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Confirming the nature of autistic burnout

Arnold, Samuel Rc; Higgins, Julianne M; Weise, Janelle; Desai, Aishani; Pellicano, Elizabeth; Trollor, Julian N; (2023) Confirming the nature of autistic burnout. Autism 10.1177/13623613221147410. (In press). Green open access

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Abstract

Autistic burnout is something autistic people have been talking about for a while (see #AutBurnout and #AutisticBurnout on social media). Recently, researchers published two different definitions of autistic burnout. We wanted to test these definitions. We wanted to confirm the duration and frequency of autistic burnout. That is, how long and how often do people get autistic burnout? We surveyed 141 autistic adults who had autistic burnout. We used descriptive statistics, content analysis and reflexive thematic analysis to analyse the survey responses. Autistic adults strongly agreed with the definition published by Higgins et al. How long and how often people get autistic burnout was not clear. Participants told us they have both short and long episodes. Participants told us that autistic burnout leads to exhaustion. They needed to withdraw from being with other people. They needed to stay away from autism unfriendly places. Many had been misdiagnosed as having depression, anxiety, bipolar disorder, borderline personality disorder or other conditions. We need increased awareness of autistic burnout. Autistic people need more help. More research is needed, we need to have bigger studies to understand autistic burnout.

Type: Article
Title: Confirming the nature of autistic burnout
Location: England
Open access status: An open access version is available from UCL Discovery
DOI: 10.1177/13623613221147410
Publisher version: https://doi.org/10.1177/13623613221147410
Language: English
Additional information: This version is the author accepted manuscript. For information on re-use, please refer to the publisher’s terms and conditions.
Keywords: Autism, autistic burnout, burnout, camouflaging, double empathy, masking
UCL classification: UCL
UCL > Provost and Vice Provost Offices > School of Life and Medical Sciences
UCL > Provost and Vice Provost Offices > School of Life and Medical Sciences > Faculty of Brain Sciences
UCL > Provost and Vice Provost Offices > School of Life and Medical Sciences > Faculty of Brain Sciences > Div of Psychology and Lang Sciences
UCL > Provost and Vice Provost Offices > School of Life and Medical Sciences > Faculty of Brain Sciences > Div of Psychology and Lang Sciences > Clinical, Edu and Hlth Psychology
URI: https://discovery.ucl.ac.uk/id/eprint/10163509
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