What is a "meltdown"

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I'm new here and I've heard lots of people was talk about having what they call "meltdowns". What does this mean exactly. Are they like anxiety/panic attacks, or are they like seizures, or something else entirely. I don't mean to be nosy, and I don't want to embarrass anyone, but I'm curious what the medical definition for it is?

In my brain there is two kinds of melt-downs.

1. Anxiety related which is normal even for people without the autism.

Avoidance behavioral results and re-exposure conditioning is relevant to increase tolerability.

2. Sensory overload which has psychological components manifesting in the experience.

This can be dealt with similarly but if the neurology is going haywire while the dynamic between the neurological and psychological concepts is creating the psychological state this might reduce but the neurological manifestations I don't know about. Maybe it is like a silent seizure but not the same and one learns to adapt in it. Overload related melt-down. The mind is the brain!

Meltdowns occur when people with autism have little control over their emotions. The areas in the brain that control emotional regulation may not always work for us.
If someone has really low tolerance of sensory information it can often lead to a meltdown.
Meltdowns for me are a combination of sensory stress and anger built up over a long period of time and I just break. Or sometimes it can just happen suddenly. It really depends on the trigger.
I don't like NT's using the word meltdown because they actually don't have that difference in the brain. NT meltdowns seem to be people overreacting and yelling and stuff.
I don't think meltdowns and anxiety attacks are the same because anxiety is about fear and meltdowns usually always have to do with anger. Even when they make a person cry it's about anger. That's hard to explain but meltdowns aren't triggered by sadness.

Meltdowns usually involve screaming, violent outbursts, self harm, crying, etc.
Then there are those that try to hold them in so they manifest in the head and chest. But this isn't healthy. It can lead to a rapid heart beat, short breaths, convulsions and shut downs, which happens when you become unresponsive to the environment. You can't talk, feel really sleepy and no longer feel stressed out.

I don't know I will have to ask the behaviorist. To complicated.

In my opinion they are another name for temper tantrums. Mainly it is used in place of the words temper tantrums when you are talking about someone older that is too old to be seen as having a temper tantrum. It is when someone becomes overwhelmed and they fail to control their upset and anger.

It is definitely not always about anger. Sometimes it is about immense fear. Like when a dog is cornered by someone with a stick. That is often what it feels like to me. Sometimes it is triggered by a misunderstanding.. I then become desperate to not be misunderstood, and the more desperate I become, the more I am misunderstood.

I read a paper that suggested that there was no fundamental difference (neurologically at least) between an autistic meltdown and a non-autistic meltdown. I'd have to research and figure out where that study was...