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Autism Burnout

Autimator
over 2 years ago

A video on Autism Burnout (fatigue) from the Pete Wharmby, a great autistic speaker and writer.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=JNDQ2glqHj8

All the internal and external factors autistic people face can take its toll over time - mentally worn down from masking, enduring difficult situations, anxiety about the present/future, trauma from the past, and then non-autism things that life throws at you.  It is good to be aware of it, even if its not happen to you know it might in the future.

It is not well researched or understood, so getting help for it is difficult, but like any fatigue its a good idea to be kind to yourself, mentally and physically.

If you aren't familiar with Pete then watch his other videos if you can.

Parents
  • over 2 years ago

    I just did a quick literature search on autistic burnout (I am a scientist so this is what I do when in crisis mode...) and I found some interesting recent papers: 

    This paper tries to give a more detailed definitition of autistic burnout and how it differs from depression and other forms of burnout. They interviewed autistic people that had gone through burnout: 

    https://journals.sagepub.com/doi/abs/10.1177/13623613211019858

    I tried to attach the PDF version of it (as it isn't open access) but not sure if I can attach PDFs/ files on this forum? If you are interested I will see if I can somehow get a copy of the whole article to you. 

    This part from the discussion might also be of interest:

    "Our results highlight that routine treatments for depression, such as cognitive behaviour therapy and behavioural activation, may be contra-indicated within autistic burnout, even though these conditions may co-exist. Our experts described the need for withdrawal and downtime for recovery, somewhat antithetic to behavioural activation. With cognitive overload being described as a key precursor of autistic burnout, cognitive-focused therapies could be counterproductive. There is a need, however, to ground these suggestions in experimental studies, and we believe there is a role for appropriate psychological support in recovery from autistic burnout. Autistic people daily face adversity in social interaction, as described in Milton’s (2012) double empathy problem, and underestimation of their self-awareness and ability to recognise the perspective of others as demonstrated by Heasman and Gillespie (2018). Overall, our results highlight the need to address social issues and sensory environments, to reduce stressors that can lead to autistic burnout or suicidal ideation for autistic adults."

    And here is their suggested diagnostic criteria: 

  • over 2 years ago in reply to Ann :)

    Thanks for that, good find, autistic voices for once.

    Really good that it explains main causes so that people can assess their own burnout, or burnout of others - what they might be burning out from.  But the suggested recovery methods are what matters, things autistic people have tried.  Its fatigue, without anything changing it will persist, but make positive adjustments and it might start to fade. 

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  • over 2 years ago in reply to Ann :)

    Thanks for that, good find, autistic voices for once.

    Really good that it explains main causes so that people can assess their own burnout, or burnout of others - what they might be burning out from.  But the suggested recovery methods are what matters, things autistic people have tried.  Its fatigue, without anything changing it will persist, but make positive adjustments and it might start to fade. 

Children
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