Does anyone else ever get very emberassed being seen in publ

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Being seen in public is no problem for me, as I am just another old man about town.

Being recognized is a little disturbing, because I usually want to be left alone in public.

Being interviewed by the Eyewitness News Team is especially difficult, because I do not like how I look on camera.

Could you briefly explain your understanding of the difference.

Sohil, what is it about being seen in public that makes you embarrassed?

I generally don't feel embarrassed, but I do feel a bit insecure because I'm carrying more weight than I'd like. I'm working on losing the weight.

Last edited by PassingThrough on 08 Jul 2022, 10:16 am, edited 1 time in total.

Is close to having a complete mental breakdown and I personally find it takes a coupke of years to fully recover. The last one I had was in august to september 2019 and only now I am able to pull out enough that I am functioning correctly to do ordinary tasks that I set my mind on to do as previously it was very hit and miss if I could do the things I should be able to do. Silly things! Things that I could do without thinking suddenly required a lot of thought to think about to be able to do them. At one point while hitting the last burnout I was standing in a carpark unable to move because I had forgotton how to walk and I could not think how. I had to just stand there and it was only when I watched some people in the distance passing that I worked it out, but it was (For a moment) a case of learning to walk again as I was like a newborn calf learning to walk as my legs were all over the place! It was the thought process of putting one foot forward and trying to work out which foot to try first... I know it sounds silly but it happened.

I agree with MG there. It's happened to me more than twice.

For me it happens because I'm just spinning too many plates (metaphorically) and I just keep going and going and going without much of a thought for my own wellbeing and then I burn out.

It is really difficult to recover from as well. I also have ptsd so as well as everything else I exhaust myself because I'm hypervigilant. Sometimes I get psychosis with it as well. I usually turn into the worst possible version of myself that I could possibly be and that's a tell tale sign that I'm on track for breaking down.

It's not a pretty sight for sure.

Burnout seems to have the same symptoms as depression though. When I'm depressed (which comes and goes) I feel mentally fatigued, which is always called "autism burnout" when I explain it to other Aspies, even though mental exhaustion/fatigue is a symptom of depression in NTs.

Depression does very much bring fatigue but is not the same, though some people do get depressed at the same time as hitting burnout, but for me I am in such a stressed state internally that depression does not really function.
For me a tell tale sign is when my sleeping patterns are seriously effected as I just can't shut off from the work shift I had done (Always has been a result after forcing myself to keep going through multiples of partial shutdowns and shutdowns when in a work situation as for me the recovery comes in not working, and this in the past has cost me my house, savings, classic car, camper, trains (My number one hobby/special interest) as during these past times of burnout recovery I have gone without income for a year at a time or however long I needed to recover).

I am told that some people face burnouts and are recovered in a day or three or a week or two... My experience for me is it takes around two or three years to be honest. It could possibly be a mental breakdown (No idea. Waiting for autism assessment first before I try to work out if they were burnouts or breakdowns) but I am told with a breakdown one forgets ones name and other vital info and one does not know where one is. I forgot how to walk and other silly things like that, but I was always aware of my surroundings and who I am, but I did ensure all passwords and important info was recorded so if I did have an all out breakdown, I could piece my life back together afterwards, but burnout is like that if that is what I had, but less severe.

The really good thing is that I am able to do things again now as long as I keep to my own plan doing my own projects at my own pace.

Last edited by Mountain Goat on 08 Jul 2022, 1:12 pm, edited 1 time in total.

Well if you went to the doctors with those symptoms they might diagnose you with depression.

I'm no expert in mental health but it may be the case that it varies from person to person.

For me personally I become more manic than depressed.

Some conversation on the difference between autistic burnout and depression,

https://psychcentral.com/autism/autisti ... 5827011641

https://studentlife.lincoln.ac.uk/2021/ ... epression/



https://autieselfcare.org/2021/12/14/au ... epression/

Whenever I go somewhere alone, I usually go to somewhere of familiarity.

I also don't notice when people look at me all weird.

Yes. I wish I was invisible. I stand out and hate it because I want to be left alone when I'm out in public. It doesn't help having a distinctive walk that attracts compliments or insults.

I walk weird too and I can relAte

Not embarrassed.

I have the usual sensory overstimulation from autism, but also the hypervigiliance from other stuff, so I guess I'm uncomfortable all the same. My personality doesn't like standing out, which is immensely magnified by the latter, so I try my best to blend in, which has various degrees of success. It's all sorta thrown out the window now since I wear a P2 mask everywhere for my mother in the now current land of the maskless (I don't care what people think of me, rather just attention is a bother). I don't go out much, though.