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
    2·
    5 days ago

    Yes, I the thought-loop I’m stuck in is perfectly valid for the field I’m in. And being neurodivergent is only ONE of the problems with the field. The reality is I think the field as a whole does more harm than good, and I often think, in more extreme cases–like child welfare–that it’s like taking a job as a concentration camp guard so you can smuggle in bread for the prisoners. I think the system is wrong and harmful and there’s no way I can keep that to myself and the system will absolutely and ruthlessly punish me for that view even if I were King of the Water Cooler.

    I think there is no through, just out, to a different field.

    I’m thinking I need to get into a trade, a job where you do the job and go home, and maybe you get paid more than slinging credit card applications in retail, and where you generally get paid to work and not stand around passing the time.

    • TerdFerguson@lemmy.ca
      1·
      5 days ago

      Sure, out to another field is an option. Maybe that will be less socially challenging for you, maybe not.

      Fundamentally, whether or not painful social dynamics are traumatic to you will have to be resolved within yourself. It does not go away by going somewhere else unless you happen to get very lucky and find an ND-accepting culture. The tradie social world is full of its own norms and mores and assholes happy to punish you and limit your opportunities for not fitting in.

      I don’t really know much about you but, in this back and forth, I recognize an earlier version of myself. I hope you don’t take as long as I did to figure out how to handle this problem; being hyperbolic is being unreasonable and it works against your goals.

      • schipelblorp@sh.itjust.worksOP
        2·
        5 days ago

        Oh, I see. You don’t like me being hyperbolic and black-and-white. Well, I don’t like it either and I also don’t find it helpful, and I’m categorizing it as a trauma response so I can recognize it as unhelpful and get a little distance from it.

        And, yeah, I probably can’t get away from the allistics (and there’ll for sure be more Trumpistas), but at least I won’t have a moral objection to the actual work being performed. I mean, I’m sure I can find SOMETHING, but the reality is that the field I am has done me tremendous personal harm, so I have a very emotional reaction to observing or participating in that harm… so I think getting out to a more emotionally neutral field would be a step forward.