Dr. Service explains autistic burnout, how to stop it, how to recover, and how to prevent it.

I was very burned out at my last job. I wasn’t happy, hated myself, and just didn’t want to get out of bed. I was exhausted from the constant masking. I got laid off a few weeks ago and feel better than I have in months. Autistic burnout is no joke.

Thank you for mentioning the friggin insanity of early morning seminary among the LDS communities… and also the insane early school scheduling.
I have homeschooled and public schooled my kids because of changing needs in our family, but one of the most damaging aspects of the public schools is the unsafe environment from bullies for disabled and also neurodivergent kids and the early/long hours of unnecessary schedules.
Again, thanks for posting. I love and miss the PNW!

I had a major burn out period I my life when i was 9~12 years where I constanly felt horrible and suicidal at some points, long history short I dont remenber most of of that time, but knowing more about what ails me makes me very happy

stock footage of neurodivergent relationship in a store parking lot shook me to my core

I am burnt out on being autistic.

Oh i thought this was getting burnt out from talking to autistic people

Mm, go figure I get this video when I am going through a burnout session, lol. See, my normal signs tend to be a drifting schedule. Due to a lot of factors, like me getting tense during events or something, I want to spend more time doing me things. Playing games, reading books, learning something new. But those also just add to an ever growing list of things I feel I need to get to, which results in, the first thing on everyone's schedule that goes or the window. Sleep, being lost. And this is usually... like, 5 minutes at a time. On average I lose around 5 minutes per day, which isn't alot, but when it gets bad, is like right now, I got up yesterday at about 1pm, and went to sleep this morning at 5am and got up at 2pm and I find that this is usually the biggest indicator of when I'm going through the brunt of it. I don't really have burnout bouts, as much as a slow burnout, it happens progressively over time. And usually, by the time I find myself doing exactly, this, waking up at 2pm, and going to sleep at 5 am, that's when I need to back off, and kinda just.
Spend a day in bed.
Listen to some music to keep my adhd satisfied, and otherwise just try to sleep a lot, and make a hard timer for me , say at like. 8 am tomorrow morning, I get up and do my stuff, usually with incessant alarms and stuff to ensure that I'm up. Then, it basicallly resets.
The problem is, this usual,y means that once every 2-3 months, I end up with a day that I just... spend in bed. Wanting to do things, but not being able to.
Which is entirely the point, it means that I get time to plan my actions, think about what I need to do, and otherwise prepare for the next day.
And this ends up putting me in a position, where I wake up the next morning, and want to get shit done, and as a result, go to bed on time the next night.

That is all to say, generally speaking, I find that my burnouts tend to be directly related to the time I'm going to sleep, when I am staying up to late, or waking up too late, then I know I need a day, and proceed to say screw it to the rest of the world, I need to chill.

I am ex-mormon and I was undiagnosed autistic until very recently. Let me tell you- seminary was the most damaging thing for my mental health in my teen years. I was so burnt out for all of high school that I thought I had major depressive disorder. I was so intensely fatigued that I would fall asleep standing up, and i had to undergo TONS of neurological assessment (yet no one thought to check if i was neurodivergent??). No one should have to wake up at 4 in the morning to study scripture. It was absolute torture in every way and it stole away years of happiness in my formative years

Thank you, thank you, thank you. Much of this resonated with me and gives me hope.

Since when do they accommodate needs in school? I must have missed that part lol

Thank God for you for calling out the school system’s idiotic trend of starting high school classes at 8 (for me it was much earlier) which completely flies in the face of developmental neuroscience.

It’s time to acknowledge the truth: Schools are daycare centers, and the only reason they start at 8 is to give the parents an hour to drop their kids off and then get to work on time at 9. The school system accommodates everyone but the people it supposedly serves.

This makes sense, it resonates so loudly with what is going on with me right now that I am actively crying with relief. I am 70, female, and for the first time in my life things make sense. In 2017 i was diagnosed with Complex PTSD, Dissociative Identity Disorder, Severe Generalized Anxiety disorder, and BPD traits. A 10 months ago, along with several major medical crisis', I was diagnosed as Autistic... Which explained a LOT of the "why's" for the other disorders and the abuse that caused them.
I have some level of burn out daily and instead of pushing through like i used to, i now have a Mid-day nap to combat the fog, cognitive losses and anger( would take too long to list) I have shared this with more than a handful of people hopefully it helps them as well.

I work in a factory, there is no accommodating 😅

and all this time I thought I just was an autistic burnout

How does someone do this without feeling guilty and like a special snowflake? How can I hate being treated differently while acknowledging being different is what I am?

dude the gastrointestinal thing u mentioned is straight facts I didnt even relise that shit was cuz I was autistic is it caused by stress?

wow guess i need a test...

I'm always curious when someone says "studies have shown... is helpful" such as exercise. Are these based on studies only done on neurotypcial people? Or are these studies done specifically with autistic people? They seems like things that make a big difference for neurotypicals and I find don't make any difference when I try them.

So basically, you need an extremely trustworthy and dependable support network to fall back on, and if you don't, your options to stabilize are middling to nonexistent. Note also that support networks of all shapes and sizes, all over the world, are strained to their absolute limit at this stage, even for neurotypical folks, so odds are there isn't room for a person to admit they're slowly falling apart.

I thought my burnout in 2008 was due to adhd. I don't have a diagnosis od autism but your description is exactly how I felt going through my burn out. I think I am broken from the experience and will never recover. Thank you for sharing this information.

I feel validated by this video, although many of the remedies for the burnout are possible many are not. I’ve got a 2 and 4 year old and my financial situation isn’t in a place where I can just go on vacation till I feel restored. I basically just have to keep grinding through the pain even when I just want to die. I honestly feel like I’m trapped in some sort of evil joke and it’s never going to end.

Found this video as im going through some burnout myself

a better question is, why is there an explosion of autism to begin with. never heard the word as a child growing up, untill late teens or twenties. couldnt be the jab schedules the drs are pumping into children????....no, couldnt be that.....

This explains a lot, thanks.

so Ive had signs 1-9 for the past couple years, since 2017 really, should I be worried?

THIS! I have been wondering what is wrong with me! I have lately even developed Immediate Echolalia. My cognitive abilities are still inside, but I lack presentation and use ability.

The fact that you said anything over like 3 triggers is not looking good. I'm over here at about 11 triggers. I need serious help...

Anger issues throughout my life , back aches and separation issues are the largest factors for me , i’ve used weed to help relieve good chunk of those issues

Damnit imma have to explore this, fit too damn well. Maybe just great at masking and undiagnosed or close to a more neurotypical presenting area of the spectrum 😅 or my mingled issues just perfectly mirror this and the self discovered solutions also seem to mirror this as described. It's really wild how much it lines up on every point tho including the sources of it starting. At the very least, my patterns align heavily. Great video, always support more mental health information for the masses

I LOVE how everyone is Autistic now.
It really makes you think... Or it would if I weren't autistic!

My own one is a silent and internal "la-la-la-la-I-can't-hear-you-la-la-la" kind of thing, which my NT friends sometimes interpret as me cutting them off. We are all different indeed, and fortunate if we have those one or maybe two friends who 'get it'.

Damn I'm so broken

I found that Frisson helps me from spiraling into burnout. It's something I have yet to find out there. I can cause it to happen through visualization which is weird. But it's one of my favorite tools that works for me.

I found this video after having a meltdown a couple days ago. I’ve been trying to understand my brain more and I’d never heard of this before and I can’t believe how perfectly it fits what I went through

Should I allow myself to stem. I mean I do but I try to fight it I'm going through this right now I camouflage all the time and can't seem to stop because I'm homeless and have to and yes I've lost some of my skills and abilities I need help can anyone make a recommendation

I first read this as 'artistic burnout' lol

How do people even get diagnosed? It would explain a lot if I was on the spectrum but when I contacted health care they pretty much just said they will only help if it affects my daily life.

I used to know a piano tuner in the Pacific Northwest named Ken Serviss, different spelling any relation?,

Tell someone that there is something wrong with them enough, they will start to believe it. How many times have you heard someone say they have ADHD. Stop believing you have problems because the majority of us don’t really have what we think we have. Most are in the huge group of over diagnosed. You feel sad that’s bad… you feel happy? Well I hope it’s not too happy cause that’s bad. How ever you feel they have a name for it and a prescription to go with it.

I am having this severely and never was diagnosed. Its bad. I eake uo every day instayfedling anxious and doomed. Feel like i cant fet out of bed. When i fonally do get out of bed i fodget around and feel anxious wth terrivle hurry sickness. I will rush to leave the house neglecting yaking care kf myself then i will keave to do ubereats but kose motivation and sit on my car with terrible anxiety and relaeat thr process

I feel like when I stop masking to fit in, I start feeling a sense of indifference, and come off as very unemotional and uncaring, but I still feel all of those emotions, I just can't externalize it very well I guess. I had to explain to a friend online that I was tired of saying long winded goodbyes, it's so much work, I had to tell them I simple cya later or bye is okay

I've had a mortgage for three years with someone and this person I chose to make this decision with, and they the inside of the house get so crappy. Im just always upset and angry because I keep doing the same thing over and over, picking things up. I just scream and shutdown. The only time I feel stable is when I'm at work.

I need a mental evaluation but it's so hard trying to find someone

This dude is in front of a green screen, he isn’t a doctor lol

Great advice for anyone!

Kratom really helped me with conquering my autism and I eventually completely harmonized with it and now not only am I completely “normal”, but I get all of the benefits of autism without the crippling drawbacks it normally has. You should NOT over rely on Kratom though as it’s just as addictive as marijuana, but without the stunted brain development since Kratom doesn’t affect the brain in that way, it mostly effects pain receptors and dopamine levels, which in the case of autistic individuals actually helps to reduce the sensory overload by balancing your hormone levels that control your sensory perception. I’m not sure how the science completely goes on this, but I’m living proof that Kratom can be of great help when treating and assimilating autism in “most” individuals.
And if you don’t agree with me, tough crap. 😂 This is MY experience, not YOURS, lol. 👏🤣

I've had burnout + chronic condition at the same time. I can tell you I didn't recover and it's been 4 years

I’ve never found or heard of this anywhere other than in my head. I shut down often- I have found my people.

"Ask for accommodations at work - most employers will be happy to help"

HAH. If only that were even remotely true in my experience.

Does the army have a use for
autistic SI-FI writer im out of
work right now & depressed.

I know too much to die from
war end time's SIFI is cool
I observe nature.

I'm intelligent too & inspire
people around me please. 🙏

I was repeatedly told for years that i had depression and anxiety and was put on various antidepressants that had little to no effect, often making me worse in the long term.

Then i finally came to the realisation after having an autistic son that i may have ADHD. So asked the doctors for an assessment and was told yes, i do in fact have adhd and im on the autistic spectrum too.

The NHS in Scotland isn't very good at diagnosis, when it comes to mental health issues we often have to self assess and research to ask the doctors what we want to be assessed with.