Verhulst Isabelle, MacLennan Keren, Haffey Anthony, Tavassoli Teresa
Department of Psychology, Royal Holloway, University of London, Egham, United Kingdom.
School of Psychology and Clinical Language Sciences, The University of Reading, Berkshire, United Kingdom.
Autism Adulthood. 2022 Sep 1;4(3):183-192. doi: 10.1089/aut.2022.0018. Epub 2022 Aug 31.
Rates of anxiety are inordinately high in autistic adults. Sensory reactivity differences, such as hyperreactivity (e.g., strong reactions to sound), hyporeactivity (e.g., no, or slower reactions to pain), and seeking (e.g., fascination with spinning objects), are a diagnostic criterion of autism and have been linked with anxiety. Understanding how individuals perceive these to be causally related can impact the assessment and treatment of anxiety. Therefore, we examined the perceived causal relations (PCR) between sensory reactivity differences and anxiety in autistic adults.
Two hundred forty-six autistic adults aged 18-76 years took part in an online study. They completed self-report assessments of sensory reactivity differences, and anxiety, followed by the PCR scale, indicating whether they perceived their sensory reactivity differences to be more of a cause or an effect of their anxiety symptoms.
We found sensory reactivity hyperreactivity, hyporeactivity, and seeking to be significantly correlated with anxiety. Further, we found total sensory hyperreactivity, and visual, auditory, and olfactory hyperreactivity, to be perceived as significantly more of a cause of anxiety than an effect, and total sensory seeking, and tactile and vestibular seeking, to be perceived as significantly more of an effect of anxiety than a cause.
Future individualized approaches to treating anxiety in autistic individuals may benefit from differentiating between potential sensory causes of anxiety (e.g. hypersensitivities) vs. potential sensory effects of anxiety (e.g. sensory seeking behaviors).
自闭症成年患者的焦虑发生率极高。感觉反应差异，如反应过度（例如，对声音有强烈反应）、反应不足（例如，对疼痛无反应或反应较慢）和寻求行为（例如，对旋转物体着迷），是自闭症的诊断标准，并且与焦虑有关。了解个体如何看待这些因素之间的因果关系会影响焦虑症的评估和治疗。因此，我们研究了自闭症成年患者感觉反应差异与焦虑之间的因果关系认知（PCR）。
246名年龄在18至76岁之间的自闭症成年患者参与了一项在线研究。他们完成了关于感觉反应差异和焦虑的自我报告评估，随后完成了因果关系认知量表，表明他们认为自己的感觉反应差异是焦虑症状的更多原因还是结果。
我们发现感觉反应过度、反应不足和寻求行为与焦虑显著相关。此外，我们发现总的感觉反应过度以及视觉、听觉和嗅觉反应过度被认为是焦虑的原因而非结果的程度显著更高，而总的感觉寻求行为以及触觉和前庭寻求行为被认为是焦虑的结果而非原因的程度显著更高。
未来针对自闭症个体焦虑症的个性化治疗方法可能会受益于区分焦虑的潜在感觉原因（例如，超敏反应）与焦虑的潜在感觉结果（例如，感觉寻求行为）。
