I think there is a fundamental misunderstanding of how anxiety and autism intertwine, and how the two mix together to affect the individual.
From my exposure of other people with ASD (Autistic Spectrum Disorder) as a group, we typically seem to be more prone to having an anxiety disorder. Medically speaking this means that they experience generalised anxiety to most tasks that are encountered throughout day to day existence and typically causes a degraded quality of life; missed opportunities and social isolation.
Experiences I have had along with peers on the autistic spectrum indicate that there seems to be a somewhat poor understanding from neurotypical individuals about of the interaction of autism and anxiety. For example, the common treatment methods would appear to be the use of antidepressants such as Sertraline, Citalopram, and Mirtazapine. These focus more on a medical model of anxiety which is encountered by people who are not on the autistic spectrum and have the additional ASD stressors. Other medications which can be used include are beta blockers such as Propranolol and Benzo’s (Benzodiazepines) like Valium and Diazepam.
Doctor’s or psychologists may also enrol the patient to Cognitive Behavioural Therapy programmes; but these courses are typically aimed at neurotypical patients and strategies seem to be designed in a way where they can’t be adapted to work with autistic patients.
I feel that a more patient-centric model would benefit individuals with ASD in this regard as they would be able to work with the therapist to be able to develop coping strategies that fit in with the autistic triggers of anxiety. It would also help with normalising that these feelings are normal for someone with ASD and is not just generalised anxiety.
There are some western/British behaviours that I think do not help with anxiety. In British culture specifically, our humour system is built on people’s failures and mistakes, which I believe can lead into people having a fear of ridicule and making them very anxious in social situations as they are scared to make any mistake at all.
Discovering that my anxiety and autism were intertwined helped me massively with treating myself and working out the best way to tackle that feeling of anxiety. It has taken a mix of medication and therapy to get me to a point where I feel somewhat stable and not constantly anxious. Therapy helped with teaching me strategies to cope with the anxiety and the negative feelings that come with it; and also with understanding the history that lead to these negative behaviours. Medication-wise I use citalopram to stabilize my mood and reduce rapid mood swings, and resort to Diazepam and Propranolol for reducing the baseline anxiety when it is excessively high e.g. travelling. Other aids that I find useful include making sure that I use devices to manage my environment such as ear plugs and noise cancelling headphones. Games also help a lot for distracting me (I find colouring ones help a lot). The main reminder which helps is to tell myself the anxiety is only temporary and that will pass soon.
I hope this post helps people. Feel free to ask questions