Abstract
Clinicians within the Leeds Autism Diagnostic Service (LADS) have found that many of our patients have difficulty answering questions pertaining to subjective emotional experience. It was felt by clinicians within the service that service users who were later diagnosed as neuro-typical also had difficulty answering questions related to their subjective emotional state. It was felt that by examining responses to the meaning of four common emotional states (relaxation, anger, anxiety and happiness) in a neuro-typical population, themes or common words or phrases could be elicited in the description of each emotion. These questions were similar in scope to those found within the Autism Diagnostic Observation Schedule, 2<sup>nd</sup> Edition, which is used by LADS during diagnostic assessments. This would then allow clinicians a means of comparing a service user’s responses with what could be expected from a neuro-typical population. We felt that other teams within our organization unconnected with the Autism Diagnostic Service, could serve as a useful neuro-typical population. An online survey link was therefore sent to different administration teams within Leeds and York Partnership Foundation Trust, which allowed participants to complete four questions, each one asking them to describe the subjective meaning of relaxation, anger, anxiety and happiness in turn. There were no specific inclusion or exclusion criteria for these survey participants. Each question provided an area where each survey participant could express this in up to a few sentences. Following this, the results were analysed for common descriptors and actions, associated in the responses for a particular emotion. When analysing the results, it was evident that actions and activities were more frequently used in responses by the survey participants in responses to questions related to relaxation, anger and happiness, however were less apparent in the responses to describe anxiety. It is hoped that these results will be able to guide clinicians in interpreting and scoring diagnostic screening tools for Autism by providing more knowledge about neuro-typical responses.
Highlights
In his book Emotions in Social Psychology, Gerrard Parrott describes how emotions and social psychology are deeply intertwined [1]
The questions include a person’s description of four different emotions-happiness, anger, sadness and relaxation. These questions included: a) How would you articulate to others what relaxation means to you? b) How would you articulate to others what anger means to you? c) How would you articulate to others what anxiety means to you? d) How would you articulate to others what happiness means to you? A cohort of administrative staff within the Trust were asked to complete the survey
It has been shown that there is reduced activation in the insula, when patients with Alexithymia are involved in tasks which require theory of mind, which may explain some of the overlap with Autism [17]. Given this knowledge of Alexithymia and how commonly it presents in those with ASD, our results act as a useful comparison as to what descriptors of common emotional states, in a population with typical development, might include or comment on
Summary
In his book Emotions in Social Psychology, Gerrard Parrott describes how emotions and social psychology are deeply intertwined [1] He argues that emotions are essentially social, citing examples of jealousy in relationships or anger at others’ blameworthy actions. People with Autism often present to diagnostic services when their inability to associate with others (be it family, colleagues or peers) and to participate in everyday social life (public transport, employment, education, social gatherings) reaches a peak or culminates in crisis. As they wrestle through the changing social milieu around them and encounter unanticipated predicaments, they often are overwhelmed and decompensate rapidly
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