August 10, 2023
ASD and Friendships
By: Juno Elsa Ottathengil, MSW Practicum Student & Janelle Schenk, LMSW
Introduction
What are some things that humans need to survive? The more common answers to this question include food, water, oxygen, money, and so on. Although an individual may have those basic necessities, it’s also important to think about things that humans need in order to live a little bit healthier and happier. One thing that falls into this category is friendship. Friendships are an essential part of life. They can help humans find purpose and meaning, as well as grow socially. However, friendship building can be a complex skill for many individuals to develop. Focusing specifically on autistic children and adolescents, developing friendships can be more challenging due to the nuances of social and communication skills. This blog will further expand on the importance of friendships, the benefits of friendship building, the challenges of friendship building (specifically challenges that autistic individuals tend to face), and ways for autistic individuals to build and enhance friendships.
Importance of Friendships
Starting off with the importance of friendships, the research article The Power of Friendship: The Developmental Significance of Friendships from a Neuroscience Perspective (Güroğlu, 2022) states that both positive developmental outcomes and long-term mental health are the results of supportive and high-quality friendships. Additionally, it’s said that “friendships also protect us against the negative effects of adverse experiences, such as peer victimization and internalizing behaviors” (Güroğlu, 2022).
To further support this, researcher Berna Güroğlu reviewed brain images that showed how friendships involve reward and motivational processes, as well as other-related mentalizing processes. This was supported by great levels of activity in various brain regions that all play major roles in reward and motivational processes (Güroğlu, 2022).
In the same study, the researcher also reviewed MRI scans of the brain’s level of activity during social interactions with friends. The findings indicated that both the nucleus accumbens and ventromedial prefrontal cortex have the most activation when we are engaging in social interactions with positive peers, such as our friends. For context, when the nucleus accumbens is activated, it increases dopamine levels, which play a major role in pleasure, satisfaction, and motivation, while the ventromedial prefrontal cortex plays a major role in emotional processing, decision-making, memory, and self-perception.
Benefits of Friendship Building
Now, as many people know, building friendships is an essential part of life. It can help us find purpose and meaning, as well as grow socially. According to the article Nine Health Benefits of Friendship (Barkley, 2022), some benefits of friendship building include a decrease in stress and anxiety levels, feelings of loneliness, and pain levels. Friendship building can also result in an increase in brain power (e.g., improvements in cognitive functioning, memory, and recall), overall life satisfaction, and having a strong support system.
Challenges of Friendship Building for Autistic Individuals
Although friendship building has many benefits, it’s not always as easy as it sounds. Some of the challenges that autistic individuals face in friendship building are difficulty with making conversation; difficulty understanding others’ body language, facial expressions, and gestures; experiencing anxiety in certain social situations; struggling with rigidity; and feeling like a social minority. Expanding more on the last point, researchers conducted hour-long interviews with twelve autistic adults where participants discussed the time they spent with important autistic and non-autistic people in their lives and reflected on their relationships (Crompton et al., 2020). One of the common themes among all the participants was that autistic individuals often felt they were in a social minority, thus making them feel like they couldn’t be themselves due to societal norms. Moving on to struggles with rigidity, some autistic individuals find changes to their routine challenging. For many, having a routine provides predictability, which often reduces anxiety. Therefore, sudden changes in routine, such as last-minute plans with friends, can result in a negative experience for autistic individuals.
Ways for Autistic Individuals to Build and Enhance Friendships
So, what are some ways that autistic individuals can build and enhance their friendships? One way is by finding hobbies that the individual may enjoy and can do with others. Another way is by joining social groups that utilize friendship-building interventions. Research has shown that there is a significant increase in social skills and quality of play among children with ASD after the use of the children’s friendship training (CFT) intervention (Goh et al., 2020). Additionally, there was a significant decrease in conflict and disengagement and a significant increase in engagement among the participants.
Practicing social skills with people the individual is close to in both home and outdoor settings is another way for autistic individuals to become more comfortable with utilizing social skills. In addition, it’s helpful to utilize coping mechanisms and practice mindfulness to decrease the anxiety that some autistic individuals may experience when it comes to building friendships. Some common coping mechanisms are fidget/sensory toys (e.g., poppers, stress balls, water beads) and deep breathing exercises (e.g., square breathing, five finger breathing, rainbow breathing). A common mindfulness exercise is the 5-4-3-2-1 technique, which involves our five senses and helps us be more present.
Conclusion
With friendships being such a prominent part of life, the things addressed above are important to keep in mind when navigating friendships and ways to build and enhance friendships, specifically for autistic individuals. It might be challenging at first, but with time and practice, you or a loved one can develop the essential skills for building and enhancing current and new friendships. Remember, it’s never too late to start building friendships!
References
Barkley, S. (2022). Nine Health Benefits of Friendship. Psych Central.
https://psychcentral.com/relationships/benefits-of-friendship#life-satisfaction
Crompton, C. J., Hallett, S., Ropar, D., Flynn, E., & Fletcher-Watson, S. (2020). ‘I never realised
everybody felt as happy as I do when I am around autistic people’: A thematic analysis of autistic adults’ relationships with autistic and neurotypical friends and family. Autism, 24(6), 1438–1448. https://doi.org/10.1177/1362361320908976
Goh, H., Roslan, S., Baguri, E. M., Ong, S. Y., & Li, S. Y. (2020). The Effects of Children’s
Friendship Training on Social Skills and Quality of Play among Children with Autism Spectrum Disorder. International Journal of Learning, Teaching and Educational Research, 19(7), 225–245. https://doi.org/10.26803/ijlter.19.7.13
Güroğlu, B. (2022). The power of friendship: The developmental significance of friendships
from a neuroscience perspective. Child Development Perspectives, 16(2), 110–117. https://doi.org/10.1111/cdep.12450
10 reasons people with autism struggle with friendships | Ambitious about Autism. (2015).