Anxiety
It is not uncommon for children and young people to feel anxious and worried at times, especially those with autism.
Anxiety disorders affect 42% of autistic children compared with just 3% of children without autism
Source: www.autistica.org.uk/what-is-autism/signs-and-symptoms/anxiety-and-autism (29-Aug-23)
There are several types of anxiety that everybody experiences, to some degree, at some point in their lives, such as separation anxiety, general anxiety, social anxiety, demand expectation anxiety, and phobias, to name a few. The degree to which these anxieties may affect a young person will differ, as will the way in which they present.
People with autism experience all the same types of anxiety as everyone else. The difference is is that the way they experience it can be much more overwhelming for them. The reason for this is that people with autism find it more difficult to process and file away aspects of, or the whole of, the scary experiences.
The National Autistic Society suggests that there are four key areas that may relate to anxiety for people with autism. These are:
- Difficulty recognising emotions of self and others
- Sensory sensitivities
- Difficulty with uncertainty, and
- Performance anxiety.
Signs of anxiety
Anxiety may present in various ways depending on the child or young person. In some people the signs are quite obvious, while in others they are more difficult to recognise. Sometimes the signs are easier to spot in certain situations or environments than others. For example, a person might clearly express more anxiety at school than at home, or the other way around. Or they may express more anxiety at school than in a shopping centre, or the other way around. Or they might express more anxiety at family gatherings than alone, or the other way around.
However, environmental factors are not the only causes of anxiety. Other factors can cause or contribute to anxiety, such as an unexpected change in routine, difficulty predicting what is coming next or a misinterpretation of a certain event or interaction.
As children grow into teens, and teens into adults, their understanding of themselves, the world around them, and their role in the world, changes. They learn to adapt and cope to the changing environment, and to their changing awareness of themselves and their world. Sometimes, things that used to trigger anxiety become less scary, as they find and grow their own resilience and ways of coping. Their changing environment and roles invariably means that they encounter new challenges, which become new triggers, for new worries.
How can we support them in alleviating the scariness of their journey?
Often, in circumstances that are scary but not necessarily debilitating, simple interventions such as offering clear and predicable routines, clarity in communication, planning before a scary situation, and short exposures to scary situations, may help.
Worried about a child?
If you feel you, your child or a young person is at immediate risk of harm or they have physically harmed themselves, then you should always seek immediate support by attending the hospital’s emergency department or contacting 999. Otherwise, you may consider contacting:
- The Samaritans - available 365 days a week, 24 hours a day on T:116 123
- NHS urgent mental health helplines
- Shout - provide 24/7 text support for young people experiencing a mental health crisis.
