Latest / The Autistic Mile / Short: Autistic Burnout: The Hidden Struggle
Transcript
- Jim Gaffney: And I found that ⁓ interesting and disturbing. ⁓ But again, a an anxiety disorder that covers so much, you know, but that's on top of you know, your the anxiety, it's it's it's separate it's ⁓ it's it's tied to your autism, but it it's ⁓ there's always something there that that people there's a need for medication, there's a need for intervention sometimes. ⁓ so these people are facing real problems and it's it's something that that plays out in a in an individual environment, it's something that plays out in a family environment, is something ⁓ that we used always have to be mindful of. ⁓ you know some autistic burnout when you when you talk about somebody getting to the point where they where they lash out or they shut down, ⁓ again, people are different. ⁓ they have their own protective mechanisms. when you're talking about burnout, that can manifest itself in different ways. ⁓ burnout can mean I lash out, ⁓ I get angry, ⁓ and again it's a defense mechanism. ⁓ that defense mechanism is something that is ⁓ ingrained in us. ⁓ we've learned that this is how we cope with things. you know when we're younger, ⁓ you know you you and not all of us deal with that way. Some some some of us lash out, some of us shut down. ⁓ you you kind of dissolve the situation. You are gonna not gonna take part in this anymore until you until you self-regulate, until you get to the point where you can where you can kind of level out your ⁓ your stress level and you can get back to the point where you can function again. so how we deal with it, ⁓ the method in we ha that we deal with it is important. you know autistic people are shy by nature, so you you know, a shutdown ⁓ could just it's not somebody lashing out. It's ⁓ that's kind of what they call a quiet burnout. ⁓ quiet autistic burnout because they're burned out but they just kinda shut down. They're they're regulating and they're they're gonna get back in the game when they can. ⁓ but until then they're off the they're off the grid. but again, you're less likely to notice that than somebody who lashes out. some somebody that lashes out ⁓ and a attacks and goes kind of on the offensive ⁓ again it's ⁓ it's the same defense mechanism ⁓ it's just manifesting itself in a different way. ⁓ ⁓ individual has been not they've ⁓ developed that due to a s ⁓ certain set of circumstances ⁓ a number of years and ⁓ it's ⁓ again it's it's it's part of their ⁓ ⁓ it's part of who they are at that point. It becomes ⁓ a part of ⁓ a part of that's how they've learned to deal with it. And it's it's and once one once you get one way or the other, that's kinda the way it stays. It's hard to retrain yourself at that point ⁓ to to to be different. You've ⁓ that's how you've decided you were you at some point in your life you decided that was how you're gonna handle it and that's how you've handled ever since. ⁓ you it's hard to re to go back and redraw that map. it's it's once you get once you get to that point and you've made that decision and that's your coping mez mechanism, that's kind of how it is at that point. it's not always so bad. There are different levels of shutdown and burnout. you know not everyone not every person that lashes out as a as a a matter of burnout. They don't ⁓ They don't go on a killing rampage. ⁓ you know, there are different levels there. ⁓ and not everybody that shuts down actually goes into a coma. ⁓ you know, they may be they may not be as approachable during those times. They may they may interact with you, but only to the degree that they have to. Answer questions, but they're not gonna go out of their way to ⁓ to to initiate conversations or they're not gonna go do anything is gonna require more mental energy that they know they have at that point. that's ⁓ that's kind of that's kind of where it is ⁓ with that.