Meltdowns, shutdowns, and breakdowns

Post Reply New Topic

Is there a difference between those three or do they all mean the same thing?

I'm probably going to catch some s**t for this but.......I think they all can be categorized under "tantrums". Unless "breakdown" is referring to a nervous breakdown, which is different.

According to the audio commentary on B&J, Joon had a breakdown on the bus. She was crying and screaming and pacing up and down the aisle and flapping her arms. Refused to get off the bus so she had to be carried off. People stood outside and watched and there were neighbors watching too.

^Sounds like a tantrum to me.

No it was a "breakdown." Others might view it as a meltdown but it was all an act anyway because it was part of her roll in the movie. The character has a breakdown so Mary Stuart Masterson act it out and did a great job. Now she doesn't even remember doing the bus scene. That was the hardest part for her according to Jeremiah Checik.

You asked.

Shutdown = shutting down of a sensory or motor stimulus
Breakdown = emotional disassembly; usually expressed in fits of sobbing and so forth.
Meltdown = physical disassembly of stimuli; actions may be violent.

Shutting down is my biggest concern. Breakdowns and meltdowns less so.

I see shutdowns as sorta like leaving this world.
Breakdowns are sorta when you get upset. You don't get very violent. Maybe stim for a bit and carry on.
Meltdowns are sorta when you are not able to be controlled. You can get violent.

To me meltdowns are when I get too anxious or frustrated and end up in a bit of a rage. Shutdowns are when there is too much sensory stuff going on and I get confused and sleepy. My ability to communicate drops dramatically when going through either of these.

I use the terms a little differently, but then again, I may or may not have comorbid emotional issues.

Meltdown: I start to feel a rush of anger, followed by a brief period of intense joy, and then I become unable to much more than cry and rock, and call my dad to have him walk me through it.

Shutdown: Kind of the opposite of a meltdown, a shutdown is when I suddenly lose the ability to speak. It also becomes very difficult to form complete and coherent thoughts.

Breakdown: My autistic breakdown is similar to a nervous breakdown. This has only happened twice so far. My body and mind reach the point where they metaphorically say 'No' and refuse to work. Last time this happened I missed 2 weeks of work, as I was very nearly comatose.

My job is very poor for an autistic individual, so I have a lot of stress daily. I get a meltdown or shutdown about once a month.

^^^ Your description of autistic breakdown sounds to me like autistic burnout. Then again, maybe you're saying that breakdown and burnout are the same thing to you. Burnout is something I've been experiencing perpetually lately (and my reason for discovering my autism). In this state, meltdowns, breakdowns, and shutdowns happen very easily.

Either way, they are all responses to anxiety levels surpassing their threshold, resulting in a significantly decreased ability to control emotions. Here are the terms I use and their context in my experience:

Meltdown:
Outbursts of anger and aggression, usually culminating in self-harm.

Breakdown:
Period of extreme sadness and despair, resulting in inconsolable weeping.

Shutdown:
Period of disconnection from external (and even internal) stimuli. Loss of ability to communicate, to carry out tasks, to function overall. I will even lose most ability to walk.

Interesting - I was never sure of the terminology... Here are my own symptoms:

Shutdown: frozen in place, overwhelmed, can't do anything, can't think, can't talk, just stuck

Breakdown: crying, overwhelmed, helpless, hopeless, can't see any way out of my problems except to die

Meltdown: I never get violent or self harm

[EDIT:] Someone mentioned tantrums, and I remember reading once that the difference is that a tantrum is only done in front of other people, to achieve a specific purpose, and once the child gets what they want, the tantrum stops. Whereas a breakdown/meltdown is simply due to feeling overwhelmed, can happen when you're alone, and isn't an attempt to manipulate anyone else.