autistic shutdown, somatisation, emotions...

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Just thinking about autistic shutdown and somatisation and emotions...

I find that if I don't have someone to help me understand what emotions I might be feeling and get me to talk about it, I am more likely to have an autistic shutdown or somatisation event. Another trigger is if I don't know what I'm expected to do or say in a situation. I think over the years my autistic shutdowns may have become more like somatisation because physical symptoms are perhaps more socially acceptable.

Does anyone else relate to this - like is this what triggers a shutdown/meltdown in others? Also, does anyone find that autistic shutdown is also like somatisation sometimes - like with the body manifesting some symptom?

No, I find no evidence of somatisation involved in autistic shutdown. Shutdown is a psychic withdrawal, the loss of ability to communicate, the mind's refusal to connect or to extend itself to either one's surroundings or other people, a defense against being overwhelmed by sensory stimuli. The only physical manifestation I have ever experienced with that is stimming. I experience no autistic stigmata.

Meltdown, OTOH, if repressed long enough might result in the same physical symptoms that hyperanxiety causes in anyone - stomach upset, reflux, even ulcers. But if I could repress it, it wouldn't be a meltdown.

But I don't think I have much trouble identifying my emotions for what they are. I have a fairly limited but very intense set and I think I recognize most of them whenever they arise.

Yeah, I can relate. I shut down after I get frustrated trying to express myself so I just give up. When that happens I can barely hear what other people around me are saying, and I get stuck with my own racing thoughts. I start feeling fatigued and sometimes I get nauseous. When I shut down I try to act like I'm calm, but the agitation probably shows on my face. I also have a difficult time asking for help with expressing emotions.

definately relate....i rarely have anyone to explain emotions to me though so usually i end up in a shutdown.
often I think I have incorrect emotional responses to situations...sometimes I get mad when I should be happy, or sad when i should be happy, rarely happy when i should be sad....but most of all if I have a strong emotion of any kind I don't know what the emotion is usually and i certainly don't know how to communicate it.

Same here.....I can cope with maybe one or two things that are upsetting\emotionally involved etc. but it all gets too much and I can't deal with it. I shut down. I don't have anyone to talk to except my OH, and he is really helpful, but it doesn't always stop the meltdowns.

I don't really have the meltdowns I think, but I definitely have the shutdowns. They usually happen when I am feeling very intense, usually "negative" emotions and I simply can't express them. Although I am highly articulate usually, I have huge difficulty expressing my emotions, even with my husband who I simply adore. Before finding out about Aspergers a couple of months ago, and coming on this site, I never had a word for these experiences, or realised anybody else experienced them. I find them hugely frustrating. The words are usually all there in my head, I just lose the ability to speak or make eye contact or interact in any meaningful way. The most annoying thing is that often people think I am being deliberately difficult so get angry with me, which just intensifies the emotions and makes things worse. Or else they attribute my silence to tacit agreement with what they are saying, which is also incredibly frustrating. Aargh

I don't think my shutdowns/meltdowns are too much like somatisation--if I develop physical manifestations of stress, I get a headache or feel slightly nauseous.

When I have shutdowns, it's like my brain just stops working due to exhaustion. The exhaustion can be caused by trying to put up with/figure out emotions that are too intense for me to handle over a period of time, but it can also be caused by just expending a lot of mental energy on emotionally-neutral cognitive challenges (by doing schoolwork all day, for example). I also shut down when I experience sensory overload.

Meltdowns are pretty much like shutdowns for me--parts of my brain have just completely stopped working. The difference is that meltdowns always involve an emotional component...they're more about being "overwhelmed" than "exhausted".

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Does anyone else relate to this - like is this what triggers a shutdown/meltdown in others?
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Both shutdowns and meltdowns for me are about the inability to process what is going on in my head and around me. Lack of knowledge of my own emotions is default for me, so it doesn't cause either. Shutdowns I feel compare best to shock, except that it isn't necessarily a shutdown of the same "parts of the brain", and doesn't necessarily have a sudden trigger - its my body telling me that it can't cope and needs to withdraw.

Meltdowns are when instead of withdrawing I need to lash out and get everything out of me.

if I don't know what to do that can lead to a shutdown or to a meltdown, trying to talk about emotions doesn't (it's just completely meaningless). Someone trying to force it out of me can, but that's because of the person forcing me to do things I can't being overwhelming, not because of the attempting to talk about it.

Not at all.

Is a shut-down just the same thing as dissociation? It's a term I've heard before but I never did get a concrete definition.