How does anxiety and mental health relate to autism?
Discussing the link between anxiety and autism and finding ways of managing and overcoming mental health
On the face of it, you might think that anxiety and autism are two separate things entirely, even though they both do affect people psychologically and in their behaviours. Once you speak to people among the autism community, you will quickly identify that autistic people are more prone to having a mental health condition of any kind alongside their autism.
When looking at various studies and sources into mental health among the autism community in the UK, between 70-80% of autistic children and adults experience mental health issues at some point in their lives and 5 in every 100 people who use mental health services are autistic. I can imagine that these statistics among others are similar in other countries around the world. However, even though statistics might be beneficial when it comes to highlighting societal issues within healthcare services and identifying solutions to the problems arise, it does not provide any comfort or logical steps that one can take to combat their mental health and see the light at the end of tunnel in terms of their physical and psychological wellbeing.
Mental health is a spectrum of various conditions within itself, ranging from anxiety, stress, depression, eating disorder, bipolar, paranoia, post-traumatic stress disorder, psychosis, schizophrenia, dissociation and various others. Despite the different types of conditions, they are all relatable to one another and autistic people are no different to having a mental health condition alongside their autism trait than non-autistic people. Mental health conditions can vary in terms of their severity, the process of overcoming them and if medical intervention is needed or not, as well as being heavily influenced by external factors outside of people’s control and internal factors relating to people’s individual circumstances.
For conditions like: bipolar disorder and schizophrenia, medication is essential to monitor and stabilise the symptoms that the person who has either of these conditions and need it to cope day-to-day. I cannot criticise or judge as I have not suffered from either of these conditions and hopefully I do not have them in the future. Regardless, the people who do have these conditions are still valued as individuals and their health and wellbeing are important to manage so that they can live fulfilling lives without their conditions hindering them in their efforts to achieve their individual goals and dreams.
Conditions like anxiety and stress are more treatable but still can be equally frightening to the sufferers and maybe need medical supervision depending on the severity of each individual case. Anxiety in question is a spectrum within itself and has a variety of conditions, like: OCD (obsessive-compulsive disorder), phobias, agoraphobia, panic disorder, generalised anxiety disorder, social anxiety and many others. Regardless of which kind of anxiety one has, they are all based and manifest on what an individual fears or worries about the most and develop a range of behaviours or compulsions to cope with their fears, which helps in the short-term but keeps the sufferers in a never-ending cycle of despair and uncertainty and can lead to devastating consequences if left untreated.
Across the world, it is the consensus that doctors and healthcare professionals are very quick and determined to prescribe anti-depressants to people who have anxiety or stress issues and basically leaving them to it, without considering other forms of treatments due to lack of judgment or services available. Depending on the severity of each person’s anxiety or stress, medical intervention is maybe needed in the short-term to combat the physical symptoms that anxiety or stress gives but does not provide long-term solutions to overcome anxiety or stress entirely. Obviously, everyone has anxiety every now and then when there is an actual external threat that initiates the fight or flight response, which an internal mechanism in all of us to keep us safe. However, in the absence of a external threat and our fight or flight response goes into overdrive based on things that we fear or worry about, our bodies become overwhelmed with a flurry of cognitive and physical reactions that can range from heart palpitations to dizziness to upset stomachs, which varies from one person to another.
Even though it might feel scary to face anxiety head on, but overcoming it through healthy, constructive and sustainable ways is far better than being stuck in the vicious cycle of taking anti-depressants to numb the pain or problem in the short-term. Speaking to a counsellor or mental health professional to talk through your anxieties and stresses can help identify and address the root causes of your mental health struggles. As I mentioned earlier, accessing mental health services through the NHS (in the UK) or similar healthcare organisation can be a massive barrier, especially if services are limited to the point where they cannot meet demand. You are more likely have to pay privately to see a counsellor and other professional but not everyone has the financial means to do this. There is a lot of information on the Internet and social media sites, like: YouTube, that have a lot of valuable information but it all can get very confusing and it is only suitable for people that are at a stage with their mental health that they can manage and taking proactive steps to overcome them. If someone is suffering with depression for example, they might not be the right frame of mind to compartmentalise the information searched and put into practice, as they would more than likely require care and supervision from a mental health professional to help with their fragile mental state.
You might be wondering: how does it all relate to autism? Autistic people are more than likely to suffer with mental health on a regular basis compared to non-autistic people. If you speak to a lot of autistic people about anxiety and mental health, you will quickly realise that anxiety is one of the many cornerstones of the autistic spectrum and not to treat it as a separate diagnosis but as part of one’s autistic make-up. My relationship with anxiety goes back to my early teenager years where I use to question my autism, put pressure on myself to why was I not like the other kids and how society overall was unfair towards autistic people. I have explained this deeper in the previous newsletter of the Aspergian Journal if you want to refresh on that.
When I have had extreme anxiety, my symptoms have varied from chest and heart palpitations, hot and cold shakiness, upset stomach, adrenaline going through the body at 300mph and many more, with the effects lasting hours or even days. One of the major, long-lasting side effects of anxiety I have suffered with over the years is intrusive thoughts. Intrusive thoughts is where a person gets an unwelcome, involuntary thought, image, or unpleasant idea that is upsetting or distressing, which can lead to becoming an obsession and feel difficult to manage or eliminate. Intrusive thoughts can vary in their nature and affects people differently, which can range from: aggressive, sexual, religious and suicidal thoughts. Regardless of the nature of the intrusive thought a person suffers with, it is important to say that just because a person thinks of an intrusive thought, does not make them a bad person.
Everyone has intrusive thoughts at many times in their lives and most do not recognise them. However, when someone has extreme anxiety, it is harder to manage these thoughts and safely let them go, the opposite happens where they start to think there is something wrong with them and are disgusted with having these thoughts. Example: a mother with a new-born baby is at the top of a staircase and thoughts come into the mother’s mind that she will drop or throw her baby down the stairs and severely injure them. Naturally, the mother would be horrified of these thoughts and will take measures to keep the baby safe as a compulsion to get rid of the thoughts the mother has had, which starts the very unhealthy, vicious cycle of intrusive thoughts and the patterns of OCD. Also, dealing with intrusive thoughts as a mother with a new-born baby I can imagine would be very difficult, especially if she is suffering with post-natal depression.
To combat, manage and overcome anxiety or other mental health conditions in the long-term, it is better to tackle it head-on and develop healthy coping strategies that not only will be an integral part of your recovery but can be beneficial to safeguard your mental health to prevent future relapses. The most common forms of therapy used to combat anxiety and stress are: exposure therapy, cognitive behavioural therapy (CBT) and mindfulness. Exposure therapy is the practice of a patient staying in an anxiety-provoking or feared situation that they find distressing until the anxiety diminishes. CBT is a talking therapy where a patient talks through their anxious thoughts and worries with a counsellor, so to challenge and change the meaning of the thoughts and their associated behaviours to improve the patient’s mental state and develop coping strategies to solving current problems. Mindfulness, on the other hand, is a cognitive meditation skill a person can develop of bringing their attention to whatever is happening in the present moment and uses breathing exercises to concentrate on visual objects to occupy the mind away from worries and disturbing thoughts. Thus, with consistent practice and dedication, they can learn to desensitise their feelings to the thoughts and worries a person has.
Mindfulness works very effectively alongside with using exposure therapy or CBT to get the maximum benefit to overcoming your anxious thoughts and worries. I have used mindfulness and breathing exercises to help me manage and reduce my anxiety symptoms and it has been a huge benefit to my overall mental health state and recovery. Other suggestions I recommend are: music therapy, ensure that you have a great fitness regime and participate in your current hobbies or start new ones. Please avoid taking alcohol or recreational drugs to numb the pains of mental health, as this only perpetuates your cognitive and physical symptoms further and erodes your efforts to overcome them. When I was struggling with extreme anxiety, it messed around with my sleeping routine and the mind would not shut the hell up when I wanted to. I started playing calming meditation music on my smartphone through YouTube and Amazon Music to help me get to sleep, as well as incorporating the mindfulness exercises at the same time. I was sceptical at first but, with consistent practice and motivation of wanting to get better, my sleeping routine got better and now I cannot go to bed without playing some sleep meditation music in the background. Along with exposure therapy and tackling my fears and intrusive thoughts head on, I was steadily able to overcome them over time and not let anxiety stop me from living my life and prospering forward stronger than ever before.
I did all of this without relying on medication just to get me by, which would have kept me in the vicious cycle of anxiety and more than certain get worse as a result of it. Obviously, all of the above does depend on individual circumstances and I would suggest getting in touch with your doctors or other healthcare professionals if your case requires medical intervention. For those who feel that they can overcome their anxiety or stress with applying CBT and mindfulness to their scenarios to help them get better, please do give these treatments a try as you will realise that you have not got anything to lose. Mindfulness is something that you can do right away without needing supervision from a doctor or counsellor. For therapy or mindfulness to work effectively, it requires dedication, patience, consistency and trial of error to get the right strategies in place that work for you. Remember: some strategies might work for some people and not for others; there may be other strategies you might suggest that I never thought of trying, which proves that mental health recovery is a journey for everyone and are just as unique as the individual.