Anxiety and Autism

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How common is this? It would seem not knowing what to do in a social situation would help develop social anxiety. Not having many friends could make it hard to learn how to act creating generalized anxiety.

I don't have a diagnosis, but I would say I have some performance anxiety and social anxiety though it doesn't happen in every situation. I get nervous if I have to perform in front of a large amount of people until it affects my performance. It is not easy for me to do what people expect of me when I first meet them. I have ate a lot of lunches alone.

For those who don't have difficulties with anxiety how have you managed?

I have severe anxiety. I tried various coping methods and herbal things but nothing helped. I would throw a fit before leaving the house or after getting home, cry in public, shaking, nausea. My anxiety is less when going somewhere where I don't have to communicate with people, or somewhere that isn't new. I noticed transitions cause me the most anxiety. So the car ride there and leaving my house and then going into the place are the most difficult. Once I'm there I'm more likely to be okay. I'm trying meds now, hope they help.

I think most people have performance anxiety but probably not social anxiety. I wonder about this too re meds. My son was not

able to interact with people because of severe anxiety. When he was medicated he was able to try and to overcome some of the

barriers that his anxiety put in his way. He was able to learn how to manage some social situations. I wonder if he went off his meds if he'd be back at square

one or whether what he had learned would compensate. Speaking for myself, I spent many years in depression. I was then

medicated and felt great in comparison. I went off the meds and eventually fell back into depression, actually worse than before.


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I haven't recieved any additional diagnoses other than AS, but both my doctor and I suspect that I have an underlying anxiety disorder. I will get anxious and obsessed with things (often social conflicts or situations) to the point where I will sleep a lot and not leave my room or house. I take Celexa (an anti-depressant) daily and it manages my symptoms well, my anxiety was considerably worse before I started on it.

I also feel that I would have qualified for a diagnosis of social anxiety from ages 9 to about 17. I had no friends (other than ones with developmental delays, they were the only people I felt comfortable wwth), had an intense fear of going out in the community and bumping into people I knew, and also had an intense fear of social situations such as ordering food from a restaurant and talking on the telephone. Once I had practice socializing and proved to myself that i could do it, these symptoms went away.

Depression is my main condition besides Aspergers, but I do have A LOT of anxiety underlying that I'm working on myself.
My anti-depressant helps the depression quite a bit, but doesn't work on the anxiety at all. I went on busuporne (sp?) and it helps a bunch more! I don't think I would be doing well on the bus system and my co-op otherwise.

Having anxiety is common for those with ASDs. Whether it's clinical or not, we tend to have more anxiety than NTs. I'm currently reading reading Asperger's and Anxiety which gave me a lot of insight. I recommend it to anyone who has Anxiety co-morbidly with AS, or if you just like reading about AS .

I have major anxiety. Full-on nausea etc.

I take something for depression but I haven't' found something to help with the anxiety.

I am constantly thinking and worrying so much that I am not in the present moment. I tried CBT etc but it didn't work.

I think my anxiety impairs me the most. When I find things stressful I walk away from it, I procrastinate in doing things due to the stress. I avoid stuff too that would cause stress or I find stressful. Also people make me nervous and I get too scared to even say something or ask. I am often afraid of being stupid. I also think it makes me a b***h. When things don't go my way or the way I expected things to go, I get anxiety. Then I feel I am being tortured when they don't listen to me. It's a huge impact on my life.

I have fairly severe anxiety due to my emetophobia and general fear of illness. I am prone to getting bad stomachs and head aches, probably due to the anxiety, and when I get anxious over it I sometimes have panic attacks or if not that a feeling of dread that I'm going to be ill or that I am ill. At college I have hidden in the toilets for a whole hour at a time not being able to walk out because I'm scared silly and crying my eyes out. Even when I'm feeling relaxed I still have a feeling of nervousness at the back of my head that could easily grow and cause another stomach/head ache.
Next week I'm starting CBT to try to cure my phobias, if it doesn't cure it I would atleast like it to be reduced enough to not rule over my life.

I worry all the time. The only things that I use to help me are books on AS, the bible, quiet time, and listening to music. My anxiety still comes back once in a while though, but they do seem to lessen once I go through a difficult process.

I think I was actually diagnosed with an anxiety disorder - I'm not entirely sure, though. I do tend to get pretty anxious. I think my anxiety is more of the social anxiety type.

anxiety is definitely a major obstacle in my life. to myself narcissism plays big part as far as i understand myself. right now a difficult thing to master or deal with ... as soon as i have the tiniest "success" .. i feel i flip back into narcissism .. then also anxiety .. :/ ... reconnecting to grief pain sadness .. being more "grounded" ... is the only real solution i know ..

Aspie and PTSD here. My anxiety isn't so bad if I'm stoned(Have medical) but I really don't like having to be stoned just to deal with people. Better then the Valium that was suggested to me, I don't want to get anywhere near that stuff. Dumb thing is cannabis is "illegal" under federal, but I can take Valium all I want. The FDA being run by the pharmaceutical companies is rather dumb.

Back on topic... Not sure what my PTSD is from. I have severe asthma and COPD so maybe it's medical related PTSD, or it could be because my parents/society weren't the best for an aspie. Probably just everything in my life being messed up. Crappy part is there is no way I can hold a job with this, even with being only three classes from an engineering degree, so I have to try and get on disability with this, or I'm screwed.

I do experience more anxiety than the average person on a day-to-day basis but my anxiety is not severe enough to earn a diagnosis. I primarily experience social anxiety, but I do not have a lot of performance anxiety. Mainly, I worry about people around me judging me and thinking less of me every time I do something wrong. I also have dysthymic depression along with Aspergers and I think both of them contribute to my social anxiety.