Autistic Burnout as Masking-Overload Wrong Attractor: The Camouflaging Cost, Sensory Flooding, and the Return to Authentic Neurodivergent Expression

Autistic burnout—distinct from general burnout—arises specifically from the chronic energetic cost of camouflaging autistic traits to conform to neurotypical expectations. The healthy ground state S^0 is defined as authentic neurodivergent expression: engaging with the world in a way that honors genuine perceptual, social, and regulatory needs without systematic self-suppression.

W_AB arises when masking becomes so thorough and chronic that accumulated displacement cost exceeds recovery capacity, producing characteristic collapse: profound loss of skills, executive function failure, sensory flooding, social withdrawal, and identity loss. Nine formal propositions characterize the masking cost structure, sensory threshold dynamics, the social-success paradox (visible functioning masking crisis severity), late diagnosis as delayed recognition, the double empathy problem, and return paths through unmasking, accommodation, and neurodivergent community belonging.