Anxiety in Autism

Understanding the Root of Anxiety

Anxiety in autism is often misunderstood as a singular condition. Instead, it is the culmination of specific challenges, including sensory regulation difficulties, interoception, executive functioning demands, communication barriers, and the need for sufficient information to build patterns. To support autistic individuals, it is essential to address these root causes and honour the unique ways they process the world.

Understanding Anxiety in Autism

Autistic individuals are often detail-oriented thinkers and pattern seekers, processing the world through intricate observations and careful analysis. This approach offers profound strengths but also introduces vulnerabilities. Anxiety arises when their natural thinking processes are disrupted or when specific challenges become overwhelming. Key contributors include:

Interoception: Autistic individuals may struggle to tune into internal bodily signals until their distress has already escalated. This delayed awareness often means they only realise they are anxious when their nervous system is already in a heightened state, making early regulation more difficult.
Sensory Regulation: Sensory input may come in too fast or too slow, leaving the brain unable to process or integrate the information effectively. This mismatch leads to emotional dysregulation and sensory overwhelm, which quickly escalates into anxiety.
Executive Functioning and Task Demands: High demands on executive functioning, such as managing multiple tasks or task switching, result in cognitive fatigue. This fatigue reduces access to regulation strategies, creating a cycle of overwhelm and escalating anxiety.
Communication: The need to adapt continually to non-autistic communication styles, combined with the fear of being misunderstood, fosters hypervigilance and masking. This creates a state of persistent anxiety in social situations.
Missing Information: Autistic individuals are detail oriented pattern seekers who rely on gathering vast amounts of information to form a complete understanding (bottom up thinking). If they lack sufficient data or are moved on from their exploration too soon, it disrupts their ability to create patterns or concepts, generating uncertainty and feeding into anxiety.

Key Roots of Anxiety

The infographic identifies five primary roots of anxiety in autism:

Interoception: Difficulty recognising bodily signals, leading to delayed awareness of distress.
Sensory Regulation: Dysregulated sensory input contributing to emotional and sensory overwhelm.
Executive Functioning: Cognitive fatigue reducing access to regulation strategies.
Communication: Challenges arising from the double empathy problem and masking efforts.
Pattern Thinking and Missing Information: Anxiety caused by insufficient data to complete patterns or concepts.

A Rooted Approach to Addressing Anxiety

Many thoughts with young woman using a laptop computer

To support autistic individuals effectively, interventions must target these root causes. Strategies include:

Interoception:
- Use tools such as body scans or interoception check-ins to help individuals notice physical sensations earlier.
- Teach sensory mindfulness exercises to improve awareness of internal states.
- Regulation strategies to lower over-all body stress on a regular basis
Sensory Regulation:
- Create sensory-friendly environments with adjustable inputs, such as lighting or noise control.
- Provide tools like weighted blankets, noise-cancelling headphones, or textured items to help manage sensory input.
Executive Functioning:
- Break tasks into manageable steps with clear, visual instructions.
- Minimise task-switching and allow time for mental recovery to combat cognitive fatigue.
- Use visual schedules to reduce cognitive load and promote organisation.
- Have a support person to help with co-regulation and prompts to keep you on task and provide “outside-of-the-body” executive functioning support.
Communication:
- Foster environments where neurodiverse communication styles are respected, reducing the need for masking.
- Provide social scripts or visual supports to help navigate challenging interactions.
- Allow for decompression dime after socialising
- Engage with other autistic people to develop a sense of ‘autistic-normal” social interactions.
Pattern Thinking and Missing Information:
- Allow time for detailed exploration to help individuals gather the data they need to complete their understanding.
- Support pattern thinking by providing consistent, structured information that aligns with their detail-oriented processing.

Reframing Anxiety in Autism

Anxiety in autism is best understood as a systemic response to specific challenges rather than generalised anxiety. By addressing the underlying difficulties—whether sensory, social, cognitive, or informational—we can create environments that reduce distress and support emotional regulation. Recognising the strengths of detail-oriented thinking and pattern seeking also allows us to empower autistic individuals rather than pathologising their natural approaches to understanding the world.

This article builds on the framework provided in “Anxiety in Autism” by Melanie Martinelli. For more resources and insights, visit The Little Black Duck. This perspective promotes a deeper understanding of anxiety’s roots, helping autistic individuals thrive in ways that respect their unique needs and strengths.