Psychologists have discovered why stress is more damaging to the psychology of people with autism. People with autism suffer more from stress and have worse control over emotions 22:07

Swiss scientists from the University of Geneva studied how young people with autism spectrum disorder (ASD) respond to stress. They concluded that having autism makes unpleasant experiences more intense and persistent. The study was published in the scientific journal magazine Autism.

Increased stress levels can contribute to a range of mental health problems, including anxiety and mood disorders. Aware of these issues, psychologists have sought to further investigate how autistic adolescents and young adults respond to daily stressors, focusing on their emotional responses and coping strategies.

“Increased emotional reactivity to daily stress has been shown to be a vulnerability factor in various clinical groups, so we were interested in investigating this issue in adolescents and young adults with autism,” said study author Laura Ihlen.

The experiment involved 94 people, 39 of whom were diagnosed with ASD. The ages of the participants ranged from 12 to 29.

In the study, volunteers received notifications on their smartphones eight times a day for six days to fill out surveys about their current emotions and stressful states during their activities. This method provided real-time data about participants’ emotional states in their natural environments, allowing for a more detailed understanding of their daily experiences.

The results showed that participants with autism reported higher levels of negative emotions such as sadness and anxiety in daily life. Although there was no significant difference in stress levels related to specific events, they also experienced significantly higher levels of stress related to social interactions and daily activities.

Interestingly, research has shown that autistic people find social events less pleasant than non-social events; This indicates increased sensitivity to social stressors.

A particularly notable finding was the increased reactivity of participants with autism to stress associated with daily activities. This suggests that routine tasks and responsibilities may be more emotional for people with autism.

Additionally, autistic women showed higher stress responses to these daily activities and events than autistic men; This points to possible differences in gender-based stress responses in the autistic population.

Researchers have also examined cognitive emotion regulation (the strategies people use to manage and respond to their emotions).

Psychologists found that participants with autism used less adaptive strategies, such as positive refocusing and planning, and more maladaptive strategies, such as rumination (fixating on negative thoughts) and self-blame. This pattern may contribute to the higher levels of stress and negative emotions observed in this group.

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