Alice Nicholls

Coping with School Holidays in Autistic Burnout - Dr Alice Nicholls If you have school aged children and you are in Autistic Burnout just the idea of the school holidays may be sparking all kinds of thoughts and feelings.   You might be eagerly anticipating  losing th...

It’s that time of year again, if you are in, or recovering from Autustic Burnout and have school-aged children then I wrote this for you:

www.dralicenicholls.com/coping-with-...

Dr Alice Nicholls - Psychologist helping overwhelmed autistic people Clinical Psychologist helping overwhelmed autistic people live fulfilling lives without sacrificing their mental health.

🫂 we do the best we can until we know better and then we try to do better

That’s all any of us can ask for

If you haven’t checked out the work of Dr. Nicholls I do recommend their work very highly! Great free newsletter and articles. Helped me personally!

The Role of Shame in Autistic Burnout - Dr Alice Nicholls During my years of working with hundreds of late-realised, high-masking Autistic Adults in Autistic Burnout I’ve noticed shame as a common theme in the factors contributing to, and maintaining their A...

New blog post on the role of shame in Autistic burnout. It's not brief but there is a summary at the end if you don't have the spoons to read the whole thing. www.dralicenicholls.com/the-role-of-...

Thank you :)

Thank you :)

Step-by-Step Recovery from Autistic Burnout: What You Need at Every Stage - Dr Alice Nicholls Autistic Burnout is a clear sign that something needs to change in your life.   Often lots of things.   But where do you start? The answer depends very much on where in the Cycle of Autistic Burnout y...

www.dralicenicholls.com/step-by-step...

PSA: you don’t have to justify how stressed you feel about anything to anyone, not even yourself.

Self-Criticism is the topic of the month for November in the #AutisticBurnout Recovery Membership, see link in bio for more details. #ActuallyAutistic #ClinicalPsychologist 8/8

Consider what your needs really are in this situation and if you could meet them.  Be compassionate about your lack of compassion for yourself,  it's hard to break a life long habit, aim to be just a little bit kinder. 7/8

Try to imagine what you would say to yourself if you were being compassionate.  By compassionate I mean wise, strong and kind, not necessarily soft.  You might want to do something that is hard because you care for yourself. What would you say to someone you cared for? 6/8

When we are acting to appease our self-critic it can help to examine the reality of the situation. What would really happen if you did or didn't do what your self critic was telling you?5/8

Self-criticism keeps our threat (fight, flight, freeze, faun) system online, increases cortisol, prevents us from understanding and meeting our needs, reducing stressors and increasing soothing regulating activity, exhausting us and contributing to #AutisticBurnout 4/8

Autistic People are at risk of self criticism for several reasons: The experience of being different, bullied, or criticised for not understanding NT social cues. Being criticised for stimming, gaslit about sensory or emotional experiences.  Having our behaviour 'controlled' 3/8

Self-criticism is an internal voice or feeling that we are doing something wrong, should be doing something, are wrong or flawed in some way.  Often we have internalised the voice of a critical parent, teacher or peer. It can be obvious or subtle, e.g. 'I should try harder' 2/8

Self-criticism is one of the major barriers to recovery I see in my #AutisticBurnout clients. But what is it? Why do we do it? What's the problem with it? and What can we do about it? A thread 1/8

#askingautistics what’s one thing you could do today, however small, to be more compassionate to yourself? #autisticburnout #actuallyautistic #clinicalpsychologist

Text on rainbow background states: the autistic burnout recovery membership, November workshop ‘when your inner critic won’t rest: An introduction to compassion’ by Dr Alice nicholls, clinical psychologist

I’m looking forward to running this workshop live for the first time today. It starts at 2pm London time so if you haven’t joined the membership already there is still time. It will also be repeated at 9am on Thursday. Link in bio #actuallyautistic #autisticburnout

#actuallyautistic people are at increased risk of self criticism and this seems to have a role in triggering and maintaining #autisticburnout www.dralicenicholls.com/self-critici...

I appreciate many of these things aren’t essential but for me and my well-being they are important. What you make your minimum standards has to be right for you. 4/4

I don’t try to provide elaborate stimulating activities, cook from scratch, clean the house or look at WhatsApp. I don’t try to ‘get on top’ of the laundry, just to stop the pile getting bigger. I don’t worry about screen time 3/4

Make sure children are safe and feel loved, do one load of laundry, run the dishwasher, clean the food debris off the floor and set the coffee machine to come on in the morning. 2/4

Do you have a minimum standards mode? If so, what are they? When things get hard I have a small list of minimum standards I apply to my day and then try to rest wherever I possibly can. I’ll post mine below #autisticburnout 1/4

Grey background with hazy black centre. Title reads: Autistic Burnout Social Media Project. Main text:How would you describe your experience of autistic burnout? Some responses will inform my blogs/articles and may be used as part of future publications and other work. All responses will be anonymous. This post is being shared across multiple social media platforms. If you any any questions please email me autisticrealms@gmail.com AutisticRealms Logo in corner

Autistic Burnout Social Media Project to inform future blogs/publications.
How would you describe your experience of autistic burnout?
(Responses will be used anonymously) Please email if you have any questions, thank you x

When I’m in burnout I feel like I’ve hit a wall and can’t keep going, like my mind and body are screaming NO. I feel like every movement is slow and laborious and like my brain just doesn’t work. I can’t figure out how to do simple tasks and feel like any interaction with anyone is too much

After months of care and attention the #AutisticBurnout recovery membership is now LIVE. I really hope this new way of working means I can help more people to recover from and prevent Autistic Burnout. #Actuallyautistic #ClinicalPsychologist

Image is a banner with the text ‘the autistic burnout recovery membership, coming soon, 7 days, book now. Www.dralicenicholls.com

There are still a few reduced rate places available on the #autisticburnoutrecoverymembership for more details please see dralicenicholls.teachable.com/p/the-autist...

Big changes to normal routines in my world this week, my social media is suffering as a result. If you are in a similar situation, Ill or in #autisticburnout It’s okay to go back to basics, do the bare minimum and take whatever support you can get. #actuallyautistic

#AutisticBurnout is caused by too much stress and not enough support. Masking, sensory needs, the double empathy problem and life stress. Even if we are able to, many of us have had difficult experiences of asking for and receiving help or its not available
www.dralicenicholls.com/what-causes-...

Remember, Autistic people are monotropic, our brains prefer singular, detailed attention tunnels. If there is too much pressure on our monotropic brains, monotropiv split happens.

Too much monotropic split can result in Autistic burnout.

If you are in #autisticburnout it is not your fault. We are living in a society that does not understand or support our needs. This article might help www.dralicenicholls.com/how-to-get-o...