Teenagers and adults victim of bullying and diagnosed with Asperger's Syndrome: Mindfulness based strategies

1.5 Stress, anxiety and depression 
Anxiety, depression and psychosomatic symptoms are most frequent among bully-victims 
and bullying should be seen as an indicator of risk of various mental disorders in 
adolescence (Kaltiala-Heino et al. , 2000). In a study conceming peer-victimization and 
posttraumatic stress in adolescents results provide evidence that peer victimization is 
associated with lower self-worth and higher posttraumatic stress and that those adolescents 
with an extemal locus of control may be at greater risk of psychological problems 
(Mynard et al., 2000). Stress is a feeling created when reacting to particular events, it's the 
body's way of rising to a challenge, preparing to meet a tough situation with focus, strength, 
heightened alertness. If stress levels become out of control there are some problems: blood 
pressure rises, breathing become more rapid, digestive system slows down, heart pulse 
rises, immune system goes down, muscles become tense and there's a heightened state of 
alertness. 
It is common for people with Asperger's Syndrome to become emotionally vulnerable and 
easily stressed. Stressful situations , in addition to bullying, are like wanting to play with 
another child and not exactly knowing how, being judged with grades, hearing children 
laughing just around you and not getting the joke, trying to follow lessons but not 
understanding what is being said by teachers. School has a meaningful role and often is 
one of principal stressors (Adreon & Smith Myles, 2001): moving from elementary school 
to middle school and later to high school are difficult experiences even for many 
neurotypical youths and many charges such as a larger school with departmentalized 
teaching worry many students about doing ali well. Those with Asperger's are not 
multitasking and they don't know how to approach a complex task, e.g. breaking a 
homework assignment into more manageable parts, so often they spend a substantial 
amount of time worried, without beginning the task and budgeting their time in the wrong 
way. Often difficulties begin when integrating leamed material because while students 
memorize sets or facts, for a person with an Asperger's such lists often remain 
unconnected like bits of informations. Furthermore, social expectations increase 
considerably and peer relationships become more complex: it is required to interact with a 
larger broader community demanding social competence. Concurrently, onset of puberty 
and physiological changes can be stressors and many adolescents teeter between 
childhood and something akin to greater maturity. 
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This combination of the varied stressors leaves many with Asperger's feeling 
overwhelmed and they do not reveal their stress or difficulty coping through voice tone or 
body posture in ways meaningful to others, so agitation often escalates to a point of crisis 
even because of others' unawareness of their discomfort. Since no emotions are conveyed, 
these behaviours often go unnoticed by adults ( Smith Myles & Southwich, 1999). 
A study shows a greater rate of anxiety and depression problems among children with 
autism and Asperger Syndrome and how these problems had a significant impact on their 
overall adaptation (Kim et al., 2000). Anxiety is a state characterized by somatic, 
emotional, cognitive, and behavioral components. It is the displeasing feeling of fear; some 
individuals who experience repeated failures socially can begin to feel anxiety about 
socializing and may start to avoid any activities. Anxious people do not attempt to engage 
socially even when they possess the abilities to do so appropriately (Whi te, 2011). Another 
study on anxiety in youths with Asperger's shows that between II and 84% experienced 
impairing anxiety (White et al., 2009); however most estimates fall between 40-45%. 
Farrugia and Hudson examined anxiety symptoms in 29 adolescents with Asperger 
Syndrome (AS) aged 12-16, compared to 30 nonc\inical adolescents (NC) and 34 
adolescents with anxiety disorders (AD). Also was examinated comorbidity between 
anxiety symptoms and negative thoughts, behavioral problems, and life interference. Self­
and parental reports revealed significantly higher levels of anxiety in both the AS group 
and the AD group than in the Ne group. In the AS group negative thoughts, behavioral 
problems, and life interference were significantly higher than for the two comparison 
groups (Farrugia & Hudson, 2006). 
Repetitive behaviours might be functional act as a soothing coping mechanism, aimed to 
calm anxiety and regulating the arousal: these rituals are experienced as distressing. Often 
neurotypicals can modulate anxiety using language because it gives the ability to keep in 
perspective what causes anxiety, looking into the future and imagining a new way of 
dealing with change ( Szatmari, 2004) or they can use distractions to deal with anxiety 
such as music, books, pleasant meals.; the anxiety may return but the most part is dealt 
with. People with Asperger Syndrome have some language deficiencies and cannot 
verbally express their anxiety through their words and parents are not enable to recognize it, 
identifying the source of the anxiety. Those with Asperger's often can find a way of 
dealing with anxiety by asking again the same questions, in an irritating way for peers: the 
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questioning becomes a verbal ritual, so routine and structure help cope with change and 
transitions. 
Many with Asperger Syndrome become depressed and symptoms associated with autism 
and Asperger Syndrome such as obsessionality and self-injury may be increased during an 
episode of depression (Stewart et al, 2006). In a study of 33 adolescents diagnosed with 
Asperger's, 70% of participants were taking antidepressant medications and results 
revealed a significant positive relationship between depressive symptoms and ability 
attributions for soci al failure, suggesting that interventions may need to focus on teaching 
these individuals to attribute social failure to causes other than ability (Barnhill, 2000). 
People with Asperger's tend to blame themselves if something negative occurred even if 
they logically could not have been at fault. If these teens are involved in a similar situation 
again, they will be doomed to failure. 
Depression is characterized by a number of symptoms including feeling sad, anxious for 
weeks or months -not just a passing "blue mood" - and even simple things, like eating or 
getting dressed in the moming, become obstacles. There are negative effect on a person's 
thoughts, behavior, feelings, world view, physical well-being. ALI depression types are not 
the same: the most common are major depression, also known as clinical depression, 
and chronic depression, al so known as dysthymia. Major depression lasts longer, with 
permanent feelings of helplessness and hopelessness: there is a clinically significant 
distress or impairment in functioning normally and it is disabling. One of symptom is a 
repeated thought about death or suicide, a suicide pian or an attempt. Chronic depression is 
less severe than major depression and it is characterized by a long-term (two years or more) 
depressed mood and typically do es not disable the person; low mood is accompanied by 
low self-esteem and loss of interest or pleasure in normally enjoyable activities. Atypical 
depression is a subtype of dysthymia and major depression, sharing many of the symptoms 
of both, but also being characterized by mood reactivity, being able to experience 
improved mood in response to positive events. Depression is like a vicious circle: feeling 
socially isolated and becoming depressed, people don 't make an effort to get out and do 
things and so they fall deeper and deeper into social isolation. 
In a study conceming depression, temperament and their relationship to other 
characteristics in children with Asperger's Disorder (Butzer & Konstantareas, 2003) was 
found that more severe symptomatology was associated with higher levels of negative 
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mood. AIso, lower levels of social skills were associated with higher levels of negative 
mood and depression. Often people with Asperger's, victim of bullying and avoiding soci al 
situations, research the use of computer as a safe refuge but there's often the risk to 
develop a dependence, especially with video game, and in criticai conditions getting in 
Internet Addiction Disorder (IAD). A study examined the nature of television, video game, 
and social media used in 202 children, ages 8- 18, with autisrn spectrum disorders (ASD), 
compared to 179 typically developing siblings (Mazurek & Wenstrup, 2012); results 
distinctJy show how children with ASD spent more hours per day playing video. 
Shavaun Scott, therapist practicing with a specialty in addictions and technology, declares 
that people on the Asperger's kind of spectrum are more at risk: being with a mood 
disorder they're struggling with self-regulation and they like games because there's a fixed 
rule set that they can understand, and iCs always predictable for them. 
Again, if someone is depressed just wants to escape and not want to go out and have the 
energy , e.g., to meet the challenge of work: gaming online just helps in kind of dissociate 
from that taking the mind off it (Scott, 20 LO). Compulsive Internet use can interfere with 
daily life, work, and relationships: in cyber-relationship-addiction (soci al networking, chat 
rooms, and forums) virtual friends become more important than the real-life relationships 
with family, partner, friends. Those with Internet Addiction feel sense of euphoria while 
involved in Internet activities and they are dysphoric when not. 
1.6 Psychological therapies Mindfulness-based for Asperger's bullied 
Outlining the situation, people diagnosed with Asperger Syndrome are frequentJy victims 
of bullying, stressed, anxious, with mood disorders (Lipsky, 2011). This vicious circle can 
be addressed: most with Asperger's benefit from early specialized interventions focusing 
on beh avi or management and social skills training, physical, occupational and speech 
therapy. There's al so a new group of psychological therapies Mindfulness-based: they 
offer an integrative, rnind-body based approach. Mindfulness helps people change the way 
of thinking, feeling and acting especially about their stressful experiences. Although it is 
possible use Mindfulness with children, in this thesis I will focus only on teenagers and 
adults diagnosed with Asperger's and simultaneously victirns of bullying because I had the 
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opportunity to work with them and l believe they are the right age bracket to propose some 
Mindfulness-based strategies. 
Chris Mitchell, diagnosed with Asperger's when he was 20, wrote "Asperger's Syndrome 
and Mindfulness" (2009): he considers that many with Asperger's often experience a 
mental blockages related to frustration and anxiety, which make such issues difficult to 
cope with, thus hindering one's ability to cope effectively and he considers Mindfulness as 
an useful therapy for anxiety and low self-esteem. Anxiety can create frustration, which 
can lead to anger: "1 have found that the more frustrated and angrier that it has made me, 
the more it has detached my mind from my body, in that the mind loses much bodily 
control, including contro I of the nervous system, leading to tension and shaking . .. This has 
resulted in me at times becoming very angry for very irrational reasons, which have led me 
to blame so many others for my problems rather than myself. Becoming very angry you 
can shut yourself off from others around you, including those close to you ... mind is often 
stili full of anger. .. "(Mitchell, 2009). 
Experiencing difficulty with flexible thinking, not able to look at different questions from 
different perspectives and having excessive mind proliferation, meditation and 
Mindfulness-based strategies become a guideline to his personal development. 
Mindfulness is an act of hospitality, a way of leaming to treat ourselves with kindness and 
care; people believe that the nonjudjings, nonstriving, generosity-oriented aspect of 
Mindfulness practice were helping them become "friends" with themselves (Saki 
SantoreIli, 1999). 
Nick Dubin, diagnosed when he was 27, wrote "Asperger's Syndrome and anxiety. A 
guide to successful stress management" (Dubin, 2009) underlining benefits of keeping the 
consciousness focused on the present, declaring that to become mindful is to actively 
become the computer programmer in your own mind. 
Dr. Russell, father of two boys diagnosed with autism, considers four mam areas of 
struggi e for people with Asperger's that could be helped through the practice of 
Mindfulness meditation: emotional regulation, executive function, empathy, sleep, 
declaring that "Mindfulness also help them to move beyond the meltdowns, anxiety and 
stressful situations and learn to live more within the current moment, not dwelling on the 
past or worrying about the future." (Russell, 2011). In this paper some Mindfulness-based 
procedures will be presented with full particulars in Chapter 3. 
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