Published on 12, July, 2020
I'm realising at the moment just how severely burnt out I am. I'm exhausted. My brain can't function. My baseline has evaporated and I'm just in the floor mentally, doing way worse than normal. I've tried resting by playing video games, watching TV, YouTube, etc, but no matter what, I don't seem to gain energy back and recover. My tolerance for coping with day to day changes and sensory stimuli is really bad. Does anyone have advice for recovering from burn out? My brain just constantly feels on the go. Read from a page that autistic people don't ever truly recover from burn out, and I suppose I'm wondering if that's true.
Welcome to the community.
Burnout is tough and unless you tackle the cause then what happens is you can enter a continuous burnout cycle. After a short rest you go back to doing the things that are causing so much stress. The burnouts keep happening and each one becomes progressively harder to recover from by doing things such as you have mentioned. Eventually a major burnout can occur, when you will be unable to function at all in any capacity. If that happens it can result in permanent regression and loss of skills.
I have been through several major burnouts in my life and I would agree that I have never truly recovered. My sensory tolerance and capacity for demands is greatly reduced compared to before they happened.
It's generally accepted that the first step to recovery is to remove as far as possible external pressures and demands together with reducing expectations.
These online resources might be helpful to you in figuring out how best to try and do that in your own circumstances:
https://www.autism.org.uk/advice-and-guidance/topics/mental-health/autistic-fatigue/autistic-adults
https://www.dralicenicholls.com/how-to-get-out-of-autistic-burnout/
https://neurodivergentinsights.com/blog/autistic-burnout-recovery
https://autismunderstood.co.uk/struggling-as-an-autistic-person/autistic-burnout-what-helps/
Autonomistic said:It's generally accepted that the first step to recovery is to remove as far as possible external pressures and demands together with reducing expectations.
Try to reduce masking is another important thing I forgot to mention. Masking is physically and emotionally exhausting and bad for our mental health. It is one of the key contributors to burnout.