Burnout
Burnout can happen when you feel exhausted and completely drained. You might also feel less patient, stressed or grumpy.¹
Not all the autistic youth who helped us make this guide said they experience burnout. It seems like burnout might be something that happens more to older kids, teens, and adults.¹
Some researchers describe burnout as...
A response to experiencing stress, while having high expectations for yourself, without the right amount of support from parents, teachers, or other kids.²
Some kids described burnout as feeling like...
"Having no energy, even to do fun things"
"Like you never went to sleep (even when you just woke up)"
"My muscles are tired and my body is heavy - moving is like kneading tough dough"
Why does burnout happen?
Burnout can happen when you've been busy with lots of different activities and responsibilities, like homework, chores, and sports.
Many kids and youth feel like they can’t be themselves at school or when they are around other people. They might feel like they have to hold in “stims”, make lots of eye contact, or put a LOT of energy into acting the way everyone expects them to. This is exhausting!
Burnout can be caused by boring, serious, or even fun tasks - all these things require your time, energy, and attention.
Burnout makes it hard to do things you have to do and things you want to do.
It's important to know...
When experiencing full burnout, it may affect your ability to do things by yourself and your overall happiness.²
It may feel like the people around you (like parents and friends) do not understand how you feel and why. They might say, “You were fine to do this last week, why can’t you handle it today?” This can be frustrating!
Everyone has different amounts of energy - which can change day-by-day - and that's okay!
Watch a video explaining "Autistic Burnout"...
References
1. Phung, J., Penner, M., Pirlot, C., & Welch, C. (2021). What I Wish You Knew: Insights on Burnout, Inertia, Meltdown, and Shutdown From Autistic Youth. Frontiers in Psychology, 21. https://doi.org/10.3389/fpsyg.2021.741421
2. Raymaker, D. M., Teo, A. R., Steckler, N. A., Lentz, B., Scharer, M., Delos Santos, A., Kapp, S. K., Hunter, M., Joyce, A., & Nicolaidis, C. (2020). “Having all of your internal resources exhausted beyond measure and being left with no clean-up crew”: Defining autistic burnout. Autism Adulthood, 2(2),132-43. https://doi.org/10.1089/aut.2019.0079