Burnouts and their relation to mental health (article link)

The concept of "autistic burnout" is something that most clinical autism "experts" and mental health practitioners seem blissfully unaware of, and because of this, many autistic people and their loved ones don't recognise it for what it is either - it is easily mistaken for depression or a regression which makes autistic traits suddenly more apparent and disabling. I read the article linked below a few days ago after it was posted elsewhere, and it really clarified the whole issue of burnouts to me, and has made me re-assess many of the "crashes" that I had in the decades before my diagnosis. I believe it may also explain some of the behaviours commonly described by parents here regarding their autistic children.

Be warned, it is a rather long article, and depending on your situation, different parts of it may be more or less applicable to you. In addition, suicide and self-harm are explored in parts of it, which may be distressing for some readers. However, if you ever wondered why a week at work is so exhausting, why socialising makes you want to sleep for days, why your child is a handful at home but good as gold at school, or why you or your child's autism seems to be more or less apparent every time the wind changes, I think you will find it a rewarding read (the rest of the blog contains some fine writing too.)

(LINK) The Autistic Advocate Blog - An Autistic Burnout

Parents
  • Thank you so much for posting this. I’m going through burnout now and have been for a while. I’m feeling particularly low since filling in my ESA forms and also had a visit from a social worker who had absolutely no concept of autism. Her only point of reference was that I was coping but lacking confidence and kept referring to my low mood. I felt  annihilated and still feeling distressed by her visit. But also struggling to get out of the burnout especially as repeating how exhausted you are just makes people think I am whinging. Very isolating. I’ll get there. But definitely appreciated the post. Thanks

Reply
  • Thank you so much for posting this. I’m going through burnout now and have been for a while. I’m feeling particularly low since filling in my ESA forms and also had a visit from a social worker who had absolutely no concept of autism. Her only point of reference was that I was coping but lacking confidence and kept referring to my low mood. I felt  annihilated and still feeling distressed by her visit. But also struggling to get out of the burnout especially as repeating how exhausted you are just makes people think I am whinging. Very isolating. I’ll get there. But definitely appreciated the post. Thanks

Children
  • You're welcome, I'm glad to see people finding it useful (and thanks in kind to moderator B19 on the Wrong Planet forum, who first drew my attention to the article.)

    I've been going through social services assessment myself over the last month or so, and I'm as frustrated and disappointed as you are. They seem adamant that all my problems will be fixed by greater exposure to the very people and situations that are the cause of my burnouts and melt-downs. I just can't get it through to them that these are not psychological phobias, but an innate part of my perception and cognition. If exposure therapy were going to work, then 40+ years of forcing myself to pass would have already achieved that by now.

    What I'm most gutted about is that I have been in contact with a service provider specialising in helping autistic people - but social services won't facilitate access to them. I am sick and tired of receiving interventions from people who don't understand what they are dealing with, but are convinced that the letters after their name allow them to know my own mind better than I do. At my assessment, several recommendations for interventions were indicated, and they are there in black and white on my diagnostic report. Over three years later, not one of those recommendations have been followed up - the NHS can't offer them, and now, it seems that social services won't either.

    The article has convinced me of something that I long suspected - that I do sometimes suffer from depression, but that most of these episodes begin with a burn-out. The burn-out symptoms are however read as depression, leading me to be prescribed medication which isn't effective, and emotionally demanding therapy just at the moment when what I really need is a reduction of those kind of demands. There is no point attempting psychological rationalisations when the rational part of my mind is so fragmented - I have to rest!