How Anxiety Disorder Looks When You're Neurodiverse

When people think of anxiety, they often imagine someone nervous before a presentation, biting their nails, or avoiding social situations. But what happens when anxiety exists alongside neurodivergent traits, like ADHD, autism, or sensory processing disorder?

The reality is, anxiety doesn’t always follow the “classic” script, especially in neurodivergent individuals. It can mask itself, overlap with executive dysfunction, or show up as shutdowns, meltdowns, or physical exhaustion.

In this blog, I’ll explore how anxiety disorder presents when you’re neurodiverse, why it’s often misunderstood, and how to support yourself better, or someone you love, through a neuroinclusive lens.

What is the difference between "Normal" Anxiety and Anxiety Disorder?

Normal anxiety is a natural response to stress or perceived threat, like feeling nervous before a job interview or giving a speech. It’s usually temporary, manageable, and tied to a specific situation. Once the moment passes, so do the feelings.

Anxiety disorders, on the other hand, involve excessive, persistent worry or fear that isn’t always linked to an immediate event. The feelings can be intense, long-lasting, and may interfere with daily activities, even in situations that most people wouldn’t find threatening.

1. Anxiety in the Neurodivergent Brain: What’s Different?

Let’s be clear: neurodivergence isn't a disorder, it’s a different way of experiencing and processing the world. However, it often presents challenges related to emotional regulation, sensory processing, and social interaction. These challenges frequently amplify or disguise anxiety symptoms in ways that are not always obvious.

For example, someone with autism or ADHD might experience:

• Sensory overload mistaken for panic attacks

• Masking or people-pleasing to avoid rejection, leading to burnout

• Racing thoughts or spiralling worries that overlap with executive dysfunction

• Shutdowns or meltdowns as responses to anxiety, not defiance

2. Anxiety in Autism: The Hidden Battle

In autistic individuals, anxiety is not just common; it’s often chronic. Research suggests that up to 40–50% of autistic people live with an anxiety disorder, but it doesn't mean that every person with autism has anxiety and vice versa! It can manifest very differently compared to neurotypical presentations.

How anxiety often shows up in autistic people:

• Rigid routines or resistance to change (driven by fear, not control)

• Perfectionism or obsessive interests (a way to create certainty)

• Avoidance of social interaction or sensory environments

• Physical symptoms, like stomachaches or migraines, with no clear cause

• Shutdowns, where a person withdraws completely when overwhelmed

Why it gets missed:

Many autistic individuals, especially women, mask their anxiety so well that others never see it. They might appear calm, polite, or capable on the outside while internally battling sensory overload and self-doubt. This is also very typical of women with ADHD, with many not being diagnosed until their late 20s and 30s. See our blog about Women and ADHD for more information.

3. Anxiety in ADHD: Spinning Plates on Fire

ADHD and anxiety often go hand in hand. Around 25–50% of people with ADHD also have an anxiety disorder. The struggle to stay organised, meet deadlines, and remember tasks can create constant internal tension, even if the anxiety isn’t always obvious.

Common ways anxiety appears in ADHD:

• Panic over unfinished tasks or forgotten responsibilities

• Avoidance of emails, appointments, or difficult conversations (not laziness—fear)

• Perseverating or obsessing over small mistakes

• Hyperfocus on perceived threats or problems

• Internal restlessness, not just physical hyperactivity
  

For many with ADHD, anxiety can manifest as irritability, agitation, or even overachievement. These patterns are often praised in school or work, but underneath, they’re being driven by fear of failure or rejection sensitivity.

4. Sensory Anxiety: When the World Feels Too Loud

For both autistic and ADHD individuals, sensory processing differences can be one of the biggest hidden sources of anxiety. Bright lights, loud sounds, strong smells, crowded spaces, all of these can trigger the fight-or-flight response in a nervous system that’s already on high alert.

Signs of sensory-driven anxiety:

• Becoming overwhelmed in shopping centres, classrooms, or restaurants

• Feeling panicked by sudden noises or touch

• Needing to leave environments abruptly (or freezing and becoming nonverbal)

• Using stim tools, headphones, or fidget objects to self-regulate

This type of anxiety is rarely recognised for what it is, but for many neurodivergent people, it’s the most disruptive and exhausting kind.

This is a page from the Discovery Journal Neurodiverse version. This journal is especially designed to suit the brains of neurodivergent people, and every section has been carefully thought out, even down to the font size and colour palette.

This journal is designed to help track, monitor and discover anxiety cues, triggers and root causes, a key to helping recover from and manage long-term anxiety disorders.

Sensory triggers are also taken into consideration to help make a plan to manage these obstacles and make life more bearable.

Shop Discovery Journal

5. Emotional Dysregulation: The Missing Piece

A key part of anxiety that often gets overlooked in neurodivergent individuals is emotional dysregulation. That means struggling to identify, express, or soothe intense emotions, especially under stress.

It might look like:

• Crying easily or frequently

• Seeming “overdramatic” to others

• Becoming emotionally numb or “flat” during high-stress situations

• Difficulty calming down after being upset

• Guilt or shame after emotional outbursts
  

This isn’t a personality flaw; it’s a nervous system in survival mode. And for neurodivergent individuals, that’s often the default setting.

6. Coping Strategies That Work

The tricky thing about managing anxiety when you're neurodiverse? Traditional advice often doesn’t work. “Just take deep breaths” or “do some self-care” may not help if you're in sensory shutdown or executive dysfunction hell.

Here’s what helps, according to neurodivergent voices:

• Journaling to Externalise - The Discovery Journal Neurodiverse Edition is designed specifically for brains that don’t fit into one box. It includes space for tracking anxiety, sensory overload, emotional triggers, and daily patterns, without pressure or rigid structure.

• Sensory Tools - Noise-cancelling headphones, stim toys, compression vests, and weighted blankets can help regulate the nervous system before anxiety spirals.

• Routine with Flexibility - Structure helps soothe anxiety, but too much rigidity can backfire. Use visual schedules or to-do lists with buffer time to reduce pressure.

• Name the Feeling - Use emotion wheels, check-ins, or journaling prompts to put language to what you're experiencing. Anxiety thrives in confusion; naming it reduces its power.

• Low-Pressure Social Support - Let loved ones know how anxiety shows up for you, and what you need. Sometimes that’s talking it through. Sometimes it’s space. Sometimes it’s memes.~
  

7. You’re Not Broken, Your Brain Just Speaks a Different Language

If you’re neurodivergent and struggling with anxiety, please know this: you are not alone, and you are not broken. Your brain simply processes and reacts to the world differently. That doesn’t make it wrong; it makes it yours.

The key is learning to recognise how your unique nervous system responds to stress and creating strategies and environments that work with you, not against you.

You don’t need to suppress your anxiety. You need to understand it in the context of who you are.

Final Thoughts

Anxiety doesn’t always look like panic attacks or pacing; it might look like procrastination, isolation, irritability, or even silence. Especially in neurodivergent individuals.

By increasing awareness, finding the right tools (like the Discovery Journal), and embracing your brain’s language, you can start creating a life that feels less like survival and more like something you get to thrive in.