Autistic Burnout: What Are the Symptoms?
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Your eyelids feel like boulders. You’ve been in your bedroom all weekend, the curtains drawn, the floor littered with pizza boxes. You were hoping your body would feel less like a corpse by now, but it doesn’t. You can’t move. Your phone rings – it’s your boss. He wants to know why you’re late. You want to explain… but you don’t have the energy.
Autism Spectrum Disorder, or just ‘autism’, is a lifelong developmental disability. Though it presents differently for everyone, we know the main symptoms: trouble with emotional regulation, reading social cues, and communicating (you can test yourself for these symptoms via our brief autism online quiz).
But there’s another symptom that effects every aspect of life for those on the spectrum. Autistic burnout (sometimes called ‘regression’) is a profound depletion of energy, sometimes lasting months. At its worst, it interrupts every corner of an individual’s life, making getting out of bed or preparing food seem insurmountable.
Everyone experiences some degree of burnout during times of extreme stress and overwork, and its key symptoms – emotional dysregulation, lack of self-care, irritability, and low motivation – are similar in both neurotypicals and those on the spectrum.
But there are key differences in how severely each group experiences burnout, with autistic burnout exacerbating autistic traits. It can even cause some to lose skills – a typically chatty person might go mute, for example.
What are the symptoms of autistic burnout?
- Anxiety/depression.
- Extreme emotional and physical fatigue.
- Feelings of helplessness.
- Forgetfulness.
- Selective mutism.
- Trouble staying organised.
- Indecision.
- Suicidal ideation.
Because autistic burnout is not yet included in the DSM-5 as a symptom, some professionals are reluctant to use the term. This makes it harder for those on the spectrum to access help from disability services, and forces them to try ‘pushing through’ burnout, which only deepens their exhaustion.
There are many reasons why autistic burnout occurs: life changes, unreasonable expectations from work and/or family, or the generalised stress of living in a society that refuses to accommodate your needs. But the biggest cause is ‘masking’.
What is Autism Masking and Why Does it Happen?
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Masking (or ‘camouflaging’) is the practice of hiding autistic traits in public places out of a need to ‘blend in’ with neurotypicals. Between 70% and 94% of autistic people report feeling pressured to mask.
It’s a phenomenon that can be seen through the entire intersectional world – ethnic minorities and queer people, for example, often feel the need to ‘pass’ as white or gender-normative professionally and socially. But with autism, it presents a unique and markedly exhausting challenge.
Masking is a social survival strategy, which begs the question: why do autistic people feel the need to survive in everyday life? The answer is that our society isn’t meeting their needs. The National Autistic Society reports that around 79% of autistic people feel socially isolated, and have higher rates of unemployment (50-80%) than any other disabled group.
Employment is a big reason masking is necessary for those on the spectrum. Job interviews and specifications often place emphasis on social skills or teamwork, even when this isn’t strictly necessary for the role. Either this dissuades autistic people from applying, or it makes them feel the need to mask.
Masking can lead to burnout, and burnout to unemployment. This is why it is called a social survival strategy: because our society attaches an emotional, social, and existential risk to autism.
What Are Some Examples of Autism Masking?
Some common masking techniques include:
- Forced eye contact.
- Mimicking body-language/facial expressions.
- Suppressing instinctual actions and speaking habits, such as stimming or repeating words.
- Hiding personal interests.
- Rehearsing conversations/scripting small talk.
- Tolerating stimuli to which they are hypersensitive – putting up with a loud noise that rattles their skull, or trying to ignore a smell that makes them nauseous.
All of this requires constant self-monitoring that puts enormous strain on your social battery, often leading to feelings of embarrassment or defectiveness. And, ultimately, burnout.
The real cruelty of masking is one of objectification. To ‘fit in’ successfully requires internalising a neurotypical point of view, seeing yourself as ‘weird’, as ‘other’ – basically, becoming alienated from yourself. This can cause severe depression, chronic anxiety, and increase your lifetime risk of suicidality. It also prevents you from receiving an official diagnosis and, by extension, proper support.
Why is it More Common for Women to Mask their Autism?
Studies show that autistic women are more likely to mask than autistic men.
This likely results from the increased social pressure placed on women in general. Boys and men aren’t expected to be social/possess soft skills to the same degree that women and girls are. Because the social standard for women is much higher, the level of masking necessary to meet that standard must match.
These inequalities in socialisation also mean that autism goes underdiagnosed in women. As a result, many autistic women go most of their lives without being supported for their disorder. This leads to them thinking of their differences as deficiencies, and masking to compensate.
Can Masking Lead to Autistic Burnout?
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Masking takes up a lot of energy – constant self-monitoring and censoring is exhausting. It can also be detrimental to your self-esteem, forcing you to identify parts of yourself as ‘weird’ or ‘different’.
This combination of effects makes everyday life all the more stressful and taxing if you’re on the spectrum, meaning that without proper care, you’ll hit burnout sooner than your neurotypical co-workers.
But this isn’t to say the onus is on you to stop masking. A host of support services, spearheaded by employers and MPs, need to be put in place for autistic individuals so that masking becomes a thing of the past.
Until that happens, there are things you can do to prevent and recover from burnout:
- Self-soothe – from journalling to short walks, there’s many ways to calm your body and recharge. Find a few activities you enjoy that don’t require socialising or exposure to harsh stimuli, and work them into your daily routine wherever you can.
- Sensory interventions – stimuli you’re hypersensitive to will exhaust your body and mind. Try to limit your exposure where possible – investing in noise-cancelling headphones, for example.
- Practice self-compassion – internalising the pressure to conform or overwork creates a relentless inner critic. To quiet that voice, be aware of what you can’t manage, tell yourself that’s ok, and recognise how strong you’ve had to be.
