this post was submitted on 06 Sep 2025
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Autism
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Autism and depression is a good combination too
While it is possible to have autism and depression, and I really don't want to take away from anyone's struggles, I have noticed that many people with autism (including myself) are misdiagnosed as having depression and anxiety when they actually have autistic burnout.
Autistic burnout is very similar to the kind of burnout neurotypical people can get from overworking at a stressful job, but unlike a job that can be quit (with financial repercussions), an autistic person doesn't have the option to rest and get away from the everyday life that's causing the burnout.
Importantly, the treatments for depression and anxiety will not work effectively for autistic burnout - only treating the cause will work.
So many health professionals are unaware that autistic burnout exists, so they can't diagnose or treat it correctly.
I've somewhat recently become familiar with the term "autistic burnout" myself. Can you share some more with regards to your statement - "only treating the cause will work."
I'm sure that the cause may be different from person to person, but do you have any insights towards determining what that cause is? I am, and have been, in what feels like an eternal loop of feeling or being labeled as anxious, depressed, various ADHD symptoms, etc. and struggle more and more to determine what's real, what's a clouded effect of something different, and so on.
all to say, I'm stuck somewhere in this knotted ball of yarn and dont even know which thread is the real end to start pulling on, knotting it up even worse.
"treating the cause" just sounds like more effort and I CBFRN