Shut-Downs

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Where can I find more information on shut-downs?

They were mentioned in this thread on melt-downs:

http://www.wrongplanet.net/postt69145.html

Apparently a shut-down is another type of autistic response to over-stimulation, in addition to the better-known melt-downs. During a shut-down, you lose the ability to do things you normally can do. Kind of like a catatonic state?

I know that during certain kinds of social situations, the most common being when someone unexpectedly directs an insult at me, I temporarily lose the ability to speak. My body feels frozen. I can't really think either. My awareness of time is fuzzy during these, but I think that they might only last for a minute or so.

If the overwhelming situation is more intense and complex, I lose the ability to speak for longer periods of time, and I shake and get a sense of vertigo, but I can move so I go curl up alone somewhere until it passes.

When I was in high school, there were entire school days when I physically could not speak. This happened during times of heightened stress. During these times, I also had trouble carrying out basic activities like filling in the answers on a test - I would just freeze, even if it was an easy test.

Is this consistent with shut-down experiences? Or is it selective mutism?

Fortunately, I have not experienced this kind of thing in a long time, but then, I don't have a job right now. When I get a job, I probably will run into people who will create situations that cause these things.

I think that is a symptom of shutdowns.

am second what Warsie said.
it is one of the shutdown symptoms [and meltdown as well].
as long as the NVism didnt suddenly go away if were in a different place [what happens in mutism],then it is likely that had had a shutdown.

what am understand,it affects a part of the brain called the mid anterior temporal area [which controls speech and hearing amongst other things],am have had EEGs done on this and it shows on am as the right mid anterior temporal as being abnormal during/around/after MDs/SDs.

I have both types of shutdowns you describe. I freeze in response to certain stimuli (such as a salesperson trying to manipulate me) and also have periods where I shutdown for days and it takes a lot of active, conscious effort to do anything external (such as talk or perform an activity).

I'm not exactly sure, but I think I experienced a shutdown awhile back on the job. Someone was talking to me, who I was supposed to be helping with something, and I couldn't understand what they were saying. I was looking right at them, 4 feet away, and concentrating as hard as I could but they may as well have been speaking Mongolian. It was one of the craziest things I've ever experienced. Fortunately for me it was a pretty short lived experience.

I left my job and changed up to something less stressful. I actually got a bit worried for a bit because months went by and I wasn't as sharp as I used to be, not really with it like I was medicated or something. And I got exhausted so easily, any sort of stress or mentally challenging situation could knock me right over, figuratively speaking. Finally after a year had passed I started to turn a corner. And now after 18 months I'm feeling like my old self most days.

So that's my experience with shutdown, if that article referenced in the other thread is correct it sounds like the type caused by long term buildup. I'd say overall it was a pretty scary thing. Like blowing a fuse and not really knowing if and when you're going to get all those circuits back up and running again.