Anxiety & Autism

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Hey Gang,

I took a small step in the right direction and made an appt to see my doctor to help treat my anxiety issue(s) and we'll possibly talk about depression management (tho I've been burned out on depression meds in the past). So was wondering something....If having Autism or Aspergers intensifies the anxiety more so then not being on the spectrum? and how do you guys best deal with anxiety either on or off meds?

I have asked around and talked to a few relatives and asked on here what some of the better meds are & that have a low side effect so I'll be taking that list when I go to talk with my doctor.


Hopefully, with the right treatment I won't have panic attacks when I wake up in the morning or have social anxiety issues when I meet up with relatives or start going to interviews.


As always questions and comments are welcomed.

I don't believe that our neurological condition happens to intesify the anxiety we feel. I do however know without a single doubt that we get anxious much, much more often than NTs. I also believe that our attention to detail(and for me, constant situational analysis) lead to getting very anxious almost every hour, every day. However in my very limited history with other Aspies I don't recall anyone bringing up having panic attacks in the morning. Good luck with your doctor's appointment. I hope you get the treatment you are looking for.

Also gotta say I like your greeting.

I think the reason why I have panic attacks is because I'm taking classes not knowing what will be taught that day tho since I have retained my math teacher from last semester the panic attacks have gone down a lot! as my math teacher is willing to work with me on my level without it being obvious to the rest of the class & is always willing to offer words of advice and encouragement. However, I still get anxiety attacks if I'm thrown into a new situation where the outcome is that I can not predict.

I think the tipping point so-to-speak was when a relative told me that he's tired of the social anxiety we have and I'm around he knows it's an issue I can't really help as it ties into whole Autism and being somewhat inept in social situations. so I'm trying this route to see if I can help curb the anxiety issues. plus the big one is I don't want to feel like I'm having a flipping heart attack when I encounter new things in my life.

I think that AS causes difficulties that can give rise to anxiety. It's possible that it also intensifies the anxiety, in the sense that we tend to feel things more acutely than NTs do.


I'm fairly anti-meds when it comes to depression management, and if I'd already been burned out on them, I'd be even more against them, though I guess it's possible there's a sedative out there somewhere that doesn't have a serious downside.

Personally, I try to deal with my anxiety by looking at its causes and trying to adjust my life to neutralise those causes. So if something scares me, I'll look into avoiding it or stopping it from bothering me - i.e. fight or flight. Not in an extreme way, e.g. for work-related problems I wouldn't burn down my workplace or hide under the bedclothes. I'd try to take a good look at the detail of exactly what scares me and what my options might be for solving the problem. It's hard to be more specific about that because so much depends on the particular stress-making situation.


I've not experienced that, but I've often had melancholy mornings for no apparent reason. I've not been able to find any way of controlling it, because I don't understand its cause. My best guess is that it's to do with loneliness, as I'm often alone during the mornings. If the feelings became severe, I'd probably do more to track it down. Maybe get some personal counselling for it, or talk it over with a friend I feel comfortable with.

My gut reaction would be to avoid meeting them. I tend to treat relatives like I treat anybody else, i.e. I have as little to do with them as possible if their presence upsets me. In fact I've become something of a "black sheep" in my family for being that way, but it doesn't seem to have done much harm. It doesn't mean that I avoid them at all costs, just that I don't go along with the idea that being related means I should always attend every family meeting or event. I'm starting to mellow with age, and I tend to try harder to "play the game" with relatives these days, and there's no doubt that it can increase my stress levels, so I often wonder if I'd not be wiser to go back to being more reclusive.

Deciding which events to go to and which to avoid is quite a dilemma. I usually go for the "small is beautiful" approach, but people can be very unpredictable, they'll say they'll be going home at a particular time, and then something will change and they'll stay longer and I'll be stuck with them. Recently I reluctantly decided to go to a family gathering of 3 people I knew and 4 people I didn't know. I engineered things so I'd only be there for a couple of hours because I was expecting it to be pretty noisy and hectic. As it turned out, I got stuck there for several hours,but mercifully it was rather quieter than I'd expected, so it wasn't as bad as it could have been. Surprisingly, the biggest problem came from one of the people I knew, not from the new people. After the visit it took me a day or two of comparative solitude to decompress, but from the feedback I've had, it seems I did well and everybody there seems to like me better as a result.

So the gist of my advice is to try and regulate social contact, but it's not easy.


Now that's even harder to control than purely social "duties," if you want a job then you'd normally have to bend yourself to their demands completely. But if it really is hard, then I'd "play the disability card," which is perfectly valid if you truly have panic attacks and AS. You need the right authorisation from your diagnosticians of course. I've heard of people who get paid benefits because their social anxiety makes it impossible for them to attend interviews. I'd want to at least try to attend, because you might be able to do it, but I'd also work towards nailing down my financial security in case of failure.

This is only my personal opinion, but I'll say it - I'm strongly opposed to people being expected to take meds that have any appreciable side effects just so that they can (kind of) hold it together at work and in society.

Being a minority, especially a minority that thinks and reacts in fundamentally different ways then the vast majority is usually quite anxiety provoking.

The best thing I've done for my anxiety is to actively practice mindfulness. I can't be anxious when I'm not thinking about all that s**t - and 99% of it is s**t.

Meditation, yoga and qigong work quite well for me.

On the meds side, I stay away from prescription meds because I react very strongly to substances. However, at times, small doses of theanin have helped my anxiety. Also, oddly enough, 1 or 2 regular strength Tylenols help too - Tylenols seems to lower the volume of anything I feel, whether it's a headache or anxiety.

I take Buspar for my anxiety & that really helps aLOT. One of the things I like about Buspar is that it's specifically for anxiety instead of being for other uses & it's not a sedative. It's meant to be taken long term & I have no side-effects on it. I also take Klonopin before situations that may cause me alot of anxiety & it helps. I take a low dose & don't notice side-effects on it.