Emotional Exhaustion pada Ibu yang Memiliki Anak Autis

Abstract

Having a child with autism is not a life choice for parents, especially mothers, a variety of negative responses will arise after knowing the diagnosis that says his child is autistic. This study aims to determine emotional exhaustion in mothers who have children with autism, the type of approach used is qualitative with phenomenological. Respondents of this study to two housewives who have autistic children with autism. Respondent 1 was 46 years old living in Medan and respondent 2 was 34 years old living in Tembung. Children respondents 1 who bear autism is the fourth son of 4 siblings. Respondents 2 children who bear autism is a single daughter. Data collection techniques used in this study are interviews and observation. The results showed that the causes of emotional exhaustion that occurred in both respondents in the form of workload, time pressure and social support family. This makes respondents experiencing physical fatigue such as headache, nausea, colds and shoulders feel sore, while respondent 2 has flu, fever, headache and sole of the foot pain. The emotional exhaustion experienced by both respondents is easy to cry, anxiety, fear, and irritability. While the mental fatigue experienced by respondents 1 in the form of negative attitude, depressed, not enthusiasm, and not confident, while the respondent 2 feel easily setres, feel lonely, unhappy, lack of confidence, easy to forget. The emotional exhaustion that occurs in both respondents is a feeling of depression, irritability, feeling unable to give more than they have, and feeling overwhelmed