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.

  • schipelblorp@sh.itjust.worksOP
    3·
    6 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·
      6 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.