Personal: Autism and Trauma
Growing up autistic, whether or not you have a diagnosis, is traumatic. People with autism often over internalize or externalize our emotions due to communication differences making it difficult to communicate our needs to neurotypicals. Research suggests that the possible reasons for this is either due to increased exposure to traumatic events and/or the differences in processing leading to increased perception of trauma. It is likely a combination of these two factors.
Autistic people have more traumatic experiences and adverse childhood experiences than the neurotypical population. The intersectionality of other marginalized identities adds infinite layers to the trauma from discrimination. Being autistic, especially as a child, opens the person up to increased manipulation and discrimination, which can lead to trauma symptoms in adulthood.
Because autistic brains process information differently than neurotypical brains, the experiences of trauma are also processed differently. As mentioned earlier, autistic people either over internalize or over externalize their emotions and struggle with emotional regulation due to overwhelming sensory information. Over internalization can look like depression, anxiety, and other mood disorders. Over externalization can look like anger outbursts, aggression, and other conduct disorders. Both of these are trauma responses and should be treated as such.
As of today, there is no specific trauma therapy developed for people with autism. I have experienced a multitude of traumatic experiences myself, especially related to relationships, so I have tried several different therapy modalities but with limited success. The overwhelming research for therapeutic methods is done in limited populations that often exclude autistic people from research to create uniformity of their data.
Processing trauma with autism can look similar to how neurotypicals process trauma. Some people with autism will benefit from talk therapies like CBT, or medication like Zoloft. However, autistics and their professionals need to look for ways to include the autism factor in the treatment plan. Using sensory regulation to process trauma is one of the best ways to heal the body’s experience, and studying a hyper-fixation can provide a brain break from processing traumatic events during session.
