Hello all,
I was recently diagnosed (3 months ago) with autism at the age of 31, but I have been in autistic burnout for just over a year now. I've tried various different things and I just don't know what to do to get out of it.
- I've tried a few different therapists/psychologists but I find they always focus on simple, surface-level things whereas I feel I'm dealing with deep issues about my identity, grief etc.
- I have sleep problems and been to the GP about this. Been given some antihistamines but they don't help.
- I have socialised only 3 times since the start of this year. The idea of socialising at the moment seems unbearable. The last time I saw a friend outside my flat was in June.
- The only person I see is my Mum every few weeks but now I'm getting quite bad shut downs every time I see her where I can't speak at all. I tried not seeing her for 3 weeks but it still happened again the next time I saw her. I don't speak to her on the phone and hardly text. I think it's happening due to feeling of mistrust and feeling misunderstood.
- I haven't been working properly since the start of the year. I'm self-employed (work from home) but struggling a lot financially.
- I've stopped responding to the few friends I have. I don't like some of the responses I got when I told them I'm autistic and I just can't face having to do more explaining. They do check in with me and I just don't know how to respond back. I feel blank.
- I live on my own which benefits me so much, but I don't go anywhere except for short walks with my dog.
- I have tried to focus on my some of my special interests in this time but I have a constant nag that I should be trying harder to work or doing something else.
Before I was diagnosed I had slowly started to reduce social events because I thought I just had bad social anxiety. When I think of being 'out' of burnout now, I don't even know what that would look like. I don't know if this is my new norm or if I'm waiting for something to happen or how to feel better. I seem to have spent time a lot of time 'resting' but maybe I'm not doing it the right way. Any ideas would be appreciated.
