“It Has Shown Me How Much I Am Capable Of”: An Exploration of Autistic Burnout Experiences in Motherhood

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Ferguson, A., Martin, D., & Pearson, A. (2024). “It Has Shown Me How Much I Am Capable Of”: An Exploration of Autistic Burnout Experiences in Motherhood. Autism in Adulthood, 8(4), 634-645. https://doi.org/10.1089/aut.2024.0282

Publication date: 28 Nov 2024 Added to AutiHub: 6 Jul 2026 Type: Article Article language: English
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Authors

Publication authors
3
Publication authors identified as autistic
2 / 3 (66.7%)
  1. Ashton Ferguson *
  2. David Martin
  3. Amy Pearson *

Abstract

Background: Research has highlighted a relationship between autistic motherhood and autistic burnout, although autistic mothers' experiences of autistic burnout have not been explored in depth. Method: To address this research gap, we used a participatory approach and a qualitative methodology with the aim of understanding: (1) how autistic mothers experience autistic burnout in relation to their parenting role and (2) what support they need to prevent and recover from this. We recruited 13 autistic mothers via social media to participate in an online semi-structured interview. We analyzed these interviews using inductive reflexive thematic analysis. Results: We developed four main themes. Theme 1, "Depletion," focuses on the contributory factors to autistic burnout. Theme 2, "You have to just get up and keep going," demonstrates how autistic mothers continued to care for and maintain their relationships with their children while experiencing autistic burnout. Theme 3, "New realizations," reveals how autistic burnout impacted autistic mothers' self-understanding and self-awareness. Theme 4, "We need support too," discusses the availability and accessibility of support for autistic mothers and their subsequent experiences of this. Findings highlight that autistic mothers' difficulties associated with their autistic burnout are compounded by a lack of autism acceptance and understanding from others, although they felt that burnout did not impact their parenting capacity. Conclusions: We provide several recommendations to improve outcomes for autistic mothers, including a need for increased autistic-led training for professionals, and for the development of formal, autistic-led peer support services and community groups. Community Brief: Our findings further the understanding of the unique features of autistic burnout and contribute toward a growing evidence base that emphasizes the need for well-resourced autistic community support networks. These networks provide insider understanding and emotional support but are often reliant upon exhausted community members. We suggest that better support would include both professional aid (from well-trained professionals with a solid knowledge of autistic burnout) and community knowledge to ensure more sustainable and effective support for autistic people.

Bibliography cited by this reference

Cited references are imported from external metadata sources when they are available. The list may be partial.

Cited bibliography overview

These indicators describe the bibliography cited by this publication. An author name is counted each time it appears in one cited reference, so the same person can be counted more than once. Names not yet linked to an author already present in AutiHub are treated as unknown, not as non-autistic. Last computed: 2 Oct 2026 17:07.

Cited references
65
With a DOI
64
Without a DOI, from raw bibliography text
1
21 / 65 (32.3%) cited references include at least one author identified as autistic.
References with data to complete
0 / 65 (0.0%)
References with detected author names
65 / 65 (100.0%)
Without detected author names
0
Without a structured title
0
Without a stable identifier
1
References with raw author names still to review
0
References with external metadata lookup issues
1
These indicators apply to cited references displayed on this page, after technical duplicates have been merged. A reference without a DOI can still support author statistics when a title and author names are available.
Author names detected in the cited bibliography
250
From DOI or external metadata
250
From validated raw bibliography text
0
Raw names already validated
0
Raw names still to review
0
151 / 250 (60.4%) names are linked to an author already present in AutiHub. 99 / 250 (39.6%) names are not yet linked.
Names linked to a person identified as autistic
37 / 250 (14.8%)
Calculated across all author names detected in the cited bibliography. Among names linked to an author already present in AutiHub: 37 / 151 (24.5%). Distinct people identified as autistic: 32 / 216 (14.8%).
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