Meltdown vs. Emotional Break- Down

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Is there a difference between a "meltdown" and an "emotional breakdown." I find that I very frequently I have an "emotional breakdown" from my emotions or someone screaming at me more often than I do a traditional "sensory overload." Would an "emotional breakdown" be considered a sensory overload of sort and is it related to Asperger's Syndrome? I find that the end result is pretty much the same but the cause is different. So what would one call this?

It might just be an issue of terminology. To me, there are "tantrums" which are purposeful behaviors with the goal of getting a desired outcome. There are meltdowns, which can be cause by sensory overload, emotional overload, or physical overload, and look much like a tantrum, but they are not purposeful and not controllable. As my kids' neuro refers to them "a bundle of firing neurons" and then there is "shutdown" which also can be caused by sensory overload, emotional overload, or physical overload, but look nothing like a tantrum. They look more like some kind of catatonic state. My son has had meltdowns, but has almost never tantrumed and has never shut down to my knowledge. My daughter has had all three, but she primarily shuts down. When it is severe (hardly ever), she is mute and has "waxy flexibility" which means she basically moves the way you position her and stays that way to some extent. Not to the extent that I have seen in true catatonics, but you can move her with no resistence whatsover. It appears that she doesn't even really realize you are doing it.

So in other words, I am not sure what you mean by "emotional meltdown." I would consider an emotional meltdown what happens to me when I sometimes start crying and I have a really hard time stopping. I am in control of my behavior when this happens, just not in control of my crying.

All 3 types are a form of response to sensory or mental processing overload. To me, and emotional meltdown would be when you get really weepy, or uncontrolled crying, or at least feel like you want to cry, and yes, I've had those. I also have shutdowns and meltdowns. As another poster mentioned a meltdown is more like a tantrum, but uncontrollable, with a lot of frustration, anger/rage, and can include some crying, and a shutdown for me is to speak little or not at all to people, and to avoid them if possible. Since I now live alone I might seem to be in a permanent shutdown state, but that's not the case. In my normal, not shutdown state, I do talk to the neighbors on those rare occasions when I see them, or at least will wave. I also talk to people when I am out running errands, and will talk to family members on the phone or if they stop by. I just happen to be a non social, introverted hermit type of person, so I can look like I am in shutdown mode, even when I'm not. I have far fewer meltdowns of any kind now that I live alone, as people were my main trigger. My life is far less stressful and much more peaceful now that I live alone. I never want to live with others again. Alone is definitely better for me.

My brain loves to cut things up and analyse. I am a black and white thinker. I spent years post dx trying to work out what was neurological and what was psychological.

It nearly drove me insane. In the end I found peace, for in the end I came to see myself like a flower with many stems, which included psychological and neurological stems. When the storms of life blew strong, I would be shaken, the one (AS) effected the other (emotional) equally. Like in the Blake poem "Joy and woe are woven fine'