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What Is Autistic Burnout?
As Bell Let's Talk Day was last week, a topic I find relevant to both mental health and autism is the term "Autistic burnout". What is autistic burnout? According to Spectrum, autistic burnout is emotional, mental or physical exhaustion that some people on the spectrum deal with. This exhaustion can also occur with a loss of skills.
Many people on the spectrum say they experience autistic burnout because they struggle to fit in with the neurotypical world.
Cora Physical Therapy says some signs of autistic burnout to look out for include more frustration than usual, regular outbursts, fatigue or exhaustion.
Dr. Dora Raymaker goes into detail about autistic burnout in this video below. Raymaker defines autistic burnout as "A state of physical and mental fatigue, heightened stress, and diminished capacity to manage life skills, sensory input, and/or social interactions, which comes from years of being severely overtaxed by the strain of trying to live up to demands that are out of sync with our needs."
Raymaker also discusses points such as how autistic burnout can lead to other disabilities and mental health issues, why autistic burnout happens and how it can get better, and the difference between autistic burnout and depression.
Have I Experienced Autistic Burnout?
I have experienced autistic burnout more often than I'd like to over the years. In my early years when I had difficulties, there wasn't so much autistic burnout because I wasn't aware of society expectations at the time nor did I feel the need to fit in and act like others as much.
As I grew older and figured that I needed to behave in certain ways in order to get what I desire, autistic burnout became more evident. A lot of this comes from having to force eye contact and strong non-verbal communication because they don't come as naturally to people with autism, and still having difficulty fitting in the normal and getting accepted by others world despite tons of mental effort on my part.
It's like studying eight hours a day for an exam and still having the professor berate you for not doing well on the exam. This analogy has almost been a story of my life in terms of interacting with peers.
I can't say I've lost too many skills, but my frustration with communicating with others and fitting in made me more isolated in high school than I was in elementary school. I felt like I had zero social skills during those years.
I've also wondered during my more difficult parts of life whether I was actually depressed when experiencing negative thoughts related to these difficulties. I would go through phases of long, intense distress over my frustration of being a small puzzle piece trying to stick into a puzzle of giant pieces, but would rarely go through little appetite or a lack of interest in activities I enjoy.
As I mentioned in "Autism: Special Interests Quiz", engaging in special interests would often recharge these feelings for me.
Overall, autistic burnout has been one of the most frustrating parts of autism for me, but I hope it will less frequently happen as I get older.
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