Shutdowns

Post Reply New Topic

EDIT AT BOTTOM-Is it possible to experience "mini" shutdowns, like if something bothers you so much at that time that you just stop and sit there? Maybe because you're frustrated or angry. Not having shutdowns for long periods of time, not even for 10 minutes, but per situation? If that's true, I have them at least 2-3+ times a day when I'm aggravated/fed-up and when I don't know what else I can say to someone who's causing the shutdowns. It's like I'm just saying "I don't know" or "whatever" in my mind, yet still being angry.

Thank you

Also, does anyone get very irritated very quickly? So, maybe meltdowns or shutdowns with the irritation?

Sorry, this post was supposed to go to the General Discussion forum!

Mod. note: It's now been moved there.

In general, I do not experience shutdowns. So I cannot provide you with a totally accurate response. But I pulled a little bit from the internet and this is how they described a shutdown.

What are meltdowns and shutdowns?

When an autistic person is struggling to process too much information at one time, this can lead to feelings of high anxiety and overwhelm. These feelings can result in changes of behavior that are often labelled meltdowns or shutdowns.

“A meltdown is a loss of control – usually as a result of sensory or emotional overwhelm. These are not tantrums as they are not purposefully motivated towards seeking support”

When someone is in a state of high anxiety or flooded with sensory input the brain can become overwhelmed and demand a fight, flight, or freeze response from the body. In autistic people this can result in a meltdown (the equivalent of the ‘fight’ response) which is often mistaken for a temper tantrum.

Meltdowns can be expressed verbally (eg, shouting, growling, or crying), physically (eg, kicking or flapping) or a mixture of both ways. An autistic person will lose control of their behavior because they are completely overwhelmed and are unable to express themselves another way.

The article contains a short video. If you can open it, you may find out a little more.

Meltdowns and Shutdowns

https://www.verywellmind.com/what-to-kn ... ns-8664150

Thank you both for the resources. After reading about shutdowns, I don't think I have them because my "downtimes" are very brief.

But in the case of a meltdown, could that mean getting really angry at someone and swear and yell and feel like you're going to "lose it"? Like in an argument with someone? I get really mad because I can't even think of anything to do other than that. Like there's a wall between anger and no anger, but I automatically get mad because all other emotions are blocked and then sometimes I explode. It can happen often, several times a day sometimes, with arguments between me and my mom. I can't control it, yet I am aware of what I'm doing. Is that a meltdown, too? I wasn't sure if they applied to getting mad in an argument, because the only thing I can see to do is get angry. But, again, because there's a wall between that emotion and all others.

oh my, yes. it takes my processing some time to catch up with what is happening. See also "fight, flight, freeze, fawn" as responses to trauma. I believe i experience "freeze" due to previous trauma. See also "selective mutism" which is a response to sudden demand . It is sort of like "deer in the headlights" response and we do not choose when it happens but it happens only under "select" circumstances not of our choosing. The name of "selective mutism" is somewhat misleading. All of these do cause me to freeze in various circumstances, and yes I do think that is fairly common among autistic folk.

Yes, just as autisticelders said. It can produce a fight, flight, or freeze response. This is what is referred to as a Freeze Response.
So sometimes you experience a Fight Response. (sometimes I explode)
And sometimes you experience a Freeze Response, (like you're going to "lose it"? Like in an argument with someone? I get really mad because I can't even think of anything to do other than that.)

Yes both of these are meltdown effects. But there is a third effect and that is called a "Flight" response which is that you run away and hide.

There is probably one other response to stress. I call it the frizzle response. I never experience the other three types of meldowns because I have a frizzle response. In a way, I spin up my brain to an extremely fast state in order to determine the best course of action. Let me give you an example.

Many years ago, I was almost killed when a large rattlesnake struck me. I was walking in the back regions of desert in California and I head it strike. But it missed. Rattlesnakes never miss. But this one did. It was now about 2 feet away from me and was coiled to strike again. I looked at the snake. It was huge. I stood motionless while I thought about my course of action. Should I try and run for it. No, it would strike me the moment I moved. Should I fight it. How do you fight a 10 rattlesnake coiled to strike this close to me. It had a bump on its skin because it had just eaten something, some small animal and as a result it missed the first time. But it was so close it would not miss the second strike. I just couldn't think what action I could take and live another day. But I was thinking and thinking. And then something very interesting happened. The rattlesnake went away. It uncoiled and fled the scene. When it had traveled far enough, I left the area in a direction opposite the snake. It turns out my actions actually saved my life. By standing perfectly motionless, the rattlesnake could not tell me from a tree. It strikes moving objects and I did not move.

So a frizzle response may be similar to a freeze response in this example but is also very different. The entire time my brain was thinking exploring every option that I could take to survive another day. My brain was moving at the speed of light. I was in a frizzle.

I thought I might explain a little bit more about the Frizzle. I may not have understood what is going on when I was young but now looking back, I will try and explain what is happening during a frizzle. The human brain has two parts. One exist on the left side of the brain and it is the dominant daytime brain. The other side of your skull on the right side is your night time brain. The night time brain has two sleep modes which are Deep NREM sleep and REM sleep. In Deep NREM sleep, you brain works faster then a speeding bullet. You are essentially moving at the speed of light. But REM sleep is very different. During REM sleep, you body is frozen. You are unable to move your legs and your arms. You can enter a dream state and not cause your body physical harm.

So in the example given above, I traversed from a daytime brain to a night time brain. I froze. I had allowed my body to flip into a sleep state and then determined the best course of action moving at a very quick speed. I will give you another example. This happened about 3 years ago. We had a flood and water was going over my bridge. I went down to see what was happening and got sucked into the river. I opened my eyes and realized that I was in the river and was inside a 20 foot long pipe in the bridge. I was about to die. Many people experience death by being sucked into rivers in a storm. Sometime they are found weeks later inside a bridge. But this was a bridge that I had installed that had a two layer construction. It was a good bridge. In less then a second, I realized where I was, what are my options and what I should do. I told my body to not fight it but rather move my arms as close to my body as possible and that within a minute, if I was still alive swim to the surface. A minute later, the flooded river had moved my body like a speeding bullet downstream. I was deep underwater and I moved into action and swam up so that my body could get air. Then I swam to the shore. The force of this speeding flash flood had torn some of the clothing off my body, it was so powerful. But I made it to the shore and lived to see another day. I had entered Deep NREM and REM sleep state and understood the best course of action at the speed of light.

oh my, yes. it takes my processing some time to catch up with what is happening. See also "fight, flight, freeze, fawn" as responses to trauma. I believe i experience "freeze" due to previous trauma. See also "selective mutism" which is a response to sudden demand . It is sort of like "deer in the headlights" response and we do not choose when it happens but it happens only under "select" circumstances not of our choosing. The name of "selective mutism" is somewhat misleading. All of these do cause me to freeze in various circumstances, and yes I do think that is fairly common among autistic folk.

Hi autisticelders. That's what happens to me as well-it takes some time to catch up with what is happening. But, I honestly still feel like I'm not caught up. Like I can't process even the catching up. But, I do have problems with my processing anyway. And I will look up "selective mutism" also. Thank you!

Ok, I replied the wrong way. I hope you got my comment, autisticelders.