Depression and anxiety in autism

[Erica24]

What causes the feeling of anxiety and/or depression in people with autism?

Is it felt by children with autism?

What can be done to overcome anxiety and depression in a person with autism?

[Hidden]

Hello,

Yes I'm sad to say anxiety and depression are I think common in people with Autism.

I'm able to talk to my son about his anxieties now he is older.

When he was younger he used to repeat sentences, over and over again quickly and I knew he was getting anxious about something completely different from what he was saying.

I used to take some hand cream in my handbag and just squirt it to his hands without saying anything to him and that would immediately bring his anxiety down. He is very tactile and he would just start rubbing the cream into his hands. This used to calm him. This only worked a few times. Then you have to try something different. Try and catch him/her before he/she is very anxious find their triggers!

When you get to know their triggers, that cause that particular person to become anxious, just try and avoid them. Also I find talking to them before hand about things that you can't avoid helps them. Be honest for example say " I know you might not like this but we have to get your hair cut because you won't be able to see soon" and make a joke about it.

We all go through depression in life, it is another normal emotion. I found physical exercise helped my son. He loves walking and swimming. Going out and meeting people, he isn't your typical Autistic person. But what is typical!

Good luck and kind regards

[LDAutie]

We (Autistic people) can have a different way at looking at life so whilst there are a lot of common anxieties,many are specific to each person.

The anxiety may be about an item of the persons being moved out of place/order, or a taxi/school bus/support staff being late or the lockdown for example stopping many of our routines.

Other anxieties are related to misunderstanding or not having the capacity at the time or at all-to fully understand a situation or person,so to use an example I have gone through, a tv show that I have watched every week since age 5 (I am 36 now) is taken off,which is a huge trigger for my behaviors and anxiety, to me I don’t see the reasons behind taking it off,only that it’s been taken off as my brain can’t process it at the time and it makes me highly angry and anxious.

Going somewhere new,such as seeing a new doctor in a hospital,before any appointments my old staff used to go and video record where I woud be walking,where I woud sit and get pictures off the hospitals own learning disability nurse of the doctors and nurses I woud be meeting to help with my anxieties and behaviors.

Another example,one of my very old placements,a council run residential home, had no understanding of complex autism back then and LD to them meant being a child in an adults body.

I stayed at my parents house every weekend out of routine,I was taken home on the Sunday and the inside had been painted a different colour,no warning,no support to get used to the change,It had always been painted the same colour.

it was a different place to me and because I wasn’t used to it I couldn’t go any further and I had an almighty meltdown.

I had to live at my parents house for months,while they desensitised me and got me used to the new place,my anxiety and behaviors were all over the place so I was given full time two to one outreach support-more anxiety.

Transitions are a big problem for me,even changing from one support staff to another,or one task to another, my community LD team had put PECS in place many years ago to be used for communication or on my Velcro schedule,they even told my current home to use them with me but they ignore my needs in place of what they think-that’s more anxiety.

When I was a child I didn’t understand emotions,so no I didn’t feel anxiety as a label-but I felt very bad.

In me,they came out as severe challenging behaviors, even now at 36 I struggle to understand them well,I was taught for a long time to understand them.

As for depression,I wanted to end my life at ten but I didn’t know it as that, I just wanted to disappear from my head,I was being badly bullied in the community and lots of deep family issues.

It annoys me when people say kids can’t get depression and that those of us who are non verbal can’t be depressed,those of us with LD can’t get depression, I know I can and I know my uncle who has PMLD has been depressed,i was in my twenties before I was able to communicate via AAC that I was depressed,I was diagnosed with severe major depressive disorder and pyschosis,I was told the pyschosis was caused by staff neglect of my mental health.

I hope this helps.