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Shutdowns?:

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Verdandi
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23 Jul 2011, 2:04 pm

littlelily613 wrote:
Thank you for the articles Verdandi! That certainly clarifies a lot!

So, I think I have had many partial shutdowns. I am not sure about full ones.

I am wondering--are these types of shutdowns unique to autism?

Also, do people who experience full shutdowns usually begin in childhood, or can it happen for the first time in adulthood as well? I have been experiencing a lot more partial shutdowns over the past few weeks than I have before.


I think they are probably unique to autism although I think it's possible for people with other conditions to have something like shutdowns. I get something kind of like a total shutdown from depression, and it would even look similar from the outside. To me, they're worlds apart.

I also think the number of shutdowns can change depending upon how much stress you're under and how much overload. I went from shutting down maybe once/week about a year ago to shutting down sometimes 1-2 times a day last winter, and I still shutdown several times a week now. Plus I have many more partial shutdowns than I did before.



btbnnyr
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23 Jul 2011, 2:21 pm

There was a period of time when I worked in a very loud bright busy environment, and I had shutdowns within a couple of hours of being there everyday. That led to a prolonged burnout for me, and I didn't even know that I was shutting down and burning out during it. Now, I plan my activities around avoiding sensory overload and shutdown. Really hate it when I can't think or listen or speak or get anything done. Also get really clumsy when it happens. I'm like a printer with a jam or a robot that blew its fuse.

How do people here recover from shutdowns? At some point, I discovered that music helped a lot. If I sing a few songs, I can usually start to feel my brain unjamming itself and starting to chug along again. Other than that, there's sleep.