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Abstract
Anxiety and poor stress management are common concerns in clinical samples of children
with autism spectrum disorders (ASD). Anxiety may worsen during adolescence, as young
people face an increasingly complex social milieu and often become more aware of their
differences and interpersonal difficulties. This review summarizes the state of research
on the prevalence, phenomenology, and treatment of anxiety in youth with autism and
related conditions such as Asperger's Disorder. Using search words autism, asperger(s),
or pervasive developmental disorder and anxiety or anxious to find reports published
between 1990 and 2008, this review identified 40 papers. The results of the review
suggest that anxiety, whether measured categorically or dimensionally, is indeed common
in children and adolescents with autism spectrum disorders and may be a source of
additional morbidity. The assessment of anxiety disorders in ASD should be conducted
using multiple informants and modalities, as children with ASD often do not display
age-typical symptoms of anxiety. To date, relatively few controlled intervention studies
using well-characterized samples have been conducted despite preliminary evidence
for efficacy of select pharmacological and psychosocial approaches. Recommendations
for future applied research are presented and clinical implications are explored.