What is a meltdown?

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I should add here that for all the years I was having meltdowns, apart from any other reasons - and I didn't like dealing with the consequences, hated humiliating myself, etc. - I was desperate to avoid them because, in my case, if I have a meltdown, my body temperature skyrockets, I often bruise myself - in effect, I beat the crap out of myself and felt awful for hours or even days afterward. I've always been the number one victim of my own meltdowns. Excuse or not, I'd love to get rid of them.

But the only thing I've learned, once I understood how my mind worked, was how to spot some of the things that will trigger one, and avoid them, or release the pressure before it builds up, or counter the negative influences with something positive. That has at least cut down the number of meltdowns I have, and their severity.

Regarding the meltdown vs. tantrum question: aren't tantrums thrown in order to get to "get your way" or "get what you want"? IOW, that you do it because it is a way to get something that you otherwise can't have, or some other desirable outcome.

If that's the case, I'd have ask how many people have had:

1) meltdowns as a result of having some 'goal' in mind
2) meltdowns result in getting getting something you wanted, or anything else that was desirable
3) if the usual result is not getting "your way," or being punished or penalized for it, does it continue to happen?


For me, there is definitely no 'goal,' it's just a pure, all-consuming animal-instinct-level reaction. I don't often meltdown, but when I do I put lots of energy into keeping it under wraps until I'm not in public (being male, my size, and agitated tends to freak people out, which can cause them to overreact. At least I'm not also black; that would be even worse.)

And I can't think of it ever resulting in anything that was positive, but not overly negative, either -- though I think I've been lucky that way. I'd expected the usual experience to be getting punished for it.

I don't have meltdowns. Sometimes, though, I just get so filled with rage, that I start scolding some stranger who has been rude to me. It's not something rational. It's not like I'm going to get them to adjust their behavior. It's very controlled and orderly. I don't hit myself or do anything too extreme. Compared to a true meltdown, it is pretty mild. It does embarrass me, though. It's not something that most people do. It's impossible to explain why I do it. It makes no sense.

i've had meltdowns that could be perceived as a result of not getting my way, but usually because i had an idea in my head of how the day was supposed to go (often something people told me) and then it didn't happen and i freaked out... or there was a change in plan, particularly one i don't like (yeah that sounds tantrum-y, it isn't though) and often something else is happening/has happened that meant i was already a ball of stress and that just pushed me over

There are two basic types of meltdowns. One type is where a person is yelling swearing, hitting and breaking things. The other type is where the person breaks down and cries, especially after they realized that they've hurt somebody by mistake. I'm much more prone to the second basic meltdown that I've mentioned.

A meltdown is something I have to have but at the same time loathe having. It's the worst kind of emotional pain to have, both the internal and external ones. If I hold one in I feel like I'm suffocating, like a panic attack. I either became non functional, lose speech or have a seizure. Stress makes me have seizures and holding in a meltdown is the worst kind of stress. I can even have cluster seizures if the stress does not subside.
External meltdowns feel good in a way that I finally get the rage out, even if I still feel awful after it happens. I don't like to do them in public because of how people would judge me or in fear I'd get arrested. Usually I try to get as far away from people before I explode. I've had very few external meltdowns lately but they are becoming harder to control.
The worst part is people misunderstanding you for thinking you're overreacting.

And to the person who is saying they are just tantrums. You are probably getting that conclusion from the few people you know with AS. In fact I think you are the person who had a friend with AS who because of symptoms you think is a horrible person, even though you know he can't control his symptoms. If I'm getting that right? I've not got the best memory.
A meltdown is not just an autistic thing but anyone with a brain disorder especially if their limbic system isn't regulating their emotions properly will have one. It's when you completely lose control over your emotions.
A tantrum is what you do to get your own way.

I sort of had the same question until I looked back on my life. It's something that used to happen a lot more often when I was a teenager, especially when I was being forced to do things under someone else's control. I'd go nuts.

I never could understand it because I was usually calm and rational, but then I'd just breakdown and turn into someone who seemed mad (mad like crazy, not angry).

I finally thought that I outgrew it at several points but they just became more infrequent. I'm fairly certain my last one was a little over a year ago (aside from a couple minor bouts of extremely intense but completely internalized episodes).

I had to help my mother move and the whole process was a disaster. I was under stress from work. I was in a really uncomfortable, noisy, unpredictable environment. I had to deal with my mother who drives me bonkers. I absolutely lost it. I felt like my entire person was a collection of broken glass and dirt being shot into space.

Even thinking about that just makes me cower in embarrassment. I made a complete fool out of myself and acted like a 2 year old child.

Another time was when I was in Moscow (I'm from America, so it as quite a change). I got so upset there that at one point I actually collapsed on the sidewalk, totally limp, and bawled and bawled, tears gushing from my eyes trying to communicate with a friend on the phone that I was incredibly unhappy there.

If you met me you'd never believe that I could act that way even if I were telling you so. It just doesn't fit. But they happened.

I guess that's what a meltdown is.

My meltdowns, if that's what they are, are not tantrums. When I was younger (just moved out on my own, especially) they might be. But it was certainly not to get my own way, or such a thing. I always became extremely embarrassed afterwards, if others had seen them.

Today it's more that I begin to cry. But not a tantrum.
And it's definitely not something that I do for fun. Or to achieve anything. It's more like, when my head is filled up, it flows over. Literally.

For me, it could be described in a similar way as how several previous posters have described theirs: a sense of losing control, and of becoming overloaded by social, emotional, or, in the past, sensory difficulties. Generally, it results in an explosion of aggressive energy, with my behaviour strongly resembling that of a toddler having a tantrum.

Stimming is also a major consequence: I tend to pace very agitatedly, and also flap my hands if I'm particularly anxious. In the past, I would also be prone to punching myself, self-harming, or, on a few occasions, banging my head off things.

For me, it's a state of panic and inability to communicate what's wrong, or anything. Light and sound just take over and shut off all nerve signals sent by my brain to my body, and nothing works. I would just stop whatever I was trying to do, and sit or lie down, and sometimes look like I'm in an epileptic seizure. Fortunately, I can control them by sensing one is close, and removing myself from the situation for a "recharge period". I couldn't do that so successfully when I was a boy or younger man in my 20s, say.... But I've been OK with it for about 20 years since.

Charles

A meltdown is when you sob, yell, wave your arms, stomp, or get physical because you're upset.

A meltdown is when you reach rock bottom.

You will see warning signs such as. . .
repeated feelings of worthlessness, depression, excessive drug and or tobacco and or alcohol use, changes in behavior, increased anger and rage, decreased motivation and inability to learn information, repeated thoughts of suicide.

If you have an event that really bothers you and u do NOT go to a councelor or talk to anyone and it builds up, you can end up having a huge breakdown when your stressors eventually take control of your life.


Most of the time breakdowns are where someone feels they got rejected because they are no good and then they take it out on themselves and then fail several tests, forget information, get yelled at by people, feel socially rejected and have little to no people to turn to, or even worse have parents blaming all of the issues on their autism and trying to stereotype them as a "lesser socially inclined" person rather than understanding the issue present.