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autistic burnout

mickey800

hi does anyone have any coping skills with autistic burnout...I used to do jukebox repair my special interest bit now have little interest in doing that or going out...just want to sleep all the time....I have only just found out I have it..Im mike im 56 and was only diagnosed 3 years ago....

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Comments

Adrian_Scope

Hi @mickey800,

It sounds like you're really struggling. I wish I had some great advice for this, but I think tackling autistic burnout can be unique to the person going through it. I think it's important to do what you can but also remember to be kind to yourself.

National Autism Society offers the following advice:

Reducing or Preventing Autistic Burnout
Acceptance and support – interacting with others who could accept them for who they were, without any need to masking or pretend. This could be one-on-one with family members or friends; on a community level of groups with accepting cultures; or on a peer level, especially finding other autistic people who could validate their experiences and offer information and emotional/social support from lived experience.
Being autistic – attending to autistic needs like stimming and spending time with intense interests and comfort items, unmasking, using autistic strengths or doing things in an autistic way.
Formal supports – receiving reasonable adjustments at school or work, physical support like someone to provide groceries, and mental health support.
Reduced load – taking time off, more breaks, reducing social activity or other types of more stressful activities.
Self-advocacy and health – learning how to set healthy boundaries and expectations from others, and what to do when others aren’t respecting boundaries. Learning how to ask for help in a way others might be responsive to, and leading as healthy a lifestyle as possible (for example participants described how exercising, sleeping, eating well, and doing things that made them happy helped them out of autistic burnout once they had enough energy to do them).
Self-knowledge – learning how to recognise and act on the early signs of autistic burnout (for example by cancelling social plans to have more rest), having an autism diagnosis, and understanding one’s own patterns of behaviour and feelings.

Have you found anything that seems to help you or makes it easier to manage?

bookrabbit

Yes, be kind to yourself. It is a rotten place to be and trying to force yourself to do things only makes it worse. I found the best thing to do was to aim to do one necessary thing however small in the morning but leave open the possibility of doing more if I felt up to it. I found lists very helpful as breaking things down into parts and then ticking them off as I achieved them let me see that actually I was getting things done and let me feel better about myself.
So when I did more it was great but when I didn't it was fine too. It took a long time but I am able to do more now.

WhatThe

Mickey hi, what helped and still helps me recover..

forest-bathing (Shinrin-yoku)
flower-gazing (Hanami)
jigsaw puzzles, crossword puzzles, sudoku etc

Adrian,

Self-knowledge – learning how to recognise and act on the early signs of autistic burnout (for example by cancelling social plans to have more rest), having an autism diagnosis, and understanding one’s own patterns of behaviour and feelings.

Definitely takes a while to learn to recognise the signs and try to slow down or stop in time.

Bashford61

Everyone finds a coping method but it is down to the individual what works for them. I found a Asperger's group near to me It probably saved my life and worked for 12 years but recently I was back on the downward spiral and you need to recognise it and It took a viral YouTube Hi Ren to make me realize I needed help again and reach out and accept I needed too. The Ren community is a very mixed group and not for everyone but It helped me, I still think it is not enough and looked and found Scope which surprised me as I would have thought Mind would be where I would find it. Not tried Mind yet so I will reserve judgment on them until I do but this community at first glance looks very promising. Reaching out and accepting you need support Is always a good step .

bookrabbit

I just watched the video on YouTube. Wow. Just wow. What a brilliant way to capture what goes on inside our heads!!

And that comment at the end about softening. That expresses what works for me and what I try to explain to people much better than I manage.

Thanks for mentioning it.

Albus_Alumni

Totally agree @Bashford61 Ren has helped so many people just by being so brutally honest about what was going on inside his mind. He made a lot of people feel less alone. I have so much respect for him. I'm really glad you've found our community and I hope we can be a source of support and good vibes.

My number one tip for autistic burnout is "Take your time" nothing happens quickly, so as others have said, treat yourself with kindness at all times.

Bashford61

bookrabbit said:

I just watched the video on YouTube. Wow. Just wow. What a brilliant way to capture what goes on inside our heads!!

And that comment at the end about softening. That expresses what works for me and what I try to explain to people much better than I manage.

Thanks for mentioning it.

Bashford61

Bookrabbit glad you found it helpful, It broke me the first time hearing it but the message hit home, I consider myself a renegade now the community is a very mixed bag of musical tastes and ages but is on the whole a very warm bunch that are enriched by finding ren.