Shutting Down at Work

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I work in the IT department of a college and we organize client issues into tickets, it could be any technical problem a student of faculty member my be facing. I can't really say how often this happens, it's really luck of the draw, but often, I will try to solve an issue or ticket, and it's one of those abstract type of problems where you have to gather a bunch of information, and use some sort of gut computer intuition which I don't seemed to have developed ..plain and simple, it's a tough problem, and the longer it takes me to complete the problem, the more pressure I feel to complete it. The more pressure I feel to complete it, the more frustrated I get. The more frustrated I get, the more I lose focus...and of coarse it feeds into a vicious cycle to where eventually I am in "pissed off mode" and while I am motivated and determined to get the job done, my brain says "F this, I am done!". What ends up happening is that I'm swimming in a pool of frustrated feelings and performance wise I am functioning at 25%; my train of thought feels like a vase that was dropped and shattered, I shut down like a robot in a cartoon that hunches over and makes a winding down noise, and I end up feeling like a car that blew out a tire and has 5 laps to go. Obviously the problem solving issue is a whole other story that needs to be addressed.

I've read about meltdowns, temper-tantrums, and shut downs as described as some sort of apathetic burned out feeling that lingers for weeks and makes romantic partners feel distant..but what I am referring to specifically is a subdued, internally directed and outwardly invisible boil-over in frustration that makes me slower and barely functional at work when the boiling point is reached. My heart says this needs to get done, but my brain says "we are done here." I've been planning to mention my aspergers to my supervisor in regards to my problems with shifting attention and changing tasks, but are burnouts/shutdowns just as much a part of aspergers for adults in the workplace? If it is then I wouldn't have a problem disclosing that issue as well in our discussion. I talked it over with my therapist and I have made a commitment to disclose AS to my co-worker one way or another; and I already mentioned in an email to the co-worker that I was going to explain something to him soon, so prompt answers are appreciated, thank you.

Last edited by PaulHubert on 01 Apr 2014, 8:21 pm, edited 1 time in total.

Yes. You have to think about how to present the information. Focus on what you hope can change to help you, not on the risk of meltdowns. No one likes to be scared, and too much talk about meltdowns would sound potentially scary.

He's seen a shutdown at it's worst and on the outside it looks nothing more than a little mopyness, I want to make changes so perhaps I can save these complex problems at the end of the day before work is over so at least I have a lot of work done to begin with...but there needs to be an explanation for these days where there has seemed to be an inexplicably small amount of work completed.

I often get the situation where, by the end of a hard day my mind is exhausted, much as you describe. And I can not get a thought to form. Not a lot you can do at this point.


I've told my bosses. In fact when I first heard of Aspergers and started research it, I sent him some pages saying "wow, look at this, it's just like what I do". Then I got a diagnosis.

It was good for me, but every manager is different. Be careful and choose wisely.

And yes, shut downs are common, if not "normal" for Aspies and Auties. It's caused by sensory overload. Or as in my case, it just gets exhausted and shuts down.

I work as a software developer for a mid-size company and I can relate to your situation. The system I am working on has been developed for 10+ years and is very complex. The tasks I am given requires a lot of knowledge about different areas of the system, and are hard to solve without involving others or researching source code for hours. This makes me very unproductive. I get frustrated and lose interest when I can't see the goal and the way to get there clearly.

Contrast this with when I'm working on my own software projects where I have complete control. Then I can be extremely productive (we're talking a factor 10 compared to the other situation).

I am not diagnosed, but I have considered talking to my supervisors about the situation. Problem is I have a long history with them, and they were very impressed with my previous work (which is why they hired me about a year ago). The workplace is rather high-stress with lots of talented people. Not sure how they could accomodate me more than they've done already (I work part-time).