Does everyone have meltdowns?

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My friend is in the middle of the spectrum and he has had 1 meltdown in his life.

im considered very high functioning and meltdowns are pretty easy for me to get, change, sensory overload, confusion, not being able to comunicate and sometimes causes im not even aware of! and they range from upset to DANGEROUS.

it all depends on what you can and cant handle and how you cope with what life throws at you.

As a kid I used to get angry and anxious, and I'd have moments where I'd hit or kick things, but they were always short-lived and not self-detrimental. As a teenager I developed panic attacks, and as I've gotten older, from the age of about 19 or 20, I started having relatively severe self-injurious meltdowns in which I lost all cognitive control, and control over my actions. These days they start when I get very overwhelmed very fast, by either sensory or emotional input. My logical controls shut down and I feel like I'm going to rip apart at the seams, so I hit my head and bite my hands a lot in an effort to jettison some of the excess tension. I can't talk at all during or after the fact, so I can't communicate with people at all, and just do a lot of primal screaming. When it's over, I'm usually exhausted and just have to go home and sleep. I used to get them once or twice a year, but over the past six months or so, they've escalated to once or twice a month, for reasons I can't discern.

It takes a lot (and I mean, a lot) for me to have a meltdown, and it only ever happens in crisis situations (i.e. really bad arguments with someone with whom I'm emotionally attached). I have shutdowns and have had for as long as I can remember, but since I was only diagnosed as an adult I never really knew what they were. During shutdowns I just feel like I cannot really talk (as if talking took an enormous amount of energy that I don't have at that moment), and I don't want to be touched (there's nothing worse than someone who wants to "hug it off" after an uncomfortable situation / disagreement... I need my time to cool down); sometimes it requires that I go somewhere alone and rest on my own (I feel as if my brain needed to reset itself before I can come back).

To answer the original posters question, not everyone has meltdowns (including autistic people). And I will remind you that not everyone who experiences meltdowns is autistic either. They're quite common in people with ADD, or sensory processing issues.

Personally I haven't had rage attacks in years, I guess I've grown out of them.. Under extremely rare circumstances, it is possible that I might end up getting what amounts to a shutdown.

Thank you for the post

I've had a few meltdowns in my life, mostly because something bad has happened or that I am under a lot of stress and pressure, which has caused some very bad problems for me. I remember them well, and they have not been good, resorted to breaking down crying and even physically harming myself. I don't have many now though, because things have changed, and I am more comfortable in the environment that I currently reside in.....

There was a time when I was young that I think I had a meltdown. First day of school never happened for me. I was crying screaming, kicking I remembered my parents trying to lift me but it's like I locked up or something. My body just froze and became rigid. That's the only time that I can remember having a meltdown. The rest are just temper tantrums.

I'm not diagnosed yet but I'd be surprised if I was found not to be on the spectrum tbh (AQ 44 and EQ 11)

I don't have classic autistic meltdowns but I do get my emotions confused, i.e. crying when angry and shut down if I'm overwhelmed.

I do not get sensory overload, because I'm only sensitive to the way things feel, not sound or light.
I have had meltdowns from emotional overload and stress, especially when I was younger. I once had one when I chap I was seeing tried to force me to decide what he should wear, I just couldn't do it and ended up hiding in a corner of his bedsit crying.
They gradually dropped off after I started living with my husband, he has taught me to handle my emotions better so that they do not build up. And also to be more assertive and talk about my own needs, which helps. I've still had the odd moment when I couldn't stop crying- the most recent one was when I was going through the whole post-diagnosis process and coming to terms with all that - but htere are certainly very rare these days.