Understanding BIMS: Navigating Burnout, Inertia, Meltdowns, and Shutdowns in an Unaccommodating World
Living as an autistic individual in today's fast-paced society that has been built with the neuro-majority in mind is a constant negotiation between personal capacities and external demands. Many of us grapple with Burnout, Inertia, Meltdowns, and Shutdowns—collectively known as BIMS—not as personal failings but as responses to overwhelming pressures. As an autistic gestalt processor, I often find myself without the immediate scripts or tools to manage these experiences in real-time. In today’s article, I’ll to delve deeper into BIMS from this perspective, helping to create scripts and understanding to better navigate these challenges. By framing our discussion within the Power Threat Meaning Framework (PTMF), we can explore how systemic structures contribute to these experiences and how recognising this can empower us.
What is Autistic Burnout?
Autistic burnout is a profound loss of energy and a state of physical, mental, and emotional exhaustion. It often occurs when we push ourselves beyond our limits, frequently as a result of masking our autistic traits to fit into a world not designed with us in mind. This relentless effort to conform drains our internal resources, leading to burnout. As a gestalt processor, I perceive experiences as wholes rather than in parts. When I face burnout, it's not just one aspect of my life that's affected; it feels like an all-encompassing shutdown. Without pre-existing scripts to manage this, I find myself stuck, unable to parse out steps to recovery.
The PTMF suggests that our distress arises from power imbalances and the meanings we ascribe to them. Societal pressures force us to mask and conform, threatening our authentic selves. Recognising that burnout is a reaction to these external threats—not a personal weakness—shifts the narrative. It’s the system demanding too much, not us giving too little. To manage autistic burnout, creating scripts can be helpful. Acknowledging the need for downtime as valid and necessary is crucial; we must honor our capacity and need for rest and recovery. Practicing interoceptive awareness—tuning into internal bodily signals—can help detect early signs of burnout. Reminding ourselves that needing rest is a human experience, not a failing, fosters self-compassion.
Creating Scripts for Management
Honoring Rest (if you can): Acknowledge the need for downtime as valid and necessary.
Interoceptive Awareness: Practice tuning into internal bodily signals to detect early signs of burnout. If you’re alexithymic like me, regular check-ins via journaling can help to not only keep track of signals, but to investigate their origins and track them over time.
Self-Compassion: Remind yourself that needing rest is a human experience, not a failing.
What is Autistic Inertia
Autistic inertia refers to the difficulty in starting, stopping, or transitioning between tasks and activities. It is not laziness or procrastination… or Pathological Demand Avoidance; it’s a genuine struggle to move from one state to another. As a GLP, inertia can feel like being trapped in a moment, unable to initiate action even when the desire is there. Without scripts to navigate this, simple tasks become insurmountable obstacles. Through the lens of the PTMF, the pressures to be constantly productive and adaptable are systemic demands that don’t account for neurodiversity. These expectations threaten our well-being by setting standards misaligned with our processing styles. Recognising this helps shift the blame from ourselves to the inadequacies of societal structures.
Creating Scripts for Management
Body Doubling: Find a companion to co-experience tasks, easing the transition into action.
Visual Schedules: Use planners to externalise tasks, making them more approachable.
Start with Enjoyable Tasks: Engage in preferred activities to build momentum.
Autistic Meltdowns
Autistic meltdowns are intense responses to sensory overload or emotional overwhelm, where an individual may lose control as a means of coping with distress. During meltdowns, the flood of sensations and emotions becomes one overwhelming experience. As an autistic GLP, lacking immediate scripts makes it challenging to deconstruct what’s happening in the moment to mitigate the impact. From the PTMF perspective, meltdowns are often triggered by environments that ignore or dismiss sensory needs—an exertion of systemic power that threatens our equilibrium. Understanding this shifts blame from the individual to the inadequacy of the environment.
Creating Scripts for Management
Sensory Planning: Identify and communicate sensory preferences beforehand, if at all possible. I know, this becomes more possible as one gets older and / or gains a stable environment in which they can control.
Safe Spaces: If possible, establish environments where meltdowns can be managed without judgment.
Beware of Mindless Mindfulness Practices: It's important to be cautious of generic mindfulness advice that may not suit everyone. For some, such well-intentioned suggestions can inadvertently exacerbate anxiety or even trigger panic attacks due to anticipatory stress. Instead of relying on one-size-fits-all approaches, we should seek personalised strategies that consider individual needs and preferences..
Autistic Shutdown
An autistic shutdown is a retreat into oneself, often resulting from prolonged overwhelm or trauma, where engaging with the outside world becomes too taxing. Shutdowns feel like a protective cocoon but also a barrier to communication. Without scripts, expressing needs during a shutdown is incredibly challenging. Through the PTMF lens, shutdowns can be seen as responses to systemic threats—environments that are not just unaccommodating but actively harmful. Recognising this emphasises the need for systemic change rather than individual adjustment.
Creating Scripts for Management
Non-Verbal Communication: Utilise tools like drawing or texting to express needs. For me, instructions are listed in my iPhone’s Health app, detailing for responders what to do and what not to do. If people untrained in helping autistic people in a shutdown are not careful, they will surely make matters much worse.
Routine Engagement: If you’re able to, regularly participate in activities that bring joy and reduce stress.
Seek Glimmers: If you can, focus on small positive experiences to counterbalance overwhelm.
Final thoughts …
Understanding BIMS is crucial, but it’s only a piece of a much larger puzzle. Whilst these scripts and strategies can aid in managing day-to-day challenges, they do not address the root causes embedded in societal structures. The social media narratives that paint overcoming BIMS as simply a matter of personal effort or “getting your life together“ ignore the systemic overhauls needed. In a world that often demands conformity over authenticity, existing as an autistic person is an act of resilience.
I encourage readers to reflect on how societal structures contribute to the challenges faced by autistic people. We must advocate not just for individual coping mechanisms but for societal shifts that reduce the threats posed by power imbalances. Let’s move beyond inspiration porn that highlights a few who seemingly “have it together” and instead focus on creating environments where all autistics can thrive without the constant battle against burnout, inertia, meltdowns, and shutdowns. By framing BIMS within the PTMF and sharing personal insights as an autistic gestalt processor, I hope this article provides both understanding and practical scripts for navigating these complex experiences. More importantly, I urge a shift in perspective: from viewing these challenges as personal shortcomings to recognising them as responses to systemic issues that require our collective action to change.