Autism Vs Social Anxiety (Why Social Anxiety Differs from Autism)

Autism vs social anxiety? What’s the difference from autism and anxiety, find out all that band more in this video!
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There are lots of times people question what is the difference of autism vs social anxiety? Or is there really a difference between autism and anxiety.

The fact of the matter is when it comes to autism vs special anxiety there is a huge difference and this is what that difference is.

With anxiety, it stems from mental health issues caused by past external sources, this could be past trauma, an existing underlying mental health condition or a current trauma that produces a social anxiety disorder.

With autism, it is a neurological developmental condition that is originated in the fusion and creation of neurological paths in the brain, that create alternative paths for how the brain interactions with communication signals.

Autism produces similar characteristics of social anxiety but this is due to two factors.

First difficulty in understanding social interaction and social conventions due to the communication difficulties present in autism.

Secondly, there is a sensory processing element that is caused by over stimulation from outside sensory input, like biking in noisy busy places with lots of people and smells and lights etc.

Please add a comment below if you have anything to add to this discussion, I’d love to know. Also please follow @TheAspieWorld for more autism content.

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LINKS:

[itmustbetuesday]

What about childhood trauma caused by being rejected and mocked my others for your strange/likely autistic traits? I feel that those experiences would both give you a trauma anxiety response and could also be caused by discomfort with social communication that you've tried to mask your whole life.

[rodannnkekw]

Probably I have social anxiety, but it comes from a place of “I don’t know what to do next” “I don’t know how to socialize” or childhood trauma (not having any friends, feeling depressed and suicidal thoughts in elementary school). I always felt like I can’t actually socialize. I don’t understand it. It’s confusing if it’s just anxiety or I’m on the spectrum.

[Leena]

I have diagnoses for both autism and social anxiety. I was diagnosed with social anxiety in my 20s, and after another 20 years, with autism. The years between, I went through all kinds of therapies and medications but my issues prevailed, and that's how I ended up seeking the autism diagnosis. I'm pretty clueless in social situations, and I have sensory issues, and I assume they are heavily linked with my social anxiety. The trauma that caused my anxiety is due to failing at communicating with other people, and feeling like an alien among them.

[jadeykinz]

I always struggle holding a conversation and struggle to keep up with them. I just dont know what to say and say things that people find inappropriate or abrupt but i dont see it that way at all. I was diagnosed with depression and anxiety years ago but im now in the process of trying to get an assessment for autism and adhd. My doctor thinks i have both. Im not really sensitive with smells but i am with socialising. I get overwhelmed and burned out quickly. New places overwhelm me and freak me out too.

[alexanderklepp]

I totally understand how you feel Dan. I've experienced a lot of social anxiety that I might feel judged because sometimes I talk too much or I don't say enough or because of my difficulty of looking people in the eyes when holding a conversation. BTW Happy birthday!

[anyascelticcreations]

My understanding is that anxiety does come along side other conditions often. Like depression for example. I've heard it referred to as a disorder. Not to say that you're wrong that autism based anxiety is different. But non autism related anxiety can be pretty debilitating for some people, too.

I get around my autism based anxiety by trying to avoid triggers for it as much as possible. 🤣

[afterrunrc]

I have my psychological evaluation coming up on Monday. Your videos have been a huge help regardless of my diagnosis. Thank you so much!

[anar]

Thanks for this video! I really liked the way you explained it! I'm 26 and for a while now I believe I'm autistic, your videos really help me understand my brain better.

[monigiselle]

I’m really confused 🤷‍♀️ because I have social anxiety 😥 but, I always was a different girl since I remember in terms of social interaction and communicating with the world. I need a professional diagnosis to get out of this doubt.

[Nén]

What if I have communication issues and that lead to me having bad experiences or even trauma around certain situations *because* of my communication issues and THEN I have social anxiety because of that trauma…. What do I do then? I mean. How do I find out if it really was because of my communication issues or if it was just because … people?

[visionsmagazineonlin]

I don't understand how my ADHD was so overlooked growing up. My memory and executive function suffer. I wear my keys on a lanyard to keep track of them. Stress out cuz I keep losing my phone and glasses getting ready to go to work. All my adhd work friends have been treated and they have not had to suffer job loss like in my case my memory was too bad to remember the all steps to activate a phone at the phone store. After 20 steps I couldnt remember the next 20. My memory reached capacity. They wouldn't write anything down or let me take notes to help me learn. They made me do it by memory. Its hard to converse with people with a spotty memory. Trying to remember their name or recall events. I have 100 plus coworkers. Smells, loud voices, barking dogs n certain high pitch sounds set off my anxiety. Ive never tested for autism but I seem to share a lot in common with them. Its hard for me to get courage to say hi to neighbors so then they think Im stuck up. Socializing is a nightmare. Only loud aggressive people are popular at work. Im the opposite.

[waffle]

I think the confusion around social anxiety & autism stems from the fact that social anxiety can trick a person into thinking they have poor social skills.

*Fix:* instead of focusing on the communication side of things, look at other ASD traits. Are you sensitive to certain Are you hyper or hypo empathetic? Are you a picky eater? Do you have “nervous habits” that you even do when you’re not nervous? (stims) list EVERY trait you can think of. No potential autistic trait is too insignificant.

Focus on:
Childhood/adult repetitive behaviours (spinning, jumping, pressing eyes, sucking hair...)
What you would get told off for as a kid [for me it was looking at the floor all the time, avoiding eye contact]
What started your social anxiety? Do you feel physically suppressed somehow when you are around people? (this indicates masking) [for me my social anxiety started when people started picking up on the fact I was “too blunt”, “always oversharing”, ”too loud/quiet/mumbling” “too

I promise this will help!

[Stephanie_Vincent]

I love your videos but anxiety is ABSOLUTELY biologically-based(as well as trauma in many cases). Anxiety in PTSD, for example, changes the brain & our neural networks. Epigenetics also tells us that there is a genetic basis for anxiety.
Otherwise, great video! SPD was such an important key in my realizing what I had was not "just" anxiety but autism.

[blackwholesoul]

I have trauma from being undiagnosed with autism (all my childhood and young adult life) and trying to figure out how to socialize on my own without knowing what was the "problem"

[rickyzamora]

It’s nice to see other relatable people out there.

[butwhytho]

Anxiety is also a hereditary thing. It’s very environmental, but it also can be inherited from what I have come to understand. I’m still trying to work all this out in my head and knowing my family history. It’s not fun research lol so if anyone would like to direct me to more correct info, plz do. I don’t mind being wrong about something if I have good resources to show otherwise.

[VanEssa-whcw]

Could it be said that social anxiety is a phobia of people due to a traumatic experience, while autism has to do with having a different type of brain?

[johnrobertson]

So helpful to make this distinction, thank you. I’ve been diagnosed w Asperger’s at 45 and life is suddenly beginning to make sense and be more more enjoyable 😊

[katyweitz]

Thank you for another very informative and helpful video. I'm a parent and watching your videos over the past few months has been absolutely brilliant and eye-opening in helping me to understand our situation. You put in so much effort to communicate this important information in a very accessible way. I haven't commented before but I just wanted to let you know there are 'silent' watchers like myself out here who appreciate what you are doing. We are quite early on our journey but all your videos have been very helpful on this path. Thank you.... and please keep posting!

[Eryniell]

I got social anxiety probably because of how "unpredictable" social situations were and are to me and it resulting in many bad situations :/ even though I'm pretty much researching and studying human psychology and behaviour to such a degree that logically I can explain alot of social/psychological things, perceive them and act accordingly, but it doesn't come naturally so it still happens that i miss cues when they are too subtle and/or too quick and it's alot of work to maintain it....