The brain does not magically mature at 25. Actual neuroscientists note some 8-year-olds even have a greater "maturation index" than 25-year-olds. The myth misunderstands basic neuroscience but is still used for anti-trans policymaking like the Cass Report. https://slate.com/technology/2022/11/brain-development-25-year-old-mature-myth.html

The data does not support the assumption that all burned out people can “recover.” And when we fully appreciate what burnout signals in the body, and where it comes from on a social, economic, and psychological level, it should become clear to us that there’s nothing beneficial in returning to an unsustainable status quo. 

The term “burned out” is sometimes used to simply mean “stressed” or “tired,” and many organizations benefit from framing the condition in such light terms. Short-term, casual burnout (like you might get after one particularly stressful work deadline, or following final exams) has a positive prognosis: within three months of enjoying a reduced workload and increased time for rest and leisure, 80% of mildly burned-out workers are able to make a full return to their jobs. 

But there’s a lot of unanswered questions lurking behind this happy statistic. For instance, how many workers in this economy actually have the ability to take three months off work to focus on burnout recovery? What happens if a mildly burnt-out person does not get that rest, and has to keep toiling away as more deadlines pile up? And what is the point of returning to work if the job is going to remain as grueling and uncontrollable as it was when it first burned the worker out? 

Burnout that is not treated swiftly can become far more severe. Clinical psychologist and burnout expert Arno van Dam writes that when left unattended (or forcibly pushed through), mild burnout can metastasize into clinical burnout, which the International Classification of Diseases defines as feelings of energy depletion, increased mental distance, and a reduced sense of personal agency. Clinically burned-out people are not only tired, they also feel detached from other people and no longer in control of their lives, in other words.

Unfortunately, clinical burnout has quite a dismal trajectory. Multiple studies by van Dam and others have found that clinical burnout sufferers may require a year or more of rest following treatment before they can feel better, and that some of burnout’s lingering effects don’t go away easily, if at all. 

In one study conducted by Anita Eskildsen, for example, burnout sufferers continued to show memory and processing speed declines one year after burnout. Their cognitive processing skills improved slightly since seeking treatment, but the experience of having been burnt out had still left them operating significantly below their non-burned-out peers or their prior self, with no signs of bouncing back. 

It took two years for subjects in one of van Dam’s studies to return to “normal” levels of involvement and competence at work. following an incident of clinical burnout. However, even after a multi-year recovery period they still performed worse than the non-burned-out control group on a cognitive task designed to test their planning and preparation abilities. Though they no longer qualified as clinically burned out, former burnout sufferers still reported greater exhaustion, fatigue, depression, and distress than controls.

In his review of the scientific literature, van Dam reports that anywhere from 25% to 50% of clinical burnout sufferers do not make a full recovery even four years after their illness. Studies generally find that burnout sufferers make most of their mental and physical health gains in the first year after treatment, but continue to underperform on neuropsychological tests for many years afterward, compared to control subjects who were never burned out. 

People who have experienced burnout report worse memories, slower reaction times, less attentiveness, lower motivation, greater exhaustion, reduced work capability, and more negative health symptoms, long after their period of overwork has stopped. It’s as if burnout sufferers have fallen off their previous life trajectory, and cannot ever climb fully back up. 

And that’s just among the people who receive some kind of treatment for their burnout and have the opportunity to rest. I found one study that followed burned-out teachers for seven years and reported over 14% of them remained highly burnt-out the entire time. These teachers continued feeling depersonalized, emotionally drained, ineffective, dizzy, sick to their stomachs, and desperate to leave their jobs for the better part of a decade. But they kept working in spite of it (or more likely, from a lack of other options), lowering their odds of ever healing all the while. 

Van Dam observes that clinical burnout patients tend to suffer from an excess of perseverance, rather than the opposite: “Patients with clinical burnout…report that they ignored stress symptoms for several years,” he writes. “Living a stressful life was a normal condition for them. Some were not even aware of the stressfulness of their lives, until they collapsed.”

Instead of seeking help for workplace problems or reducing their workload, as most people do, clinical burnout sufferers typically push themselves through unpleasant circumstances and avoid asking for help. They’re also less likely to give up when placed under frustrating circumstances, instead throttling the gas in hopes that their problems can be fixed with extra effort. They become hyperactive, unable to rest or enjoy holidays, their bodies wired to treat work as the solution to every problem. It is only after living at this unrelenting pace for years that they tumble into severe burnout. 

Among both masked Autistics and overworked employees, the people most likely to reach catastrophic, body-breaking levels of burnout are the people most primed to ignore their own physical boundaries for as long as possible. Clinical burnout sufferers work far past the point that virtually anyone else would ask for help, take a break, or stop caring about their work.

And when viewed from this perspective, we can see burnout as the saving grace of the compulsive workaholic — and the path to liberation for the masked disabled person who has nearly killed themselves trying to pass as a diligent worker bee. 

I wrote about the latest data on burnout "recovery," and the similarities and differences between Autistic burnout and conventional clinical burnout. The full piece is free to read or have narrated to you in the Substack app at drdevonprice.substack.com

Yes this happened to me

It was about 3 years ago. It took about a year after I hit the wall to be able to reliably work at volunteer jobs ~9 hours a week. My tolerance for sensory input, social stamina and resilience to stress still haven't fully rebounded and i no longer engage in many of the activities and hobbies that I used to enjoy.

It's taken the past 3 years to regain the unhealthy amount of weight that I lost (when I dropped out of school I was the same size I had been at age 14 and my vision went completely black every time I stood up) and my overall health and immune functioning is worse than it used to be.

Even with a lesser work load my performance in school is also much lower nowadays, which hurts.

Koisenu Futari - 1x01

(Subtitles by KaizenSubs)

What if Hikari wasn’t the only sick one? Imagine if Tai had the same problems, just that he kept it secret??

@mlgtofu

Having anxiety doesn’t make you a coward, it makes you a brave person who deals with anxiety.

When I say, “My anxiety is acting up,” I’m really saying, “There’s no reason to be afraid. It’s just my disorder talking, and I can do something to calm down.” It’s positive.

When I say, “My depression is bad today,” I’m really saying, “I’m not worthless and I don’t deserve to die or give up. It’s just my disorder talking, and I should get up and look for what’s good about today.” It’s positive.

When I say, “My ADHD means my brain is wired differently,” I’m really saying, “I’m not a stupid piece of shit who will amount to nothing. It’s just that my brain needs help making certain connections and chemicals, and with certain processes, and there are lots of things I can try to work with it instead of against it.” It’s positive.

Talking about and accepting my disorders is the most radically positive thing I can do. It isn’t pessimism; it’s optimism. It isn’t defeatism; it’s hope. It’s direction, and action, and learning to regain control of my life.

So I don’t give a fuck if it annoys you or makes you uncomfortable. I don’t care if you think I need to think of myself as “more than my disorders”. Because I don’t think that having disorders makes me lesser. And I’m not going to silence myself because you disagree.

You’re fucking wrong, and I won’t let my own silence be the death of me.

— Unknown

people with anxiety disorders are so brave like we feel unbearable amounts of anxiety over doing things like going to the doctor or getting on a plane or talking on the phone or taking a test but sometimes we find the strength to do those things anyway even though we’re terrified out of our minds and that’s really amazing. people with anxiety are brave as hell 

I’m pretty sure I’d still have panic disorder if capitalism didn’t exist tbh

Like clockwork in my family as soon as a generation starts getting into their late teens and early 20s about a quarter of the young adults start getting regular panic attacks and the rest of them start getting random phobias and the proper adults are all known in their friend groups as the one that worries a lot. It’s just as genetic as high blood pressure.

And like with high blood pressure, yeah some people may be able to avoid it if they do all the right things and are in the right environment. But some people are just gonna get it no matter what they do. Saying blanket statement that capitalism is the sole cause of anxiety and depression is like saying that capitalism is the sole cause of heart disease. Sure, it made it way worse. But it sure as hell existed way before any kind of economics was even conceived.

FUCKING THANK YOU, FINALLY SOMEONE SAID IT

The number of people I have known who have pretended to be more ill/disabled than they really are: almost none.

The number of people I have known who have pretended to be less ill/disabled than they really are: almost everyone.

When people tell you they have a chronic illness/disability, believe them. Otherwise you are an Ableist asshole.

This messed with me for so long and it still does because I’m like,,,, am I faking it??? Is it actually that bad??? And then I have a good day and I’m like well I imagined the pain I’m the first place I’m a fraud,,, then I get a bad day and suddenly I’m dying

i was gonna say “the only times ive pretended to be more disabled than i am was to get accomodations i really needed but wouldn’t have gotten otherwise” and then i was like wait.

That’s just being honest about how disabled i am.

ok wait that last reblog messed with me so much thats so true

i feel so guilty even saying i’m disabled because …so many people are more disabled i guess? but when i actually think about what i have to work around and deal with everyday….if someone else told me they were doing that i would definitely define that as disabled.

god it’s hard though. i still feel bad.

Fun fact! Disability is not a competition. You do not have to be the “most disabled” person to “qualify” as disabled.

If you’re disabled, you’re disabled. Welcome to the disability community.

It took me SO FUCKING LONG to internalize that fact

What if we don’t know whether or not we’re disabled?

Quote from the American Disabilities Act

“a person who has a physical or mental impairment that substantially limits one or more major life activities, a person who has a history or record of such an impairment, or a person who is perceived by others as having such an impairment.”

That’s their definition of a disabled person.

hu h???? 

I am. huhh??? that’s it?????????

That’s it. And “major life activities” covers a lot of ground.

“Major life activities are basic activities that most people can perform with little or no difficulty. These activities may be physical such as walking, seeing, hearing, standing, use of hands, etc. Cognitive and social/emotional activities such as memory, paying attention, processing information, and maintaining well being and moods are considered major life activities.

“Major life activities also include the activities required for body system functioning. Conditions which affect the functioning of the digestive, neurological, immune, and circulatory systems, etc. would be considered conditions that affect major life activities.” (Source)

I do think to an extent that at a certain level of saturation, trying to keep informed becomes a vehicle for self harm.

I think that wanting to feel sensation, even hurtful sensations, drives some people to obsess over news stories. And it doesn't feel like self harm. It feels like staying informed. It feels like being prepared.

But you find yourself reading the same stories over and over again, and it keeps hurting until it doesn't anymore and you think 'I have become numb to this.'

But not really. You're still hurting. And you will continue to hurt.

Being the most informed is a tireless, unending task. You must make time for your own peace.

i don't know who needs to hear this, but guilt, self-hatred and shame are not sustainable sources of growth and healing. you can't hate yourself into feeling better, or being better. you can't repeatedly punish yourself for your flawed humanity and expect wholesome results.

i have. a lot of big complicated thoughts about how people tend to treat depression as like. as if it’s nothing. like it’s the most basic easiest mental illness ever. why do we do this. depression kills people. constantly. people will throw around “depression and anxiety” and say they’re totally normalized nonstigmatized disorders and then you realize they only think mild versions of these disorders exist. i have a laundry list of mental disorders and the only one that’s ever actually put my life at risk was depression. if you throw around depression as if it’s the mildest least harmful mental illness ever have you considered shutting the fuck up.