Anxiety:
- Events can often be unexpected and filled with sensory unpleasantness. Many psychological and physical symptoms of anxiety may develop as a result.
- When anxious a person may lack patience, have poor concentration, dwell on a worst case outcome, have sleep difficulties, be depressed, and dwell on or obsess about a particular topic.
- Anxiety may also cause a person to be overly thirsty or nauseous, have bowel and bladder difficulties, heart pounding, flatulence, muscle aches, headaches, dizziness, tingling sensation, and/or tremors.
- Anxiety may cause a person to seek greater routine.
- Anxiety may trigger a meltdown (temper tantrum).
- When anxious a person may choose to withdraw or avoid certain social situations.
- Obsessions and rituals may be resorted to more frequently.
- Motor repetitions (rocking, spinning) may increase as well as self-injury.
- Anxiety may be triggered by a change in routine and/or environment.
- Unfamiliar and/or unanticipated social events may cause anxiety.
- Sensory sensitivity to a person's surroundings may make a person anxious.
- A person may develop a fear of a particular activity or thing and become anxious.
- Uncomfortable and/or painful experiences may cause anxieties to develop.
- A person may frequently be victimized and and anxiety may increase.
- A person may have some anxiety about failure and ridicule that often occurs.
- A new or unanticipated event may increase anxiety.
- Sensing negative emotions/thoughts in others may cause anxiety.
- Anxiety is related in various ways to other features of autism. Please see the Social Interaction Feature and the Perspective Feature in this web site.
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