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Sometimes people have nothing left. They’ve been trying to keep going for years, and then it’s like they run out of juice. They don’t have any energy or spark. Resting doesn’t help, and nor does just carrying on as normal.
This is sometimes called burnout. Burnout results from chronic stress, often in a workplace. When defined by the World Health Organisation, it has three main parts. Exhaustion, feelings of negativity or cynicism, and reduced efficacy. Burnout is not a medical problem, it’s an occupational one. It happens when a person is under chronic stress for too long.
A growing number of teenagers and children seem to be burnout by life. They stop being able to function, they often retreat to their bedrooms, and everything seems too much. It’s hard for their parents to know what to do. Burnout was traditionally thought of as the result of work – but these young people seem to be burnt out by school.
Autistic people may be particularly prone to burnout due to how stressful they find daily life, but burnout itself can be experienced by anyone. The process of recovery is similar whether you or your child are autistic or not. There is no evidence that autistic burnout is distinctly different to burnout.
A recent study has found that over half of the most popular TikTok videos about mental health contain misinformation. To be honest, I’m surprised that it’s only around half. I see a awful lot of misinformation online. Not just about mental health, but also about neurodiversity.
I’m sometimes asked how you can tell if a child is depressed or in burnout. I’ve seen posts in social media saying that this is a crucially important distinction because the treatment for depression is the ‘polar opposite’ of that for burnout. One post I saw said that in depression you’ll be advised to ‘push through’ whilst with burnout it’s essential to rest.
Do they have autistic burnout or is it depression? AuDHD or just autism? Is their silence reactive or selective mutism? Is the reason they are so upset rejection sensitivity dysphoria? Who really knows?
A lot is justified in the name of exam results. It’s okay to control every moment of a child’s day, if the school can show they get excellent exam results. It’s okay to have behaviour policies which put many children in isolation, if the school gets excellent exam results. It’s okay for parents to be complaining, and children to be protesting, if the school can show improving exam results.
These are signs that you are experiencing burnout - your battery has taken a battering and you are running on empty. Many people think burnout only happens to adults, but it's something lots of teenagers experience too.
This book will help you to understand what burnout is, how you got there and what you can do to get back to a life you enjoy.
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