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.

  • kopasz7@sh.itjust.worksEnglish
    1·
    15 days ago

    I heard something akin to most people who studied psychology did so to get an understanding of themselves or why they don’t fit in. Not sure how ture it is, sounds reasonable, but it leads to dealing with a lot of people and their people problems.

    I know I need predictability so the less people the better. They also better be similarly minded, I don’t fancy having to be an unpaid actor on top of my job, hell no.

    Working fully remotely was the best change to work conditions, but RTO is sadly spreading like the plague.

    I still burned out at every job I had. At my last place I wanted a change so I deliberately worked slow and borderline quiet quit. Still burned out, and felt like an impostor or conman to top it off. I can hardly describe the joy when my contract ended, I was riding that high for a week.

    My next idea is to start my own business. The reason being is I need not just predictability but also autonomy. I can’t stand working on something I don’t agree with. It is artificial and forced. Fuck that.

  • ObtuseDoorFrame@lemmy.zip
    0·
    15 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.

    • schipelblorp@sh.itjust.worksOP
      1·
      15 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.