AUTISTIC BURNOUT!
Burnout is such a huge topic for me and one that I am incredibly passionate about, yet professionals seem to know nothing about it!
When parents approach me for help and advice, it's usually because their autistic loved one has hit Burnout. I've worked with C&YP that have lost the ability to speak, eat, experienced psychosis, suicidal ideation, become physically dysregulated towards their caregivers, and so much more….
Burnout is something that is widely known to be a very real experience amongst the autistic community. Yet when parents reach out to medical professionals, they are often fobbed off with an anxiety/depression diagnosis. I have seen CAMHS push antipsychotic medication on primary age children, I have seen parents blamed for "being too soft", I have been with parents in despair as their children are unable to eat, speak, get out of bed, leave their rooms, carry out basic self-care, repeating that they want to die… but what they really want is it all to STOP…. They want to stop feeling the way they do…
And most of the time it's down to autistic Burnout.
What is autistic Burnout?
Some argue that Burnout is, in fact, a form of REGRESSION. You would have probably heard of this before in relation to autism. Usually, around the age of 3 or 4 when many parents report their children lose skills such as the ability to speak, for example. ( This is where the god awful anti vax rhetoric comes from. It's around the same age as childhood vaccinations, but we're not going to argue about that as it's been disproven repeatedly, and the guy who said it is not only a douchbag but also a fraud that has been struck off).
Anyways, lets paint a picture.
What happens around that age?
Pre-school!
So, Little Chloe has been quite happy at home in her safe space with her Mum, and up until now, she's been content in her predictable, safe space, surrounded by familiar people that understand her needs and communication.
THEN all of a sudden, it's nursery time!! She plopped into a strange place with loads of other children, a completely new space, unfamiliar adults that don't understand her and she doesn't understand… sensory overwhelm…. BOOM …. Regression happens because Chloe's brain has been pushed past the point of what it is capable of processing and other skills start to shut down in order to protect itself and continue functioning….. REGRESSION.
Now…. Let's put this in the context of a teenager. Little Chloe is now 15 years old; she's not aware she's different, she's been struggling on at school for years, utterly puzzled as to why she finds things difficult that her NT peer's don't (cue self hate and internalised ableism). As she goes up the school years, the pressure and demands increase every year. GCSE's, exam pressure, peers becoming interested in romantic relationships, academic pressure increases, workload increases, ability to self regulate emotions and senses goes down…. Chloe hits Burnout and loses a lot of her cognitive function. She's unable to manage anything, she is so tired but can't sleep, she can't eat, process simple demands or even speak…. Can you see the similarities and why this might happen?
The Autistic Advocate aka our Kieran, talks a lot about Burnout because it's closely related to masking, which is his favorite topic…
Autistic Burnout is an integral part of the life of an Autistic person that affects us pretty much from the moment we're born to the day we die, yet nobody, apart from Autistic people really seem to know about it…
It's vital that we know about Burnout and what to look out for so we can recognise the signs and avoid putting ourselves in situations that might push us into Burnout.
I could say so much more on this topic, but I would genuinely be here all day! Next, I'll talk about burnout recovery and what we can do to help…. But for now, I just wanted to explain what it is and why it might happen.
Hope that helps,
Much love Tanya <3
To book a consultation please use the contact form on my website or email info@tanyaadkin.co.uk.