Mx. Sinisters Shitpost Dump

The data does not support the assumption that all burned out people can “recover.” And when we fully appreciate what burnout signals in the body, and where it comes from on a social, economic, and psychological level, it should become clear to us that there’s nothing beneficial in returning to an unsustainable status quo. 

The term “burned out” is sometimes used to simply mean “stressed” or “tired,” and many organizations benefit from framing the condition in such light terms. Short-term, casual burnout (like you might get after one particularly stressful work deadline, or following final exams) has a positive prognosis: within three months of enjoying a reduced workload and increased time for rest and leisure, 80% of mildly burned-out workers are able to make a full return to their jobs. 

But there’s a lot of unanswered questions lurking behind this happy statistic. For instance, how many workers in this economy actually have the ability to take three months off work to focus on burnout recovery? What happens if a mildly burnt-out person does not get that rest, and has to keep toiling away as more deadlines pile up? And what is the point of returning to work if the job is going to remain as grueling and uncontrollable as it was when it first burned the worker out? 

Burnout that is not treated swiftly can become far more severe. Clinical psychologist and burnout expert Arno van Dam writes that when left unattended (or forcibly pushed through), mild burnout can metastasize into clinical burnout, which the International Classification of Diseases defines as feelings of energy depletion, increased mental distance, and a reduced sense of personal agency. Clinically burned-out people are not only tired, they also feel detached from other people and no longer in control of their lives, in other words.

Unfortunately, clinical burnout has quite a dismal trajectory. Multiple studies by van Dam and others have found that clinical burnout sufferers may require a year or more of rest following treatment before they can feel better, and that some of burnout’s lingering effects don’t go away easily, if at all. 

In one study conducted by Anita Eskildsen, for example, burnout sufferers continued to show memory and processing speed declines one year after burnout. Their cognitive processing skills improved slightly since seeking treatment, but the experience of having been burnt out had still left them operating significantly below their non-burned-out peers or their prior self, with no signs of bouncing back. 

It took two years for subjects in one of van Dam’s studies to return to “normal” levels of involvement and competence at work. following an incident of clinical burnout. However, even after a multi-year recovery period they still performed worse than the non-burned-out control group on a cognitive task designed to test their planning and preparation abilities. Though they no longer qualified as clinically burned out, former burnout sufferers still reported greater exhaustion, fatigue, depression, and distress than controls.

In his review of the scientific literature, van Dam reports that anywhere from 25% to 50% of clinical burnout sufferers do not make a full recovery even four years after their illness. Studies generally find that burnout sufferers make most of their mental and physical health gains in the first year after treatment, but continue to underperform on neuropsychological tests for many years afterward, compared to control subjects who were never burned out. 

People who have experienced burnout report worse memories, slower reaction times, less attentiveness, lower motivation, greater exhaustion, reduced work capability, and more negative health symptoms, long after their period of overwork has stopped. It’s as if burnout sufferers have fallen off their previous life trajectory, and cannot ever climb fully back up. 

And that’s just among the people who receive some kind of treatment for their burnout and have the opportunity to rest. I found one study that followed burned-out teachers for seven years and reported over 14% of them remained highly burnt-out the entire time. These teachers continued feeling depersonalized, emotionally drained, ineffective, dizzy, sick to their stomachs, and desperate to leave their jobs for the better part of a decade. But they kept working in spite of it (or more likely, from a lack of other options), lowering their odds of ever healing all the while. 

Van Dam observes that clinical burnout patients tend to suffer from an excess of perseverance, rather than the opposite: “Patients with clinical burnout…report that they ignored stress symptoms for several years,” he writes. “Living a stressful life was a normal condition for them. Some were not even aware of the stressfulness of their lives, until they collapsed.”

Instead of seeking help for workplace problems or reducing their workload, as most people do, clinical burnout sufferers typically push themselves through unpleasant circumstances and avoid asking for help. They’re also less likely to give up when placed under frustrating circumstances, instead throttling the gas in hopes that their problems can be fixed with extra effort. They become hyperactive, unable to rest or enjoy holidays, their bodies wired to treat work as the solution to every problem. It is only after living at this unrelenting pace for years that they tumble into severe burnout. 

Among both masked Autistics and overworked employees, the people most likely to reach catastrophic, body-breaking levels of burnout are the people most primed to ignore their own physical boundaries for as long as possible. Clinical burnout sufferers work far past the point that virtually anyone else would ask for help, take a break, or stop caring about their work.

And when viewed from this perspective, we can see burnout as the saving grace of the compulsive workaholic — and the path to liberation for the masked disabled person who has nearly killed themselves trying to pass as a diligent worker bee. 

#i clinically burned out in high school#i lost the ability for adrenaline/stress to motivate me to do anything#i had to relearn how to do EVERYTHING#i do sort of have a stress response back now#but it definitely does not work as well as pre-burnout#not that i’m testing that. lol#but the few years after burnout were actually very peaceful. i simply could not be stressed out i was incapable of it#i’m forever greatful i hit this point in high school because otherwise i would have inevitably hit it in college#where it would have had way worse consequences

probably because back then, neurodivergent folks were dismissed as "insane" or "r-worded" and were thrown into mental asylums. and before that they were straight up just given hard drugs or lobotomies.

it's almost like as time goes on and technology/research evolves, so does our understanding of human beings and the inner workings of the mind.

Shoshana Meira Friedman (find her on IG here) said such a great thing about PDA. I think it is useful because it moves away from psychiatry/diagnostic boxes.

"[PDA behaviors] are a threat response. It gets called "demand avoidance" because that's the impact on the person's life and on the people around them. But what's physiologically happening is there's nothing special about a demand. It's about the lack of autonomy, control and equality. And it's hitting the back of the brain as a threat."

(this is from a webinar. costs money...)

And I LOVE THAT as an explanation!!

To rephrase: "Demands" are not special things. Saying "PDA is avoiding demands and tasks" makes it sound like we have an allergy to this mystical "task" concept. In reality, we are stressed out by pressure and being controlled. When there is pressure, I feel like I need control again, so I avoid things that I need to do. When I feel like I have the freedom to choose if I do/don't do something, I am often able to do what I need to do.

It's not necessarily about what the task/demand is, it's about the pressure/expectation around it.

Animal Example to Illustrate: When an animal is threatened, what do they usually do? Often something like try to escape, or try to bite/claw/kick their way to freedom, or go completely still or frozen! If we tried to use the official diagnostic lens on them, we might end up saying things like "This cat is cage-avoidant," or "This horse resists jumping over obstacles."

This puts a lot of focus on the task that the animal is being told to do, rather than the more realistic concept: the animal is scared and is trying to get back some control.

How This Applies: PDA is a lot like that. It's not so much about the task that we're being made to do. Instead, it's about how we feel out of control or beneath another force, and we are finding ways to feel safe again. When we are being "demand avoidant," we are trying to get back a feeling of control and safety. (Trying to go from panicked -> relaxed.)

Examples of Demands: ANYTHING can be perceived as a demand!! Including

body signals (hunger, fatigue, needing the bathroom)

going to school/having a teacher

someone asking us questions

someone being better than us at something we like

someone else having a birthday.

The possibilities are, unfortunately, endless.

Wait, don't most people do this? Isn't this how humans work? Yes! Now you're getting it!!

Pressure, lack of autonomy, and being controlled are stressful to EVERYONE. But the reason why PDA is useful as concept is because the PDAers' stress threshold is much lower than other peoples'. They are more sensitive to losses in control, and might "act out" or avoid things when other people are able to push through.

Lack of control/autonomy/equality has a bigger and more obvious impact on PDAers, and disables them to a greater degree than it does most people.

P’urhépecha

Maya

Ok. Having said that, let’s move on to the “fire hockey” game itself.

The game is called Uárhukua Ch'anakua, meaning “stick competition”, although the name can change depending on the region were it’s practiced.

The ball, or zapandukua, is made of wood, stone, or rubber wrapped with cotton fabric that is left soaking on petroleum for a few days before the game, when it’s ignited.

The sticks, or uárhukua, are also made of wood. Their size and weight varies depending on the player preferences.

Originally there was no time limit, so one match could last for days. Nowadays they last about half an hour (or until the first score is made).

Each team has five players and at least three reserves. Substitutions are unlimited but have to be notified to the judges so they can decide when it’s pertinent to make the change without interrupting the game.

It is a game of honor. If a player gets penalized or expelled, it not only means dishonor for them, it means dishonor for their team.

It is kind of a Big Deal, with actual tournaments taking place on the P’urhépecha region and other places like México City.

The Uárhukua is usually played at night because the fiery ball symbolizes the sun moving through the sky. You can imagine just how impressive it looks to have a literal ball of fire bouncing across the field.

"My liege, that was a rhetorical question you just heard. Do not answer it."