How to Manage Anxiety with Autism in Adults

Anxiety is a real difficulty for many adults
lts with autism or Asperger syndrome. It can affect a person psychologically and physically.

Anxiety can happen for a range of reasons and people with autism or Asperger syndrome can vary in their ability to cope with it.

Emotions are abstract. To understand emotion you need an imagination. One of the areas of difficulty for people with autism is not being able to imagine things, so understanding emotions can be difficult for them. People with high-functioning autism may understand some emotions and recognise the feelings that are associated with them. By helping someone to understand anxiety, you can help them to manage it better.

Resources such as those sold by Incentive Plus as well as the Autism Research Centre's CD ROM, Mind reading, can help teach someone with autism about emotions.

Anxiety can affect both the mind and the body, and produce a range of symptoms. The psychological and physical symptoms of anxiety are closely linked and so can lead to a vicious cycle that can be difficult to break. The psychological symptoms of anxiety are:

easily losing patience
difficulty concentrating
thinking constantly about the worst outcome
difficulty sleeping
depression
becoming preoccupied with or obsessive about one subject.

Its physical symptoms include:

excessive thirst
stomach upsets
loose bowel movements
frequent urinating (going to the loo)
periods of intensely pounding heart
periods of having gas
muscle aches
headaches
dizziness
pins and needles
tremors.

If you do experience any of these symptoms, it is important to also get medical advice to rule out other medical conditions.

Once someone understands anxiety and has identified the things and situations that make them anxious, they can then take steps to cope with the anxiety. If you are looking after someone with autism, try and be aware of what makes them anxious and how best to help them manage certain behaviours.

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