A N X I E T Y

A Guide for Young People with ASD

Anxiety

Regional ASD Services, Marian House,Leghanamore,Togher,Cork.

What is Anxiety?

Anxiety is the feeling of fear we all experience when faced with threatening or difficult situations.

It helps us to avoid dangerous situations, makes us alert and motivates us to deal with problems.

Other words that mean anxiety are worry, fear, panic, bothered and stress.

Anxiety is very common, especially for people with autism. Everyone gets anxious at some stage.

It is normal to worry a little, to be a little afraid, to panic sometimes or to feel some stress.

A little fear helps us to do things for ourselves. A little fear helps us to be careful.

It becomes a problem when we feel too much fear, become too worried or stress and it begins to interfere with our lives.

Too much anxiety is not helpful.

Symptoms of Anxiety

Anxiety may cause our bodies to behave in unusual ways. It can appear in different forms and at different levels of intensity.

Dizziness or feeling sick Shortness of breath Hot and cold flushes

Sweaty palms Trouble sleeping Heart pounding

Choking Feeling Overwhelmed Chest or Stomach Pain

Common Types of Anxiety

Generalized Anxiety Disorder (GAD)

Obsessive Compulsive Disorder (OCD)

Panic Disorder

Phobias

Generalized Anxiety Disorder (GAD)

People with GAD may be very anxious about just getting through the day.

They think things will always go badly.

The main feature is worry. People with GAD may worry about everyday things even if there is no real reason to worry about them.

Some other signs of this might be finding it difficult to concentrate, relax or sleep at night.

Some physical symptoms of GAD: feeling tired, feeling sick, headaches, sweaty hands, tension in your muscles, hands/body shaking and going to the bathroom a lot.

Obsessive Compulsive Disorder (OCD)

Obsessive-compulsive disorder (OCD) is a type of anxiety that traps people in endless cycles of repetitive thoughts and behaviours.

People with OCD experience upsetting thoughts, fears, or images that they cannot control. These can come back time after time.

These thoughts can make a person with OCD to feel nervous or afraid. They begin to feel they have to do certain things over and over in order to stop the thoughts and make these feelings go away.

Obsessive-compulsive disorder often centres on certain themes, such as a fear of getting contaminated by germs. So to ease your fears, you may compulsively wash your hands until they're sore and chapped.

Other themes may be constantly checking things such as locks or ovens, refusing to shake hands or touch doorknobs, constantly arranging things in a specific way and needing to perform tasks a certain number of times.

Panic Disorder

Panic attacks happen when a person experiences strong feelings of fear without warning.

These feelings of terror may strike suddenly and happen again and again.

Symptoms include a pounding heart, sweatiness, weakness, faintness or dizziness.

People with a panic disorder may also feel hot flushes and their hands may tingle or feel numb.

They may experience a feeling of sickness, chest pain or smothered.

Phobia

A phobia is a strong fear of certain situations, activities, things, animals or people.

This fear becomes a major problem when it goes beyond a person’s control and begins to interfere with their person’s life.

There are some examples of phobias listed below.

Agoraphobia: a fear of public/open spaces (linked to panic)

Social phobia: fear of people or social situations

Specific phobias: fear or panic caused by certain things such as going to school, spiders, dogs or heights

Treatment for Anxiety

Anxiety can be treated with self-help methods, medication, psychotherapy or a combination of these.

As we already saw, people with anxiety can show a range of physical symptoms. Before beginning treatment for anxiety you should visit a doctor and rule out any physical problems which could be causing symptoms similar to anxiety.

You can try some self-help methods to reduce anxiety. Relaxation techniques such as ‘Belly Breaths’ may be very helpful. This is described over the next few pages.

If you feel that you cannot manage your anxiety using self-help methods you can contact a psychologist to help you deal with it.

Self-Help for Anxiety: Good Habits for Young People with Autism

A habit is something that a person does often. Some examples of good habits are:

Doing activities that I find interesting

Having enough interesting things to do each day so that I am not bored is important. I can do lots of things including listening to music, watching a film or reading a book.

Relaxing during the day

Having enough interesting things to do means not having too much to do also. Everybody needs to rest as well. I can do lots of things to relax like go for a walk or taking a nap. I can also use relaxation techniques such as ‘belly breaths’.

.

Eating Well

Eating healthy foods is one of the ways that I can help myself. My parents will help me to choose the correct foods.

Food with a lot of sugar or salt does not help. It is also important not to drink too many minerals, tea or coffee.

Self-Help for Anxiety: Good Habits for Young People with Autism

More examples of good habits are:

Sleeping Well

Sleeping well every night is important for my health. I should sleep for at least 7 or 8 hours. Not sleeping enough is not just bad for my health, it can make me feel tired and put me in a bad mood.

Exercising

Some interesting activities I can do are forms of exercise. Exercising can help me feel good about myself, improve my health and allow me to meet new people and make new friends.

Positive Thinking

Positive thoughts can help me feel great about myself. Some examples of positive thinking are on the next page.

Self-Help for Anxiety: Good Habits for Young People with Autism

Examples of Positive Thinking

I should remember that I am doing these habits to help myself

It’s ok to be me

I am getting better at staying calm

Everybody makes mistakes sometimes

I can cope with things

I do the best I can – I am happy with that

Nobody is perfect – I don’t have to try to be perfect

Belly Breaths

One way of trying to feel relaxed is doing belly breaths. This is how I do belly breaths.

1. I go somewhere quiet where I can relax. I can sit or stand.

2. I put my hand on my belly and keep it there for the ‘belly breaths’ so I can feel my tummy move

3. I blow the air out like I’m blowing out a candle and hold my breath for a while.

(I feel my belly go in – like a balloon that has had the air left out of it)

4. Then I take a big breath in and hold it for a while.

(This time I feel my belly push out, like a balloon being blown up)

5. I blow all the air back out again and feel my whole body relaxing

I can do my belly breaths 3 or 4 times. This helps me to feel relaxed and calm. If I practice my belly breaths every day this will help me to stay calm and relaxed

I can do belly breaths whenever I want, nobody has to know I am doing them. If I want, I can do them without putting my hand on my belly and just feeling the breath go in and out.

Belly Breaths – Parent Instructions

The aim of this relaxation technique is to encourage your child to take slow, deep breaths in and out. This results in slowing down the heart rate and decreasing feelings of anxiety.

1. Sit down with your child, hand them the belly breaths sheet and explain

that you’re going to learn a new type of breathing. Ask them to read

through the instructions with you and help them to follow the

instructions.

2. Once they are comfortable with this type of slow breathing, tell them

that after breathing out, they are then going to breathe in for a longer

time – for the count of six. (You can either count for them while they

breathe or you can breathe with them while counting with your fingers.)

It might be easier to start with a count of three and gradually stretch it

out.

3. After you’ve practiced this a few times, introduce the last step: slowing

your exhale. Children tend to want to let the air “explode” out after a big

inhale; practice exhaling to a count of six or even eight with them.

4. Keep practice sessions short and fun. You can start with just one or two

minutes of practice per day and work your way up to longer sessions.

The best time to start is when your child is feeling relatively calm.

Encourage them to practice belly breaths when they feel a bit tense – it

might help if you identify times when belly breaths could be useful and

write out a list together.

Exercise

One way of reducing anxiety is by exercising regularly. Staying active can make it easier to relax and to sleep better.

Here are some of the benefits of exercise

Stops you from getting sick.

Helps you become fitter.

Help you to lose weight.

Makes your body stronger

You will feel less tired

Helps you to feel calmer

Make new friends

Some Ways of Exercising

Walking Soccer Cycling

GAA: Hurling & Football Martial Arts Swimming

Running Gym/Weights Basketball

Hockey Horse Riding Trampoline.

Resources

‘Anxiety Disorders’ – Booklet by the National Institute of Mental Health

Available online from: http://www.nimh.nih.gov/health/publications/anxiety-disorders/nimhanxiety.pdf

‘When worry gets out of control: Generalized Anxiety Disorder’ – Booklet by the National Institute of Mental Health

Available online from:

http://www.nimh.nih.gov/health/publications/generalized-anxiety-disorder/nimh_generalizedanxietydisorder.pdf

Stress Management on ‘MindTools’ website

http://www.mindtools.com/stress/RelaxationTechniques/IntroPage.htm