Autistic Catatonia and "Autistic Burnout": Some Possible Overlaps (Part 4 of 5)

In what follows here I will describe some of what I see as the similarities between "autistic burnout," as autistic people often use the term, and the development of autistic catatonia, as outlined by the clinicians cited in the prior post. 

Among the most common shared features might be loss of speech, either partial or total: at times this might take the form of difficulty finding the right word (anomia), of slowed speech or of partial speech. The anonymous author of the blog "Musings of an Aspie" offers a compelling record of their own experience of partial speech loss, in "Uncooperative Words and Where Do I Go From Here." Others lose speech entirely for some period of time, from minutes to months of years. Some discussion of speech loss is found in a very large number of accounts of burnout and is, of course, a major feature of mild catatonia. 

Other shared features might be more subtle. As an example, I've included a simple graphic made by @actuallyautisticalien and circulated on reddit.com/autisminwomen. 


As the tone of this chart suggests, the graphic was clearly made by an autistic user to support other autistic users in identifying and recovering from "autistic burnout," which is recognized by this community as a medical problem distinct from other forms of burnout or exhaustion. The telltale features of "autistic burnout," according to @ActuallyAutisticAlien, include "loss of skills," "seeming more 'clumsy'" (loss of motor skills or coordination), profound exhaustion, memory loss, "not getting things done" (loss of volition/loss of independence), "seeming more autistic" (a vague catch-all which was nonetheless noted, in more clinical language, by the scientists quoted on the previous page), and "digestive issues," which can be a sign of dysautonomia. Likewise, the column "How to Deal" includes a number of wise suggestions that have been validated, in other contexts, by experienced clinical practitioners (I will say more about solutions/treatment/and management in future posts). There is an obvious and profound similarity between @ActuallyAutisticAlien's "signs of autistic burnout" and the clinical descriptions of autistic catatonia given on the previous page.

At times, descriptions of autistic burnout go beyond loss of speech, loss of coordination, loss of volition, and other typical features to describe more severe experiences that may well be catatonia. Kieran Rose, of The Autistic Advocate, writes of his experiences with severe autistic burnout as follows: 

Autistic Burnout is exactly that: the shutting down of mind and body. ... If you’ve ever had a problem with a computer and it’s had to go into safe mode--that would describe what happens to the brain – it runs on limited function, not all services are available--its access to the Internet... denied and unable to connect. ... Physically I often imagine it as the need for hibernation, where the body effectively stops all but the most important functions, the heart rate slowed, breathing distributed evenly and slowly, hovering on the precipice between sleep and death.

It is easy to wonder whether Rose is giving a layperson's account of autistic catatonia. This is all the more true as Rose describes his encounter with "autistic burnout" (or catatonia) in its most severe form: 

my physical body and mind started shutting down.  I could feel each system in my body closing off as gravity got heavier than it had ever been.  I didn’t know what to do – did not understand what was happening to me – I had no way to communicate this.

I cannot speak for Rose, of course, but to my subjective ear, this account speaks--with devastating specificity--to the loneliness, trauma, and terror of the autistic person who is experiencing progressive catatonia and has no way to describe this experience, much less to be taken seriously. This experience of complete isolation, of a lack of language to cry out for help, is not uncommon to such accounts.

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