Sici Zhuang

Initially emerging as a term discussed within online autistic communities, autistic burnout refers to a chronic state of incapacity, exhaustion, and distress stemming from the daily challenges autistic people face in navigating a predominantly non-autistic world (Raymaker et al., 2020). In the first study on autistic burnout, Raymaker et al.

Autistic1 people commonly experience co-occurring mental health difficulties and are diagnosed with anxiety, social anxiety, depression and other mental health difficulties at rates ranging between 20% and 80%, considerably higher than those reported in the general population (Curnow et al., 2023; Hollocks et al., 2019).

Many autistic people experience a range of psychosocial challenges, including poorer mental health (Lai, 2023), difficulties in social participation (Mason et al., 2020) and an increased likelihood of victimisation (Gibbs et al., 2021; Griffiths et al., 2019) compared with non-autistic people. To navigate these challenges, some autistic people have developed coping strategies known as camouflaging.