

Children with ASD who are overly sensitive to sensory input, such as noisy environments, may acquire specific phobias early in the course of the disorder. These phobias typically include very odd stimuli such as commercial jingles, balloon popping, toilet flushing, alarms at school, etc. Specific phobias in these children may also appear as a fear such as the dark, insects, needing to pee, etc.

We hope you found this article useful in understanding more about the link between Autism Spectrum Disorder ASD and Anxiety. Learn more about Common Comorbid Psychiatric Disorders In Autism.