Meltdowns and Shutdowns

[Calcifer]

I've read that most people with an ASD vary in their leaning towards meltdowns or shutdowns. Something about the personality of the person.

How would you describe your meltdown/shutdowns? Which one do you tend to do more, and what usually triggers yours?

For me, I tend to move more towards shutdowns. What usually triggers it is... anything.

 

[VickysIckies]

My son is 15 and he definitely has meltdowns. Most of it is a result of unexpected situations. Life is full of change and unexpected situations. We are trying to teach him coping skills but sometimes it's just too overwhelming for him and he ends up crying, scratching his face and more. It's hard for him to come out of it. So his father and I have to wait until he calms down to explain the situation. I am concerned about his future because he will be officially an adult in 3 short years and will need to the skills to deal with this but unfortunately he still cannot control his emotions when things don't go his way.

 

[KinksFan]

I can relate to the crying part of a meltdown, because those are the type that I have. I've never self harmed though. My emotional age is around 9 years old. I seem to be stuck in time, in that respect. I have to remind myself of where I am. If I'm at work, I bottle up those feelings. If I'm at the clubhouse or with my friends, I let my tears show. The reason that I do that, is because my sensitive nature is a part of who I am. If people don't like my tears, they can always find another room to go to, within the clubhouse. I only have a meltdown once a month, and that's a good thing. No it doesn't happen around "That time of the month."

 

[juffur]

I have something different. It's more of a breakdown. My brain starts to analyze whatever triggers it, and I get a lot of anxiety. It lasts for hours and hours. I end up just sitting somewhere alone--thinking and analyzing whatever happened--very obsessively.

 

[Billi]

I had them all the time as child, and occasionally as a teen, a few as a young adult, and then almost none in my 30s. Now I'm 43 and I have had 4 or 5 in the past two years alone. Mostly from sensory overload. It's definately more likely to be a problem for me when I am very tired or stressed. One was pretty major, and really public, during a very intensive weekend seminar. I got angry and yelled at some people, and I ended up crying. The instructor just stood by till I got myself together, asked if I was OK and what went wrong, then went through everything again for me and moved on. Nothing was said about it during the instructor review at the end, where several people were passed conditionally.

 

[xxjoleenxx]

I have meltdowns, and occasionally shutdowns. I think it is because I try to ignore sensory or emotional discomfort or push stuff aside, then it festers. I get anxious then end up isolating myself hours maybe days and over analyzing things. Usually ends up in in tears and I probably happens one to two times a month. Thankfully if I am at work it has rarely led to me crying but I have. I generally don't go anywhere, but it has happened at someone I knows house, I usually leave if I know I am getting anxious.

My son I believe has meltdowns, that turn into shutdowns on occasion. He has several meltdowns a day because of his inability to understand boundaries and why they can't work like they are supposed to. Or why people don't want to share or play, be touched by him. Also a big part is the constant sensory overload.

 

[LgndKllr24]

I lean much more towards the shutdown end of the spectrum. I have a lot of problems particularly dealing with anger, that is when I go into shutdown mode the most. I have a tendency to completely space out and do really ridiculous things in situations like that because I can't think, the feelings of anger in people around me is too strong.

 

[TotodilePika]

I have then both. I have not had a shutdown for awhile tho, which is a good thing, becuase not body trys to get it. They think i can say what the problem is, when I can't. I hate having meltdowns. They always happen at home, which is also a good thing. And that is all I am going with that....

 

[zombiegirl]

I have both. On a *good* day I'll only have a shutdown, but on a bad one...it'll be an all out meltdown.

 

[jaws]

I definitely lean toward meltdowns. While I've never hit a person (outside of a martial arts event), I have destroyed many inanimate objects (game systems, desks, chairs, doors, walls, exercise equipment, etc.) and I might yell a bit at times (greatly under-exaggerated). I do find the more I try to control the meltdowns the more I go into shutdowns. I personally prefer meltdowns as they seems more effective in calming me and allowing me to move on with things, while shutdown are far harder to bounce back from and tend to bring on depression. However, most people I know prefer me to have shutdowns over meltdowns out of fear.

 

[IContainMultitudes]

I don't think I've ever had a real "shutdown," and I can't recall having a really big meltdown since I was fairly young (say, maybe about age 12-13). I have kind of a low-level meltdown every once in a while, usually set off by a feeling of extreme frustration or just a general sense of feeling a bit overwhelmed. I remember once years ago when I went to this event at my college where the son of Nikita Khrushchev was speaking in a big crowded room, and something about that was so overwhelming that I had to leave and go hide in a bathroom stall and cry for a little while (this was probably connected to how that semester of college had really not been going well for me for various reasons). There was another time a few years later where I was taking a web design course at a community college, and one day in class, I started to get kind of frustrated while working on something, and I had kind of a minor meltdown that was noticeable enough for the instructor to ask me "Are you ok?" Thankfully, instances of having that kind of meltdown in public have been pretty rare since then.

 

[epath13]

I prefer shutdowns, I can digest negative energy easier that way but unfortunately people don't let me shutdown, and then I could have a meltdown, which can be pretty ugly ) I know one thing, when I meditate on daily basis I tend to build tolerance to the triggers, they stop bothering me as much. When I stop meditating for a few months, it all goes back where it was.

 

[Arashi222]

For me it depends on the situation. I have on occasion had a meltdown at work (tears and stomping my foot and running off to the girls room to calm down after usually a customer upsets me.) At home or in others homes I often shutdown and curl up on the sofa under lots of blankets or hide in my room. Mine are usually due to unexpected situations or situations where I am sooo overwhelmed that I can't process or I am expected to process too fast for me and I can't keep up so I just stop.:cute:

 

[Kelly]

Meltdowns now and when I was a child but when I was a teen it was more shutdowns. My meltdowns now start verbally(when I was a child it was more straight into crying)... screaming/complaining followed by anger -usually throwing/whacking something or harming myself in some way(like hitting my head or pulling at my hair or digging my nails into my arm) followed by crying my eyes out.

I had one yesterday morning, we went to my daughter's easter bonnet parade and we were sitting in a crowded hall, the noise was unbearable and I was on the verge of tears and I felt so sick and dizzy, I just wanted to get out of there but I couldn't. Then when we got home there was a card from the postman saying we'd have to pick our parcels up from the sorting office and I knew one of them was my baking magazine and sugarcraft gun(my new obsession) and that made me flip I was screaming and swearing and throwing things about for about 10 minutes and then I just started to cry and curled up on the bed for a bit. I always feel so silly and embarassed afterwards, I have a really bad migraine and feel really sick today all because of that crowded hall.

 

[Alpaca]

I'm a shutdown kinda guy. I retreat inwards to the sanctity of my inner realm. Any random thought can trigger it too. Next thing I know, I've spent the last three hours brooding about something that may be stressing me or used to stress me. Sometimes a memory of something that happened in my past can trigger it.

I've only EVER had like 2 or 3 meltdowns. The most recent one is responsible for effectively ending my last relationship. It's not so bad because the relationship was still young and it was, in fact, the cause of the meltdown. I just remember being exhausted afterwards. Like I could hardly keep my eyes open. After that, of course, came the depression. When coupled with my Seasonal Affective Disorder, it means the last three months have been way cruddy for me.

Last two weeks have been pleasant tho. I almost shutdown the other day, but I realized that I was thinking myself into a hole and I was able to prevent it. Which is SO encouraging.

 

[justin_havu]

Meltdown city-central for me. What triggers it is either one major event, or a series of smaller events that stay with me overtime. Once in meltdown mode, I'll scream, yell, slam doors, throw inanimate objects, then go into shutdown mode for anywhere from 24 to 48 hours, maybe even longer, where I'll have thoughts of running away from home, or even suicide. What triggers my meltdowns? Anything from a routine being interrupted to someone touching or moving my things without my consent, to people doing stuff behind my back and me finding out about it later, to being overstimulated in public places, or sometimes even in my home (a group-home setting with the house manager and one other individual.)

 

[As sweet as-pie]

I mainly have meltdowns which can then lead to shutdowns. Pretty much always caused by intense stress relating to change or anxiety. I cry a lot, yell, and I imagine I look a lot like a toddler to the outside world...