Published on 12, July, 2020
I've just joined this community and thought an introduction was in order.
I'm in my late 40s and realised this year, during a period of burnout (not my first), that I was most probably autistic. Currently waiting to hear if I've been accepted for an assessment after being referred by my GP.
Reading books by other autistic people has been a huge help, as there was so much I could relate to. So now I'm just processing everything I've been learning over the last few months.
Nice to 'meet' you all!
Ducky said:realised this year, during a period of burnout (not my first), that I was most probably autistic.
What is it that brought you to this conclusion? Burnout is a state of physical and emotional exhaustion, but there is little mention of autistic burnout in the academic literature and it is not a hallmark trait of autism in the DSM 5 (the latest iteration of the diagnostic manual used by clinicians). However, there is an increasing amount of anecdotal evidence of autistic burnout, which is described as being caused by the stress of masking and living in an unaccommodating neurotypical world. Autistic burnout prevents people from managing daily living skills and can also lead to suicide attempts. There are also shutdowns and meltdowns which are cause by an overload of mental or physical sensory input.
Honestly, I can't pinpoint one thing (or even several) that led to me linking what I was going through to the possibility of autism. I think it was a far more indirect route than looking at burnout > autistic burnout > autism
Maybe the "burnout" I mentioned in my introduction was more of a "shutdown" if we sat down and worked through the specifics. (Masking is something I'm now aware I've done over the course of my life...maybe not daily, but I could think of many examples where I've realised that's what I was doing.)
Once I did make the connection, and started to make notes...well, once I noticed I was on page eight and still hadn't finished getting it all onto paper, that gave me a pretty strong clue that I was onto something.
have u tried an online test ? --- see what u score
psychology-tools.com/.../autism-spectrum-quotient
Yep, after seeing that score, I was fairly sure I was onto something!
wow --- thats impressive
I have, yes. Did an online AQ50 test a couple of months ago and scored 49.