PhD Presentation
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Created on February 25, 2024
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Transcript
Rebecca Roberts-DavisDr Alex Lau-ZhuProfessor Geoff BirdProfessor Robin Murphy
Understanding Anxiety Problems in Autism
Start
Anxiety in Autism
A recent assessment of various studies showed that approximately 20% of autistic people have a co-occurring anxiety disorder (Lai et al, 2019)It has been established that differences in the quality of autistic peoples’ lives is influenced by mental health symptoms (Oakley et al, 2021)Additionally, autistic adults reported mental health conditions and mental well-being as their number one priority for research (Cage et al, 2024)
One proposed cause for anxiety in autism is 'intolerance of uncertainty' - a negative bias affecting how someone perceives and responds to uncertaintyPrevious studies have looked at intolerance of uncertainty using questionnaires or tasks which do not represent the daily lives of autistic people (Jenkinson et al, 2020)Moreover, it could be that uncertainty only impacts anxiety when the situation is inherently negative, for example, going to the dentist
Study 1
- You are going to see a positive or negative image
- You will either see a description of the image or a random fact
- At three points, you will be asked to show how distressed you are
The Uncertainty in Pictures (UP) Task
Neurotypical Group
Autistic Group
Predictions
Qualitative Research can be used to gain a much more nuanced, in-depth account of how anxiety problems are experienced by an autistic individualPrevious qualitative studies have only asked about 'external' causes of anxiety, for example, (Trembath et al, 2012) No work currently has explicitly asked autistic people to agree with or dispute the ideas researchers hold about anxiety
Qualitative Research
- Autistic adults, aged 18 to 55 years, who identify as having anxiety problems
- Each adult is interviewed once, one-to-one
- Initial questions focus on the lived experience of having anxiety
- Later questions focus on whether the autistic adults agree with what researchers think about their anxiety
- These interviews are recorded and transcribed
- Quotations from these interviews form themes - concepts which the autistic adults have reported about their anxiety
Methodology
Mental Imagery
Attentional Biases
Repetitive Thinking
Intolerance of Uncertainty
Internal Causes of Anxiety
Simplified version of the UP taskHigher data quality controlsLarge sample
Follow Up Plans
What is Autistic Adults' Internal Experience of Their Anixety?
How Different are Questionnaires of Anxiety from Questionnaires of Autism?
Study 3
Study 2
Study 1
What is the Role of Intolerance of Uncertainty?