Some autistic adults describe periods when the demands of everyday life gradually become more than they can sustain.
They may become profoundly exhausted, increasingly sensitive to sensory input, less able to manage social interaction, and less able to perform tasks they could previously manage.
The term autistic burnout has increasingly been used to describe this experience.
What Is Autistic Burnout?
Autistic burnout is not currently a separate diagnosis in the DSM-5-TR.
However, it is a concept that has emerged strongly from autistic people’s descriptions of their experiences and has increasingly become a subject of formal research.
An influential study by Raymaker and colleagues identified three prominent features: chronic exhaustion, reduced functioning or loss of skills, and reduced tolerance for sensory stimulation. Participants described burnout developing when ongoing demands exceeded their available resources and adequate support was unavailable.
What Can Autistic Burnout Look Like?
Experiences vary, but someone may notice:
- profound physical or mental exhaustion;
- increased sensory sensitivity;
- greater difficulty communicating;
- reduced ability to socialize;
- difficulty organizing or initiating everyday tasks;
- greater need for predictability;
- increased difficulty tolerating change;
- needing substantially more time alone;
- reduced capacity at work or school; or
- previously manageable activities becoming much harder.
For some people, the change can be significant enough that they wonder why they suddenly seem less capable than they were previously.
What Can Contribute to Autistic Burnout?
There may be no single cause.
Rather, demands can accumulate over time.
Potential contributors may include sustained social demands, sensory overload, employment or educational expectations, major transitions, insufficient recovery time, executive-function demands, relationship responsibilities, and extensive masking.
An adult may appear to be functioning successfully while using a very large proportion of their available energy simply to maintain that level of functioning.
Eventually, that balance may become difficult to sustain.
Masking and Burnout
For some autistic adults, masking is one component of the overall load.
Monitoring eye contact, facial expressions, conversational timing, body language, tone of voice, and other people’s reactions can require ongoing cognitive effort.
This does not mean that masking inevitably produces burnout.
However, understanding how much conscious effort a person devotes to navigating everyday environments can provide important context when trying to understand periods of exhaustion.
Autistic Burnout and Depression Are Not the Same Thing
This distinction deserves care.
Exhaustion, withdrawal, reduced motivation, difficulties concentrating, sleep changes, and reduced functioning can also occur with depression and numerous other psychological or physical conditions.
Someone should therefore not assume that a period of significant deterioration is autistic burnout simply because they are autistic or suspect they may be autistic.
Depression and autistic burnout can also occur together.
Where there has been a substantial or unexplained change in functioning, appropriate medical or mental health assessment may be important.
Is Autistic Burnout the Same as Workplace Burnout?
Not necessarily.
Occupational burnout is specifically related to chronic workplace stress.
Autistic burnout is described more broadly and can involve cumulative demands across social life, sensory environments, employment, education, independent living, masking, and other areas of functioning.
The two experiences may overlap.
What Can Help With Autistic Burnout?
There is unlikely to be one solution that works for everyone.
It can be useful to identify what is consuming the person’s available resources and where demands can realistically be changed.
Depending on the individual, this might involve reducing unnecessary demands, allowing more recovery time, modifying sensory environments, adjusting expectations, seeking appropriate workplace or educational accommodations, reducing unnecessary masking, and developing a clearer understanding of personal limits.
Professional support may also be useful when anxiety, depression, trauma, sleep problems, relationship difficulties, or other concerns are contributing to the overall picture.
Can Burnout Lead Someone to Discover They Are Autistic?
Sometimes.
An adult may have spent many years successfully compensating for difficulties before a period of exhaustion makes those strategies harder to maintain.
They may then begin questioning why ordinary demands appear to require so much effort.
Burnout itself does not establish that someone is autistic.
However, when it occurs alongside a longstanding history of social communication differences, sensory experiences, strong needs for predictability, repetitive behaviours, focused interests, or extensive masking, it may be one reason someone begins considering an adult autism assessment.
Adult autism assessments are available in Calgary through Solasta Counselling. Our assessments consider developmental history, current functioning, social communication, sensory experiences, masking, mental health, and other possible explanations for a person’s experiences.