How to Recover From Autistic Burnout: Approaches That May Support Recovery
Many women aren’t aware when they’re in autistic burnout, which isn’t surprising given autistic burnout has only relatively recently emerged in the literature and many healthcare providers don’t yet know to look out for it. This blog describes what autistic burnout is, what causes it, and what the signs and symptoms of autistic burnout are for women. It also encourages choosing approaches before strategies and discusses some approaches that may support a woman’s recovery from autistic burnout.
Table of Contents
What is autistic burnout?
Autistic burnout is a state of profound, pervasive and persistent depletion that arises when a person has been forced consistently over time to meet demands that exceed their safe and sustainable capacity to meet.
The three p's (profound, pervasive and persistent) are delineating factors between autistic burnout and variations of non-autistic burnout. Looking at each of these we find:
Profound: Overwhelming depletion of all a person’s inner resources, resulting in a loss of capacity, the inability to access previous skills and diminished ability to cope.
Pervasive: Depletion that extends to every area of life, disrupting wellbeing, routines, roles, functional capacity and relationships.
Persistent: Utter depletion that is not relieved by short-term rest and that requires a sustained period of targeted recovery.
Autistic burnout can be life-threatening - it’s that serious.
When a woman is experiencing autistic burnout, she needs an immediate supportive and remedial response.
What causes autistic burnout?
Autistic burnout is caused when an autistic person devotes themself to meeting demands that are too great for them for a period of time that is too long to sustain.
As late-identified autistic women in particular, we may think we have capacity to meet these demands because, well… we seem to have been meeting them for quite some time.
However, to do so has required an unsustainable expenditure of energy. It’s probably also required the overriding of our basic needs. We’re commonly left feeling like a series of functions rather than a whole person.
Essentially, we’ve been masking extensively without sufficient relief and probably without realising we’re even masking. Maybe without realising we’re even autistic.
What are the signs & symptoms of autistic burnout in women
Autistic burnout can feel disorienting, scary, isolating and exhausting, particularly if you don’t know what it is.
As a clinician, I typically see women experiencing these signs and symptoms when she is in autistic burnout (noting I’ve also experienced these during bouts of autistic burnout):
Exhaustion far beyond typical tiredness
A debilitating exhaustion that doesn’t improve with short periods of rest, sleep or time off. Exhaustion regardless of how little a woman has done. Some women may wonder if they might have chronic fatigue syndrome. I’ve experienced autistic burnout-related exhaustion as pathological and painful.Marked reduction in executive functioning
Difficulties beginning tasks, planning, organising, sequencing, making decisions or completing even the simplest of activities. Routines that usually work become difficult to start or maintain. You may feel like there’s an invisible barrier to thinking and doing.Loss of functional skills
Tasks that used to be easy (such as showering, cooking, answering messages, leaving the house, driving, household chores) may suddenly feel impossible or overwhelming. You might notice variability in your ability to do things from one moment/day/week to the next.Heightened sensory distress
Suddenly, we may not be able to function (or even be) in environments due to the sensory distress they cause for us. Where we once may have experienced discomfort, we’re now experiencing the kind of distress that rapidly dysregulates our nervous system. We might experience sensory distress in the presence of sensory input we weren’t previously aware was difficult for us.Emotional overwhelm
As our window of tolerance for daily life demands reduces, we may be quite quickly upset, frustrated or agitated. Regardless of whether we’re able to recognise and articulate what we feel or not, there’s an overwhelming sense of feeling emotionally ‘not good.’ Some women feel numb.Reduced social capacity
Even interactions with people we usually feel comfortable with can become overwhelming. We may withdraw or limit communication dramatically, including via text or social media.Language and communication changes
We may need longer to process what someone has said, have difficulties tracking conversations, struggle to find words and we might switch to a more literal or blunt communication style because we can’t mask socially like we once could. We may have difficulties responding to text messages or emails we once handled with relative ease.Loss of masking capacity
Our ability to mask is eroded (not necessarily a bad thing when paired with the right support). People may experience us differently and we may notice ourselves being in different ways.Identity confusion
We may struggle to locate for ourselves who we are. We may have a sense of not recognising ourself in the context of losing access to our usual strengths, abilities and ways of masking.
How do I recover from autistic burnout?
We can begin by asking ourselves how we’d like to approach our recovery from autistic burnout before asking ourselves what we can do to recover.
We can enter the recovery process by initially becoming aware of what perspective will be optimally supportive of our individual recovery.
We can anchor in an approach before implementing strategies.
Let’s pause to consider the differences between an approach and a strategy:
APPROACH: an overarching way of thinking that reflects our values, assumptions, awareness and aspirations. It can be thought of as the why behind what we do. If it can be applied across many situations without changing much, it’s likely an approach.
STRATEGY: a specific thing we do, ideally in service of an intentionally chosen approach. If it can be swapped in or out depending on what’s happening or how much capacity we have, it’s likely a strategy.
For example, if we ground ourselves in a neuroaffirming approach, we understand that difficulties arise from a mismatch between the autistic woman’s nervous system and the environment, rather than from inherent pathology. Environmental modification might be a strategy we implement in service of taking a neuroaffirming approach.
Anchoring into an autistic burnout recovery approach is a gentle entry into the recovery process for reasons including that it isn’t an inherently demanding entry-point.
If we consider that it’s likely we’re in autistic burnout because we’ve done and coped with too much for too long, it makes sense to reduce demands to achieve a right fit between what we’re sustainably able to do and what we actually do. This includes the demands of recovery strategies we may choose to implement.
We want to make sure that what little capacity we have in autistic burnout is used in ways that will ultimately restore a safe and sustainable baseline capacity.
And because recovery from autistic burnout is a multi-faceted and non-linear process, anchoring ourselves in an approach that works for us can support us to navigate the destabilising variability in the recovery process. While strategies will change, approaches tend to be relatively stable and enduring. This helps us have a solid base to rest in and rely on.
Approaching recovery from autistic burnout
How a woman approaches her recovery from autistic burnout is ideally personalised to who she understands herself to be, to her life circumstances (past and present) and to her aspirations.
It’s so beautiful and inspiring to witness a woman develop an approach to recovery that optimally benefits her.
When cultivating your own approach to recovering from autistic burnout, you might like to consider various aspects to incorporate. Here are two of the most beneficial aspects of autistic burnout recovery approaches I’ve observed in clinical practice:
Accept you’re not a machine.
In other words, consider yourself as a human being. As a human, it’s natural to experience variations in how you feel, what you’re able to do and what you need. A history of thoroughly overriding how we feel (including emotions, energy and physical sensations) and what we need sets us up for a machine-like way of being. It’s not sustainable, of course, and is a segue into autistic burnout. One of the things I offer myself as part of this aspect is a warm reminder that I have a body that needs nurturing and that I’m not solely a mind operating on autopilot. A disruption in our ability to operate in a machine-like way can be frightening - we’re no longer doing things we’d been able to do. But… it can also be an invitation to consider yourself as a whole person around which you can design a lifestyle that best suits you and that supports you to establish a safe baseline functional capacity.
Recovery depends on discovery.
If you’ve overridden how you feel and what you need for a long time, it’s likely you don’t know how you feel or what you need. You might also feel like you don’t really have a sense of who you actually are beyond what you’ve been doing (to survive). With the mindset that recovery depends on discovery, you’re curious about what you’re tolerating, what you prefer, what you need, what you enjoy, what your body might be telling you, how you experience being autistic, what’s important to you and how you want to live your life. You’re also curious about what your individual signs and symptoms of autistic burnout are. With this foundation of self-knowledge, you can then choose recovery strategies that are personalised for you, moment by moment.
Moving forward with understanding & support
Recovering from autistic burnout can be an invitation for us to more deeply understand who we are and to design a lifestyle that best suits us. It can be an invitation to improve our quality of life. When undertaken with the right supports, autistic burnout recovery can be a liberating time of reclaiming sovereignty over our lives and re-humanising ourselves in tender, relevant and fulfilling ways.
Are you in autistic burnout and would like to begin your recovery?
You don’t have to recover from autistic burnout alone. If you’d like gentle, practice guidance tailored to your life, I’d love to walk alongside you.
Frequently asked questions about autistic burnout
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Yes. Autistic burnout is distinct from other forms of burnout, in cause, presentation and recovery requirements.
Role-related burnout (examples: occupational, carer or parental burnout) is typically driven by excessive demands in a specific role and typically improves when that role changes or stress reduces.
Autistic burnout is a systemic depletion of an autistic nervous system caused by prolonged overextension in conditions unsupportive of the autistic neurotype.
Unlike other types of burnout, autistic burnout is profound, pervasive and persistent. Recovery is non-linear and takes longer.
A couple of distinct differences in presentation: 1) people in autistic burnout typically lose access to previously learnt skills and abilities across all areas of life (they can no longer do what they once did), and 2) people in autistic burnout tend to experience an exacerbation in sensory distress.
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The signs of autistic burnout are obvious for suitably qualified healthcare providers, who can fairly quickly distinguish autistic burnout from role-related burnout, stress, anxiety or depression.
Signs of autistic burnout in women aren’t obvious for people (including healthcare providers) who aren’t aware of what it is or how it affects women.
It’s an ethical imperative for anyone providing clinical care for autistic people to be aware of what autistic burnout is and basic autistic burnout recovery approaches.
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As soon as you realise you’re in autistic burnout. Autistic burnout is serious and in some cases can be life threatening. Collaborating with a suitably qualified clinician is protective and can support a more effective recovery process.
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It can take months-to-years to recover from autistic burnout. Recovery from autistic burnout tends to be quicker for people who access support from suitably qualified healthcare providers. Look for autistic healthcare providers who are well versed in effective autistic burnout recovery approaches.
disclaimer
This article is for general educational purposes only. It is not a substitute for personalised health or occupational therapy advice. Everyone’s circumstances are unique and approaches that may be helpful for one person may not suit another. If you are experiencing challenges related to your health or daily life, please seek support from a qualified occupational therapist, medical professional or other appropriate health provider.
