Does everyone with Asperger's get meltdowns?

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RazorEddie
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06 Jun 2012, 4:32 pm

I am not sure if I ever have meltdowns. I do occasionally have shutdowns where it becomes difficult or even impossible to speak. I know what I want to to say but nothing comes out.


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Joe90
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06 Jun 2012, 4:45 pm

I don't have outbursts in public, and I don't have them with friends either. If I was in a shop with really loud music on, I know how to just cope with it, and if it annoys me too much then I'll go out. But I was with an NT friend once in a shop with loud music, and even she complained to me about how loud the music was.

Loud noises don't set me off though. I don't have outbursts from sensory overload. I have them from emotion overload (too many negative emotions at once). Outbursts are horrible because I get so angry that I don't know where to put myself or what to do with myself. I am just in a sheer panic, because usually my outbursts are triggered off by things that are beyond my control, like when it snows, because I hate snow. Well, there wouldn't be any point in having outbursts over something what I can control, because then I can do something about it then, won't I?

I seem to be so angry with myself all the time and I tend to beat myself up emotionally a lot, and let other people get the better of me. This is probably because I know I'm an Aspie and so I'm always thinking in the wrong and NTs have better social skills and so 8 times out of 10 are doing the right thing socially (I said 8 times out of 10 because nobody's perfect and everybody makes mistakes, but mine are more frequent and become a nuisence in my daily life). So just dealing with anger like an adult I feel isn't expressing my angry emotions enough for me, so I got to let people really know how I feel by screaming and yelling. I suppose that's how toddlers feel aswell, even though, rationally, screaming and crying just makes things worse because it upsets people around you. But you don't care about that at the time, and I don't suppose anybody can when it comes to anger, because NTs get angry too and some can get really scary when angry, but my reactions to my anger just comes out in a different way, more uncontrollable and insane.


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aspiekelly
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06 Jun 2012, 7:06 pm

I've had them. For me, I usually end up crying...
I did it when I first started my job but don't do it at work anymore, I know now when to step away from people who are irritating me.



njones0100
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06 Jun 2012, 8:43 pm

Joe90 wrote:
I don't have outbursts in public, and I don't have them with friends either. If I was in a shop with really loud music on, I know how to just cope with it, and if it annoys me too much then I'll go out. But I was with an NT friend once in a shop with loud music, and even she complained to me about how loud the music was.

Loud noises don't set me off though. I don't have outbursts from sensory overload. I have them from emotion overload (too many negative emotions at once). Outbursts are horrible because I get so angry that I don't know where to put myself or what to do with myself. I am just in a sheer panic, because usually my outbursts are triggered off by things that are beyond my control, like when it snows, because I hate snow. Well, there wouldn't be any point in having outbursts over something what I can control, because then I can do something about it then, won't I?


So, would you say that your meltdowns are brought on by a feeling of helplessness?

The only occasions that I've had anything remotely close to what I would describe as a meltdown occurred when I was much younger and in arguments where I was made to feel completely helpless. I would have tears streaming and be unable to control my crying.



2wheels4ever
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06 Jun 2012, 11:18 pm

For me they are definitely brought on by too many things happening that I can't control all stacking up at once


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06 Jun 2012, 11:33 pm

RazorEddie wrote:
I am not sure if I ever have meltdowns. I do occasionally have shutdowns where it becomes difficult or even impossible to speak. I know what I want to to say but nothing comes out.

This is basically what I'm experiencing at this very moment; I don't want to speak with anyone. Shutdowns are fairly common for me; sometimes I'm able to function to some extent through them, other times all I can do is lie in bed. Meltdowns are thankfully rare for me. The last major meltdown I had was last summer. In both cases, they're usually set off by emotional triggers, though there are occasions where I think they're more sensory (today is one of those--I came home feeling pretty much spent).



Joe90
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07 Jun 2012, 4:43 am

njones0100 wrote:
Joe90 wrote:
I don't have outbursts in public, and I don't have them with friends either. If I was in a shop with really loud music on, I know how to just cope with it, and if it annoys me too much then I'll go out. But I was with an NT friend once in a shop with loud music, and even she complained to me about how loud the music was.

Loud noises don't set me off though. I don't have outbursts from sensory overload. I have them from emotion overload (too many negative emotions at once). Outbursts are horrible because I get so angry that I don't know where to put myself or what to do with myself. I am just in a sheer panic, because usually my outbursts are triggered off by things that are beyond my control, like when it snows, because I hate snow. Well, there wouldn't be any point in having outbursts over something what I can control, because then I can do something about it then, won't I?


So, would you say that your meltdowns are brought on by a feeling of helplessness?

The only occasions that I've had anything remotely close to what I would describe as a meltdown occurred when I was much younger and in arguments where I was made to feel completely helpless. I would have tears streaming and be unable to control my crying.


Sort of, but I become very argumentative and abusive when I'm having one. And yes, they are feelings of helplessness. I don't become non-verbal either, I am completely verbal and I don't stop being verbal, I rant on and on and on and my mum's like ''SHUT UP!!'' which makes me even more mad, although she does have every right to yell that because I must sound really annoying.

I'm a bit like Stephen Quire, a teenage boy who is filmed a lot on Youtube when he's angry. I behave just like him, except I don't smash objects.


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21 Feb 2013, 11:27 pm

I used to have a ton of "shutdowns" or "meltdowns", but now not so frequently as before. I still get them, but specific triggers have to be in place in order for it to set off.



Last edited by DecafeMan on 22 Feb 2013, 11:38 pm, edited 1 time in total.

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21 Feb 2013, 11:30 pm

not all meltdowns can be stereotyped, it can be something small and you may not even notice it,and not all aspies get meltdowns some are tolerable to change or overwhelment



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22 Feb 2013, 12:07 am

Yuugiri wrote:
I'd go so far as to say that there is not any one trait of AS that all aspies share.


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Joe90
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22 Feb 2013, 8:31 am

I have outbursts when I get extremely anxious or worried about something, but only at home. I would never dream of having them in public because I am sensitive to embarrassment and I don't fancy showing myself up in front of people.

I don't know exactly what meltdowns are. When I go into one, I am very verbal, I shout, scream and swear about everything and everyone, and I threaten to commit suicide. I've even got the sharpest knife out before and threatened to stab myself so that it'd put an end to all my miseries, but even when I'm at my angriest, I still don't have the guts to do it. My mum is relieved about that. And no, I have never threatened anyone else with a knife, only myself. My family knows that.

But that's practically what my ''meltdowns'' involve. I feel like I'm a drunk person that gets abusive and angry, when I have one of my meltdowns. I don't have ''Autistic meltdowns'', where I flap my hands or rock backwards and forwards and go all non-verbal, or repetitively throwing a favourite toy or something like that. I've never been like that, even when I was a toddler. I had typical toddler tantrums when I was a toddler, over things most toddlers would have a tantrum over.


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22 Feb 2013, 9:55 am

I frequently have shutdowns. It was a relief when I was finally diagnosed and learned what that was because I had always thought something was wrong with me. I only very rarely have meltdowns, and they make me afraid of myself.



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22 Feb 2013, 2:29 pm

I think some of my meltdowns when I was young resulted from not talking about things with my family and expecting them to know what I was feeling or thinking without me talking about what I was feeling or thinking. And then I became very frustrated when I felt they weren't treating me well.
I see this same thing in a young family member who always seemed to expect me to read his mind and then he would become frustrated because I couldn't. Then I would feel bad because I was unable to immediately understand what the problem was. And now I am finally able to recognise that same behavior in myself.
So I was wondering if any one else could relate to this and if it has anything to do with theory of mind.



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22 Feb 2013, 2:43 pm

Uhh I remember getting really frustrated when I was younger...but generally I do not experience meltdowns. I think it is because I have removed most of the stress from my life now.

Shutdowns? yes to the point where it is physically difficult to speak to people.


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Dreycrux
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22 Feb 2013, 2:49 pm

Callista wrote:
There are also people for whom "meltdown" isn't really the correct term; "shutdown" is probably more appropriate. A shutdown is a very quiet sort of blue-screen of the mind, when you can't process things anymore and you just kind of zone out. You might look frozen or confused or just plain tired, but you stop responding to the world and you generally find yourself in a haze, not thinking very well. That's a shutdown. They can be just as dangerous as meltdowns even though they're not as dramatic, because you can find yourself walking into a road, or unable to tell the policeman that you're not on drugs.



Oh how much I can relate to this...happens all the time...to much going on = shutdown.


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22 Feb 2013, 4:20 pm

I generally don't, unless I get really stressed, which is rare.