Have you ever had a nervous breakdown?

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G'day,

My name is Matt and I am just rediscovering my Aspergers. I was diagnosed as a child but the diagnosis got replaced by OCD and the Aspergers was forgotten about.

I have just realized that I do have a lot of Aspergers traits - I am now going to use this information to work around the disorder as best as I can.

I have a question for people with Aspergers who also have OCD/anxiety disorder.

I function OK normally and work as an Electrician. Sometimes however in times of stress or some sort of crisis trigger (also when I am changing my SSRI's meds or something like that). I seem to have these huge mental breakdowns where I think I am going to die or never come out of. Over the years I have had three of these and sometimes I just wake up one morning and snap out of it - I become back to normal.

The episodes may last for up to two months or less. During the episodes my normal OCD (which I can cope with) is replaced with: racing thoughts, constant anxiety, panic attacks, severe depersonalisation/derealization, quasi psychotic thoughts (I know they are just nonsense thoughts so they are not 'truly' psychotic), constant introspection, depression with thinking worse case scenario thoughts and feeling like my brain is in a different state and is perceiving things wrong. I cannot function during these times. Like I said sometimes I just 'come good' and forget about it and just go back to normal OCD.

Has anyone else experienced these things? Is this an Aspergers thing, or do I need to look elsewhere?

i once really had some terrible situation... i had severe sensory overload (internal and external).... and so i was there... and not there... i am not sure... but i think i was asked something.... but i think i didn't understand or hear it .... i am not sure if someone spoke to me....
i am not sure... it was abit like a dream... but in reverse.... in the dream you think it is reality... though its a dream.... but there... it was reality... but i thought it could just be a dream (nightmare).


i think you are looking for "shutdown"... or "overload "... though i am not sure was the differences to "seizers" is.... but "nervous breakdown" is not used much....
.... i


best wishes
anton

I assume Asperger's "benefits" this condition. Because no one will know "what's wrong with you" unless you have a diagnosis, you will keep looking for reasons. You will get yourself mad by just the amount of thinking you have invested into why you are so weird. It will be bad in early childhood, it will be really bad when you're in your teens and when you have reached adulthood, all those problems lie beneath a layer of pretending to be ok. This concept of "pretending to be ok" causes burn out and other things.

I think it is very likely that someone with Asperger's will develop at least one form of OCD because they just don't know what is wrong with them. They will blame them for that all their life. To "compensate" for that lack of confidence and lack of knowledge, they will develop OCDs. OCDs give you the illusion that you can control your life, while the OCDs control you.

I have read at least once, that people with Asperger's will develop anxiety disorders. Of course. I mean... if you are in fear of doing something wrong AGAIN all the time! Over years. Decades. Decades of fear. It makes absolute sense. Your brain cannot cope with the vast amount of those fears. Asperger's will make it so much harder for you to make friends.

Because you cannot make friends, you will feel that no one will ever like you. Because it is YOUR FAULT that you are the way you are, but you don't know WHY. This inability to cope will make you believe so many things that are not true.

You will develop irrational fears.

Most of the time, I just ignore everything. It won't make my life better, but I do not want to stress out all the time. I'll think of a solution. Maybe get help... ^^ See... That is irrational. If you know you need help, you should go out and get it. But no...

I know exactly how you feel. It happens to me really bad about once every 12 years or so, lasting for several months. I have minor episodes more often. I'm just recovering from my third major episode, lasting about a year this time, and it nearly killed me a couple of times last summer.

Interesting. I get this way sometimes. Racing thoughts I think is apart of my ADHD but also PMDD (severe pms...eugh). Constant anxiety is like a side effect to Ritalin. Panic attacks when I get lost or am at a loss of what to do...especially in the kitchen. But then the meltdowns take over.
I don't quite understand depersonalisation but I feel like I have it. After meltdowns/ shutdowns I sort of lose emotions but usually I feel cut off from people. derealisation I definitely have but is caused by severe sensory stress. I do worse case scenarios too. Even having violent thoughts that I try to stop. Depending who you ask I do have psychotic thoughts too. At times I do believe them.

I've had a couple of nervous breakdowns. I call it regression. It's just when I get so stressed and anxious I completely shutdown and begin to lose skills. The first time it happened I lost a whole lot of skills. The next time I was only set back a bit. Then again I'm still recovering from the first.

When I have metldowns/ shutdowns I do lose functioning and I have a seizure disorder that makes me that way as well. So yeah, you're not alone. It's not something that lasts for two months, it's more like just from an overload of stress and can happen whenever and never usually lasts longer than a day.

Sounds like your anxiety is worst during these periods. What you describe are symptoms of high levels of anxiety. Anxiety fluctuates in severity for both known and unknown reasons.

Doesn't sound like a nervous breakdown. A nervous breakdown is generally when you get to the stage of being unable to function at all, and hospital is needed (you also don't really have more than one, as you can rarely get to that lowest of low again).

I had one once in 6th grade, my parents had to take me out of school because I was falling apart. I would think that be a nervous breakdown since I could no longer be around other kids and function properly in school. Plus I felt I was out of control and had a hard time controlling myself and I felt I just wanted to die and regress and couldn't be my age anymore.

Thanks everyone for the insight and thoughts. There is a lot of information there for me to think about. The information was better than what my psychiatrist has provided!

Actually I have one last question relating to this thread. Does anyone know a way to 'snap out' of this state?

Thanks again

I had a breakdown due to AS,but at the time I did not know why I suddenly couldn't cope anymore. I left my place of abode one morning and never went back. This meant I had walked away from everything to, and I literally had no control over myself.

This led to me being referred to a clinic and being diagnosed with AS.

Right now I am trying to correct things but everyone now thinks negatively of me.

Thanks for your post, very enlightening. I think I've had multiple breakdowns and can totally relate to the feeling of Regression.

What exactly is a nervous breakdown anywayu??? I always hear my mom say that she's "close to having a nevous breakdown" and I never know what she means o_O

I have had three or so during my life and each time they took longer to snap out of.

When i was at school and changing between primary and secondary it all got too much and i was in hospital with sickness and all because of it.

Then when my dad was terminal arpund sixteen years ago my head just shut down. I walked out of work and couldnt cope. Got signed off for a while but it took me nearly two years to really get better.

Then about six years ago i had it again panic and anxiety out of no where. Had to walk put of work again and spent months being scared of leaving the house. Took a few years to really recover. Now i am on meds and have had a AS disagnosis i hope i never have them again.

With some meds i just brute forced my way through the symptoms. Tried CBT but didnt work for me at all. Donno if thats cause of the aspergers mind but it just doesnt accept the think different mentality that is needed for it.