Recent research published in scientific report suggest that people with more advanced autistic traits may use the act of naming their emotions as a way to cope with a strong aversion to unpredictability. This strategy, known as emotional labeling, appears to help reduce anxiety by making vague inner feelings feel more structured. These findings provide evidence that the discomfort of not knowing can motivate individuals to actively manage their emotional well-being.
Akitaka Fujii, a doctoral student in the Department of Cognitive Psychological Sciences at Nagoya University, and Masahiro Hirai, an associate professor at Nagoya University and Jichi Medical University, set out to understand how individuals process complex emotions. High levels of anxiety are very common among people on the autism spectrum. Although autism is primarily characterized by differences in social communication and repetitive behaviors, co-occurring anxiety disorders affect a large proportion of this population.
To understand this relationship, researchers focused on intolerance of uncertainty. This psychological concept describes the characteristics of individuals who react negatively to unpredictable situations. People who score high on autistic traits often have increased sensitivity to the unknown. This heightened state tends to be a major cause of anxiety.
To deal with this anxiety, people use a variety of coping strategies. One option is a direct mental strategy known as affective labeling. This is simply the act of putting your feelings into words. By attaching a specific word to a confused internal sensation, a person can make the sensation less mysterious.
“Anxiety is a major concern in autism research, and intolerance of uncertainty has been proposed as one important factor that may help explain why anxiety is elevated in people with autism and those with more advanced autistic traits,” Fujii and Hirai noted. “At the same time, we were also interested in emotion labeling, the act of putting emotions into words, because it could help people better understand ambiguous inner experiences.”
This creates an interesting dilemma for people with advanced autistic traits. Many people on the autism spectrum experience a condition called alexithymia, where they have difficulty identifying and describing their emotions. Because of this, it is inherently difficult for them to use precise strategies to help reduce anxiety.
“The puzzle that motivated this study was that these two ideas seemed to create some kind of conflict,” Fujii and Hirai explained. “People with high-level autistic traits may have difficulty identifying and describing their emotions, but the distress caused by uncertainty may also motivate them to label and clarify those emotions.”
To test these ideas, scientists recruited 532 adults from the general Japanese population. Participants’ ages ranged from 20 to 39 years. The researchers removed surveys from people who gave repetitive or careless responses to ensure data quality. This process left a final sample of 505 adults, consisting of 254 men and 251 women.
Participants completed four different self-report questionnaires. The first questionnaire measured autistic traits within the general population, assessing traits such as social skills and communication. The second questionnaire measured participants’ tolerance for uncertainty. This study investigated the level of fear people experience when faced with completely unknown situations.
The third study assessed the use of emotional labels. This survey investigated how often participants used language to process their emotional states. The final questionnaire measured anxiety about the current situation and levels of general and stable trait anxiety.
Scientists used statistical software to compare two competing psychological models. One model proposes that difficulty labeling emotions increases intolerance of uncertainty and increases anxiety. The second model proposes exactly the opposite order, suggesting that high intolerance of uncertainty actually acts as a driving force influencing labeling.
Both models fit the data well from a purely mathematical point of view. However, Fujii and Hirai decided that the second model was the most reasonable based on established psychological theory. Researchers have discovered an interesting dual pathway in data about how people manage their mental health.
First, the data supported traditional risk pathways. Higher levels of autistic traits were associated with greater intolerance of uncertainty, which was directly related to increased anxiety. Also, those higher in autistic traits generally report lower baseline ability to use emotional labeling. Not being able to easily understand what you’re feeling tends to increase your overall anxiety.
Second, the data revealed new adaptive pathways. Participants high in autistic traits and high tolerance for uncertainty also reported frequent use of emotional labeling when trying to cope. In this particular pathway, the use of emotional labels was associated with reduced anxiety.
“What surprised us most was the positive association between intolerance of uncertainty and emotional labeling,” Fujii and Hirai told Scipost. “While we initially thought that difficulty labeling emotions might increase uncertainty, this pattern also holds true for the idea that uncertainty may motivate people to actively label their emotions.”
The scientists explained that this calls into question the assumption that emotional conflict completely prevents people from trying to process their emotions. “This suggests that emotional labeling should not be treated simply as the opposite of alexithymia or emotional difficulties,” the authors noted. “This may also serve as an active coping strategy that people use when they feel that their internal state is unclear or difficult to predict.”
The authors suggest that this represents a serious psychological conflict. Although a person may deeply struggle with emotional identification, they still expend great effort to name their emotions. This highlights a strength that is often overlooked in psychological research.
“One of the points we want to emphasize is that this study is not just about deficits,” Fujii and Hirai explained. “This suggests that people with advanced autistic traits may have greater difficulty identifying and verbalizing their emotions, but they may also be actively trying to cope with uncertainty.”
Researchers hope these findings will provide a new perspective on mental health support. “The main point is that uncertainty may have a dual role,” the authors said. “On the one hand, having difficulty tolerating uncertainty was associated with higher anxiety, but on the other hand, it was also associated with more frequent use of emotional labels, which in turn was associated with lower anxiety.”
Finding the right words can be a practical tool for many people. “In everyday terms, verbalizing emotions may be one way people try to reduce the uncertainty of their own inner experiences,” Fujii and Hirai pointed out. “But this does not mean that labeling emotions is easy or universally effective, especially for people who have difficulty identifying what they are feeling.”
Because of this difficulty, researchers caution against viewing this strategy as a perfect solution. “We describe this finding as theoretically meaningful, rather than as evidence of a large effect or immediate practical effect,” the authors explained. “While the anxiety-related pathway with higher intolerance of uncertainty was stronger, the adaptation pathway through emotional labeling was smaller but still conceptually important.”
Rather, the authors view this strategy as one piece of a larger mental health puzzle. “Therefore, emotional labeling should not be interpreted as a ‘cure’ for anxiety,” Fujii and Hirai said. “Rather, the results suggest that helping people put their feelings into words may be one useful component of broader emotional support, especially when uncertainty about inner experiences is contributing to distress.”
Although these findings provide evidence of active coping mechanisms, this study has several limitations. “The most important caveat is that this is a cross-sectional study, so we cannot determine causality,” Fujii and Hirai noted. “While our model assumes that intolerance of uncertainty can influence labeling, it is also possible that anxiety, uncertainty, and difficulty in labeling emotions influence each other over time.”
The scientists also highlighted the nature of the sample group. “Another important caveat is that our sample consists of adults from the general Japanese population, rather than a clinical sample of autistic individuals,” the authors explained. “Therefore, this finding should be understood as a trait-level association, and future research is needed to test whether the same mechanisms are at work in people clinically diagnosed with autism.”
It is also important not to oversimplify the relationship between these psychological traits. “We also want to preempt the interpretation that autistic traits ’cause’ anxiety, or that simply teaching people to label their emotions will necessarily reduce anxiety,” Fujii and Hirai cautioned. “For some people, it can be difficult and frustrating to label their emotions without the right support.”
Future research should follow participants over time to see how these coping strategies develop. “An important next step is to test these pathways using longitudinal or experimental designs, as this would allow us to better examine the direction of the relationships,” the authors said. “It will also be important to study clinical samples of autism to find out whether emotional labeling works differently depending on factors such as alexithymia, sensory sensitivities, and rumination.”
Scientists plan to continue investigating how individuals protect their mental health. “In the long term, we are interested in how people choose different strategies to deal with uncertainty,” Fujii and Hirai explained. “Emotional labeling may be one internal strategy, but repetitive behaviors and dichotomous thinking may be other ways we try to make the world feel more predictable.”
This perspective may ultimately change the way therapists and caregivers approach emotional regulation. “This perspective may help shift the focus from simply asking what is impaired to asking what kinds of support can help people use adaptation strategies more effectively,” the authors noted. “For example, if you have difficulty labeling your emotions on your own, interpersonal support, such as someone helping you find the words to express your feelings, may be especially important.”
The study, “Autism-related traits and anxiety in the general population are linked through intolerance of uncertainty and influence labeling,” was written by Akitaka Fujii and Masahiro Hirai.
