How to Deal With Stress as an Autistic Person?

Stress is often an everyday challenge in today’s life, but it can be even more challenging and overwhelming for people with autism, including individuals with Asperger’s syndrome, due to cognitive functioning difficulties, sensory processing issues and challenges with balancing various processes needed to cope with stress more effectively.

Roughly 2 percent of adults in America are autistic and research has shown they generally experience higher rates of observed and perceived stress with far reaching effects such as a reduced quality of life and poor functioning of various body systems. 

Comprehending the complex connection between autism and stress can help you or your loved one living with autism develop better coping mechanisms for stressful situations to improve quality of life. 

What Is Stress?

Simply put, stress is a demand on the human body; it originates from the latin word ‘strictus’, which means ‘narrow’ or ‘tight’ (Bayer, Lispon, Goodridge (2006).

In the medical world, the word stress denotes the stress of the body when it’s highly pressured or challenged. We all experience some form of stress due to the things that happen in our immediate environment or within us that lead to day to day stress. But not all situations that lead to stress are always bad like a divorce or the death of someone close to us would be. Some positive situations like the starting a new job, planning a wedding, and the arrival of a new baby are also potential stressors. When you consider your own experiences that contributed to stress, you’ll realize that some of those experiences were positive while others were negative.  

Challenges of Stress for Individuals on the Autism Spectrum

For many people with autism, including those with related profiles, managing anxiety or stress can be an overwhelming experience partly because the different coping strategies require cognitive reasoning ability and executive functioning skills, such as the ability to identify causes, emotions, stressful situations, and effective relief mechanisms. 

Anxiety and stress can also cause the release of stress hormones, which usually go back to regular levels for many people once the stressful situation passes. Nevertheless, research has also shown that these stress hormones can stay in the body system of the autistic person for a long time, contributing to residual stress levels.

For many individuals with autism, including the ones who identify themselves as Aspies, feelings of worry, fear and anxiety can be a day to day experience that creates moments of panic or intense fear. 

Stress impacts people with autism in problematic ways that could have profound effects on their behavioral and cognitive physiological functioning, as demonstrated by the increasing rate of co-occurrence for autistic people. This is where two or more conditions co-occur in a single autistic person, like someone might be diagnosed with autism along with conditions such as ADD, ADHD, OCD, depression, anxiety disorder, or any other combination. 

An autistic person might react in non-conventional ways, ways that are not easily recognizable as markers for stress and anxiety disorder, including meltdowns, social withdrawal, repetitive actions or speech, obsessions, having a special interest in certain activities only, or sticking to a fixed routine. 

What Causes People with Autism to Feel Stressed?

Even though stress and anxiety can worsen the symptoms of autism, coping with social challenges, sensory sensitivities, and unexpected changes in one’s routine can lead to stress and living on the autism spectrum can also make managing stress much more difficult, causing autistic burnout. 

Autism can impact one’s ability to deal with stress due to

• Difficulties identifying emotions or expressing them
• Difficulties with identifying and implementing effective coping mechanisms
• Rigid thinking and ability to adapt to new situations

Can Autism Symptoms Worsen With Stress?

Research suggests that autistic individuals are more vulnerable to stress than the general population and may experience anxiety disorders and related complications, but does stress make autism symptoms worse?

Well, people on the autism spectrum might experience sensory sensitivities and insistence on sameness, so stress can increase most of the autism symptoms, making it harder to deal with stress and navigate day-to-day life. 

Stress can impact autism symptoms in ways such as

Sensory overload

Individuals on the spectrum may to some extent be sensitive to environmental stimuli like sound, light, or smell, and stress can worsen the impact of these sensory sensitivities and cause sensory overwhelm. An autistic person may at times be able to cope with loud noises, but at other times when they are stressed, too much noise can be distressing and overwhelming, and can cause meltdowns or even total shutdowns.

Social interaction difficulties

Social anxiety co-occurs with autism and even if an autistic person may not feel anxious in social situations, it can be extremely difficult for them to interpret social cues, engage in back-and-forth conversations, and handle unexpected social situations.

Changes in routines

Most children with autistic follow a strict routine and often have a need for a predictable structure, which makes adjusting to unexpected changes in routine distressing. 

Professional Interventions for Stress in Autism

Although at home strategies can be beneficial for people with autism, they might be unable to reduce stress in everyone on the autism spectrum, especially in scenarios of high stress levels or when handling co-occurring conditions involving autism. 

The different professional interventions for those on the spectrum who face difficulties dealing with stress include:

Cognitive Behavioral Therapy

CBT for social-emotional wellbeing, helps one better comprehend how acts and thoughts intertwine, learn to spot and replace bad thoughts and beliefs to address problematic symptoms, cope better with stress and change one’s behavior for better. 

Social Skills Training

Unexpected social situations can cause problems for people with autism and it’s often difficult for them to know what to say in conversations or when it’s their turn to speak. Social skills coaching is a structured, more predictable way for learning core social skills and handling stress because of autism.

Medication 

Prescription medications cannot cure autism or treat every possible symptom, however, it can help manage stress and many of its symptoms, and allow autistic people to better concentrate on their treatment plan and day-to-day activities. 

Sensory Interventions

Sensory based interventions, including sensory toys and sensory rooms, target sensory experiences to minimize anxiety and stress triggers, provide a soothing, calming environment , boost self-regulation, and minimize sensory overload in autistics. 

Strategies for Supporting Autistic Individuals in Managing Stress

Different strategies like those discussed hereunder can be implemented to manage anxiety and stress in people on the autism spectrum, create a structured, supportive environment and boost socio-emotional wellbeing. 

Create Routine and Structure

A well-structured environment with predictable schedules, routines and visual support such as social stories, timetables, and calendars can reduce anxiety and stress because of autism since consistency and predictability allows for preparations for transitions, unexpected changes, and/or upcoming tasks.

Teach Relaxation Techniques

Autistic children, teens and adults can rely on relaxation techniques like deep breathing exercises, mindfulness, and muscle relaxation, to better manage anxiety and stress and parents, caregivers, and other adults in a child’s life can guide and support children on the autism spectrum in practicing various techniques and provide them with essential tools for dealing with stress.

Engage in Sensory Activities

Playing with autism toys, utilizing weighted blankets and creating sensory-friendly spaces, can help reduce stress in people with autism and provide a sense of comfort owing to sensory stimulation provided by various activities tailored to their unique needs and sensory preferences.

Collaborate with Healthcare Providers

Medical practitioners such as psychologists, occupational therapists, and behavioral therapists provide helpful guidance, support services, and develop effective strategies and personalized interventions for dealing with stress and anxiety in people on the autism spectrum; evaluate an individual’s unique needs and work closely with parents, teachers and others to develop healthy strategies and create an in-depth, personalized approach to managing stress. 

Although avoiding potential stressors can really help individuals with autism live a more sensory friendly and fuller life, they often face new emotional and sensory stressors on a regular basis and even if they try to face them with confidence and without necessarily breaking down, that’s sometimes impossible. What everyone needs to remember is autistic people are very sensitive people, so shutdowns and meltdowns are simply responses to stressful moments and not intentional at all, autistic people would like to avoid them just like other people. 

It’s crucial to handle stress management with understanding and sensitivity and to comprehend the specific preferences and needs of the autistic person to ensure personalized support and guidance and create empowering and positive environments that boost the social-emotional wellbeing for people on the autism spectrum. 

Conclusion: 

Stress can affect anyone, but neurotypical people tend to have more effective ways of managing stress. On the contrary, people with autism are at a unique disadvantage as far as stress management goes owing to their psychological composition and the social and cognitive difficulties that contribute to their stress, so an effective support strategy is often needed to help autistic children, students, and teens cope with stress and reach their full potential.