In this extract from Energy Accounting, Maja Toudal and Tony Attwood explain the concept of withdrawals and deposits, helping readers to think about small adjustments they can make to help preserve their energy levels through life’s daily challenges.
The Energy Bank: Withdrawals and Deposits
The thinking behind the Energy Bank in Energy Accounting is that all activities have a value in the greater ‘budget’ of our daily lives. If we simplify it, this means activities can cost energy or give energy. Activities therefore need to be balanced in order to maintain well-being, which sounds simple enough, but creating and maintaining such a balance is, in our view, a complex skill which is learned and refined throughout our lives. Many people learn and refine this skill without really noticing, and some become much better at it than others. However, for those who do not learn ‘automatically’, a structural concept such as the Energy Bank can be helpful in achieving this balance and learning and internalizing the skills associated with maintaining and monitoring it. Likewise, for those who find themselves overwhelmed due to changes or events, it may be useful for re-examining their situation and how to meet current needs.
The value of these activities – or a person’s bank balance or capacity for activities – are different for each person and may even change from day to day or over time, and for that reason, we can only provide examples. We hope they can serve as inspirations in figuring out your own deposits and withdrawals, as well as providing visual and concrete examples of what this process can look like.
It helps to view this concept in the basic terms of deposits and withdrawals. However, we do this knowing that all activities are more complex than merely a single number, especially one that shows only a negative or positive influence on your energy level. For example, an activity like going to a birthday party has a cost in terms of social energy and physical energy, and it involves not only the duration of the event but also who is present, what food is available, how the event is structured (are there games planned, which ones, is dining a sit-down formal meal or is it based on snacks being available?). It is also a deposit in terms of providing social energy in that it can help to combat loneliness. This will of course depend on social relationships with the other people present.
For an autistic child, such an event may cost a great deal of energy. However, the cost may also be reduced by adjusting details – for example, if the child is allowed to have breaks in a quieter area, is able to bring noise-cancelling headphones or has access to items related to a special interest, the cost may be reduced significantly. Going on public transport may be made easier by having noise-cancelling headphones as well, and for those who are light sensitive, wearing sunglasses all year round is beneficial in reducing the energy cost of travelling.
Deposits may be enhanced by alterations to the activity as well. For example, the quality of time spent on a special interest activity may be enhanced, depending on the person and the interest, by being alone in the room, having an optimal light source, knowing the timeframe of the activity in advance, having snacks and water available, knowing if and when to expect any interruptions, and many other details.
Making small alterations here and there can greatly change the balance of the energy budget, so it is important to pay attention to where beneficial changes can be made, even if these changes do not include a change in the activity or even its duration.
This means that Energy Accounting aims to not only achieve a sense of the value of each activity and event, but also build awareness and create a toolbox for the person to decrease the cost of withdrawals and enhance the value of deposits. There may be great differences in what works for each person, which is one of the major reasons we always advocate for personalizing the use of Energy Accounting.
As you will also see, there must be an acknowledgement that starting to use Energy Accounting, figuring out your deposits and withdrawals, as well as the other partial tools, will carry with it a withdrawal of some size/value. Engaging in any change in daily routine will, for a period of time, cost energy. However, the cost should be viewed as an investment. The aim is for the energy spent on learning to use these tools for yourself or for your clients to have a ‘return on investment’ later, once more awareness is built about how to create an everyday life that works well for you or your clients.
Maja Toudal is an autistic author, speaker, online self-advocate, autism consultant and clinical psychologist. She has written for Autism Denmark and several online publications. She co-hosts the podcast Autistic Tidbits and Tangents and works in a private practice in Denmark.
Tony Attwood is a clinical psychologist who has specialised in autism spectrum conditions since he qualified in 1975. He runs a private practice, and is also Adjunct Professor at Griffith University, Queensland. His seminal book Asperger’s Syndrome – A Guide for Parents and Professionals has sold over 800,000 copies and has been translated into 30 languages.