What is autistic burnout? And what can you do about it?

Many autistic people face challenges in their daily life while navigating a world made for neurotypical people.

Think about a trip to your local cafe. You might have patrons crammed into small spaces, bright lights, strong odours and sounds of noisy coffee machines, scraping chairs on hard surface floors, and crockery and cutlery clattering.

This escalating cacophony can easily become overwhelming for someone with sensory processing sensitivities, which are a common characteristic of autism.

Social interactions can also be draining for autistic people. A simple conversation may require complex, rapid decision-making. They must work to interpret non-verbal cues, manage their own emotional expressions, and may feel they have to “mask” or “camouflage” their autism.

These stressors can mount up over time and result in fatigue or periods of “autistic burnout”.

Burnout is different to a meltdown

A meltdown can occur when an autistic child or adult becomes overwhelmed and has an outpouring of energy that is relatively short-lived.

The person might first feel intense emotional dysregulation, irritation, frustration or sensory overload.

Some autistic people can be very literal. If they say “That music is just too loud, I feel sick, it’s too much, I need to get away”, they probably feel like they’re going to vomit or need to flee.

The meltdown might then involve crying, flapping or pacing, zoning out, lashing out or running away. Most people would have seen depictions of autistic meltdowns on TV shows and movies.

Read more: Parents are increasingly saying their child is 'dysregulated'. What does that actually mean?

With the autonomy of adulthood, some autistic people can better identify when a meltdown might be approaching and may have the opportunity to mask or move to a private area, given the social cost of a meltdown in public. But a child may not be able to leave the situation.

There is little literature on meltdowns from the perspective of autistic people themselves. But some notable exceptions highlight the shame of having a meltdown. As one autistic doctor explained, “even the word meltdown is humiliating”.

While a meltdown is an outpouring of energy, our research shows autistic burnout is a dearth of energy.

Masking autism is exhausting

Autistic people often have difficultly understanding the unwritten social rules. They may monitor themselves to try and meet these social rules, for example, making eye contact when talking (but not too much), waiting for their turn to talk, standing still and relaxed, not moving their hands too much, or engaging in small talk before making large requests.

Masking is a key stressor for autistic people. A long day at work can be exhausting for anyone, but long days of work that also require continuous masking can lead to autistic burnout.

Masking can be especially taxing if a social faux pas earlier in your life led to embarrassment, bullying or worse, causing an additional layer of stress during unexpected social interactions.

Autistic people might find it easier to interact with other autistic people, around whom they don’t feel they need to mask their autistic traits and can communicate authentically and discuss topics of interest.

Interacting with non-autistic people can be more difficult as there’s a greater likelihood of misunderstandings and communication breakdowns.

Read more: What are 'masking' and 'camouflaging' in the context of autism and ADHD?

What does burnout look like?

Burnout occurs when a person has been cognitively overloaded and overwhelmed, and the person’s energy levels have depleted to the level of physical and mental exhaustion.

In our research, we identified commonalities across autistic adults’ experiences of burnout. The person may have difficulty communicating, be confused, experience memory problems and find their autistic traits may become more intense. They may experience extreme fatigue and withdraw socially.

They may lose their ability to work or study, and may lose relationships in the process.

A burnout can last days, weeks, months, or even years. Some people never completely recover or reach their level of functioning before their burnout.

Autistic burnout is a new area of research. We still need to answer questions such as how long an autistic person needs to feel fatigue before it becomes burnout, or whether autistic burnout is a type of depression – so far it appears not to be, but more research is needed.

What if you’re in burnout now, or supporting someone who is?

If a person is experiencing autistic burnout, our research suggests they may benefit from having time alone, away from the demands and expectations of others and away from over-stimulating environments.

In our study, participants found rest and relaxation helped initially. This meant more sleep, spending time with pets and getting out into nature.

As the person’s energy rebuilds, they may gradually spend more time engaging with their passions, establishing routines and reconnecting with the world, their way.

To help manage meltdowns and avoid burnout, young autistic people also recommend:

• open communication (talking through the emotions)
• collaborative regulation (being sensitive to each other’s emotions and using strategies to regulate emotions)
• individualised coping strategies (which can range from moulding clay and hanging out with a pet, to reading, playing music, sports, deep breathing or spending time alone).

Connecting with the online autism community, at places such as Wrong Planet, can also help.

Non-autistic carers and family can work with the person to enable these things. But if an autistic person says “I just can’t take this anymore”, be the ally who listens deeply and with an open mind to understand their experience.

Work together to problem-solve: would time off work, a change of environment, or extra support around the house reduce their stress? If they want, help connect them with an autism-informed mental health practitioner.

If this article has raised issues for you, or if you’re concerned about someone you know, call Lifeline on 13 11 14.