Sensibly Speaking

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Well...this is awkward.

For years, we've been told our anxiety comes from irrational thinking, distorted beliefs, or "catastrophizing." We are often recommended therapy to learn a new way of thinking—you know, so we can start thinking right.

Looks like the professionals might need to rethink that whole premise. Why? Because this study suggests something uncomfortable: they are wrong, and have been right all along. Many Autistic adults have good reasons to be anxious.

In a 2026 UK study, researchers interviewed 20 Autistic adults to better understand what anxiety actually feels like from the inside. Apparently, decades of lived experience deserved least a seat at the table.

The researchers found our anxiety was often rooted in lived experience, not irrational thinking. With life experiences that often include bullying, rejection, discrimination, sensory overload, uncertainty and repeated misunderstandings, anxiety starts to look a lot less like a disorder and a lot more like a predictable human response.

Who knew? Repeatedly touching a hot stove can make people wary of hot stoves. In other words, many environments and situations DO present a threat, a danger, and they may trigger our anxiety when we are faced with them.

Instead of asking what was "wrong" with Autistic people's thinking, researchers interviewed 20 Autistic adults to understand what anxiety actually feels like from the inside. Frankly, we need more research like this.

Every single participant described struggling with uncertainty. Every. Single. One.

Many of us don't just dislike uncertainty. We work hard to reduce it. We research before appointments, rehearse conversations, we make plans, then backup plans and backup plans for the backup plans. We seek information because uncertainty itself can be exhausting. Many of us are intolerant of Uncertainty.

Every participant also described repetitive negative thinking, and most described catastrophizing, but those thoughts weren't random or irrational. They were built from experience. It's difficult to dismiss a thought as irrational when it has a long history of being right.

Throughout the interviews, participants linked their anxiety to bullying, rejection, abuse, discrimination, employment struggles, financial insecurity, housing insecurity and a lifetime of experiences that taught them the world isn't always safe or predictable.

Several participants described feeling frustrated when therapy focused on changing their thoughts because, from their perspective, many of those thoughts reflected things that had actually happened. As one participant explained, therapists often tried to reduce everything to "it's just thoughts," when much of their anxiety came from lived experience.



Wow. Nothing says "I feel understood" quite like someone explaining away the experiences you're describing {sarcasm}.

The study also challenges another long-standing myth.

Around 70% of participants described vivid, intrusive mental images when they were anxious. Not simply worrying in words, but replaying detailed mental movies often based on painful memories. For years we've heard that Autistic people lack imagination. These findings suggest many of us experience incredibly vivid mental imagery, especially when anxiety is involved.

Researchers also found that anxiety and autism often fed into one another. It can go something like this:

· Sensory overload increased anxiety.

· Anxiety made sensory experiences even more intense.

· Anxiety made masking harder.

· Masking required more energy.

· Changes to routine increased anxiety.

· Anxiety increased the need for routine.

· One participant described it perfectly as "a chain reaction."

· Another described anxiety as "this undercurrent" that never completely disappears.

The study also offered something hopeful.

Several participants said understanding they were Autistic reduced their anxiety. Their experiences finally made sense, and self-understanding replaced self-blame.

Finally, participants had a clear message about support.

Many felt existing therapies were built around neurotypical assumptions. They wanted therapists who understood autism, recognized that many fears are grounded in lived experience, and worked with that reality instead of assuming every anxious thought needed correcting.

Agreed. It's time now to stop asking why Autistic people are so anxious and start asking why so many professionals keep dismissing the experiences that created the anxiety in the first place.

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