Autistic Trauma: What It Is and How to Help - Marcy Willard PhD
marcywillardphd.com
A new understanding of autistic trauma has emerged in the research. Dr. Tasha Oswald's presentation on autistic trauma at a recent conference provided invaluable insights into the often-overlooked experiences of autistic individuals. As a psychologist in the autism field, I was struck by her emphasis on moving beyond the medical model and embracing a neurodiversity-affirming approach. Here’s a look at the recent research on autistic trauma treatment, based on the important work of Dr. Oswald.

So I’ve been thinking about how unhinged I’ve been over the past several months around employment and society, and I’m wondering if I’m having a trauma reaction from all the bad times I’ve had with employment.

I’ve been fired from I’d say half the jobs I’ve ever had. In my chosen field and trained field, I have never once had a job I looked forward to going to. My last job experience was really, really, horrible, despite having an advanced degree and a language skill, I was kept making coffee because I didn’t cajole and get along with the power structure and made the mistake of publically criticizing.

It’s hard for me to even write about without getting upset, yet, if I want to make a living, I have to keep applying to these jobs for which I keep bombing the interview, for which, if I ever get the job, I will probably have to deal with unethical egotistical backstabbing morons every day until I get fired or rage quit (like the last job).

In the meantime, I can’t go to therapy, because therapy is the field I’m in and I’d estimate the percentage of therapists who can actually talk to me without immediately getting defensive is about 1%, which throws me back to the Daniel Mackler quote, “It is easier to become a good therapist than to find one,” which leads me here because I’m wondering what:

a) experiences y’all have had for autistic burnout and
b) anything you tried to help you through it and
c) any resources you’d find helpful.

I also think that I’m sour on employment specifically because it is basically the ony time I’m forced to interact with people on a regular basis, which makes me think autism might be the key to this current trauma. I’ve tried socializing in meetups and other venues, and it always fizzled, but it never ends horribly the way work does.

  • ObtuseDoorFrame@lemmy.zip
    19·
    6 days ago

    My autistic trauma is debilitating. If I hadn’t found this unarmed security job where I’m almost always alone, I would likely be dead or homeless.

    I find myself unable to interact with society almost entirely. I can make myself leave my comfort zone long enough to run errands like grocery shopping, but I need to be alone afterwards. I can’t make phonecalls, open mail, make appointments, see a therapist, make new friends, and there are some days at work which involve a lot of interaction so I’m occasionally worried I will eventually burn out of this security “career.” It gets worse as I get older.

    My nervous system is beyond fucked and is convinced every human wants to abuse me. The amount of decompression I require to allow myself to work two or three days a week has been sustainable up until recently, as now this inflation has disrupted the life I have managed to build.

    • psycholocomotor@lemmy.world
      4·
      5 days ago

      This is me but also add trans and sexual trauma. My therapist wanted to see if I could get diagnosed with PTSD, but I couldn’t get a psychologist here. Even though I don’t have a diagnosis, I mean, I have literal flashbacks to humiliating social situations, so if it walks like a duck.

      • ObtuseDoorFrame@lemmy.zip
        3·
        5 days ago

        I have flashbacks like that. Most of my flashbacks are emotional flashbacks, however, from CPTSD.

        I have all the symptoms of someone who was sexually abused as a child but zero memories of it happening. I was reading a book called Complex PTSD: From Surviving to Thriving and got to the part where they talk about this. Apparently the symptoms of adults who were physically abused as a child and the symptoms of adults who were sexually abused as a child are often identical. Don’t hit your kids, duh.

        It might be worth it for you to read about CPTSD. It certainly helped me.

    • grrgyle@slrpnk.net
      3·
      5 days ago

      I’ll add custodial services to that job list, especially if you work shifts when no one is around.

    • schipelblorp@sh.itjust.worksOP
      3·
      5 days ago

      How’s the security job?

      I find the jobs that don’t involve people involve doing NOTHING, and that often doing nothing unaided by books or internet or podcasts… but if I had a job where I did nothing but exist and could do what I wanted with my attention, that would be fine.

      I remember one temp job I had at the front desk of a building where every few minutes a guest would have to sign in and I’d have to tear myself away from doing something interesting to smile at them and watch them sign their names and tell the to have a nice day and whatnot. That was hard.

      • ObtuseDoorFrame@lemmy.zip
        3·
        5 days ago

        It’s not bad. The security industry is notoriously predatory towards its workers so which company you work for definitely makes a difference, but the job itself can be quite compatible with autism/social problems. My weekend gig is 6 am to 6 pm at a data center (I’m aware how awful data centers tend to be, but it’s not like they’d shut the place down if I quit out of principle).

        We’re required to do a minimum of two patrols during our shift, which ends up being around 8,000 steps. The freedom to leave the security office and walk around hourly is wonderful. I spend most of my time either reading or on social media.

        There are certainly some security gigs that involve a lot of socializing, where you’re basically a receptionist. I cover shifts at those types of sites on occasion but of course I need to wary of burnout so I usually only accept one extra shift per week. Getting a 32 hour work week in three shifts is game changing.