Terminology question, please: What is a "meltdown"

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Hi everyone,

I'm Steve and very new here. I also first recently learned that I have AS (self-diagnosed, but confident of that diagnosis). While reading the messages at these forums, I have seen the term "meltdown' several times. However, I really don't know what it means and I couldn't glean the meaning easily from the contexts of the messages where I saw the term.

What is a meltdown? Is it about feeling overwhelmed? Sensory overload? A need to escape from a situation?

These may be basic newbie questions, but I did look through the forums to try to find the answer first. If anyone can offer any definitions or even some characteristics of "meltdowns," please do so.

I am 44 years old. Part of my difficulty in defining terms like "meltdown" is that AS is really just one component of the mix I'm dealing with and I don't want to jump to any conclusions that would cause me even more distorted thinking. The other stuff that makes me tick includes:

--having bipolar disorder type II (for me, this is mostly recurring depression with some occasional elevated mood),
--recovering from sexual abuse by people outside my family from ages 1 to 11,
--being an adult child of an alcoholic parent who was also sexually abused as a child and suffers from bipolar disorder and a history of severe substance abuse, and
--having grown up in a setting where there was a lot of substance abuse and mental illness (bipolar disorder and paranoid schizophrenia) in my extended family.

So here, I am, learning about AS and accepting myself as an aspie, and being determined to make the most of my life.

If anyone can explain meltdowns a bit, I would appreciate it. Thanks very much!

I think you have the right basic idea of what the term means...

sensory or emotional overload that results in a "shut-down"(like when a computer crashes when you try and push it to hard) or as physical reactions...yelling,throwing things,increased 'stimming',crying,etc.It's different for each individual.As a kid,I personally hated loud noises and would never "melt-down" by yelling but silently crying,head banging or cutting.I have had a few times in the past few years when I have had a melt-down at work that resulted in yelling...it was very embarassing but I felt like my head would explode if I didnt yell and I couldn't escape the environment at the time(I take a "bathroom break" when I can,if I feel like I'm going to explode.)

Well in normal people it is the emotive response of what happens when their body temperature rises by way of stress or emotional factors.

Also known as 'losing one's head'

That's the way I understand it relating to NTs.

But for aspies or auties I think it is more of an emotional break, a compliation of factors, a short termed extreme depression, the feeling of becoming overwhelemed to the point of stimming. something along those lines.

This is only my opinion.

A meltdown for us means that my son appears low functioning autistic for a period of time...up to 15 minutes. It does not happen frequently, but when it does it's something he can not control it at all. He can not look at me or respond to any of my words. He spins and walks in circles. He'll count out loud or sing very loudly.

When he comes out of it and I ask him what happened, he'll say that his brain shut down. He is usually very calm afterwards.

This is a fairly common question on WP... You might want to have a look through the other forums.

In the meantime I do have a couple of links to my blog where I talk about it from an adults and a child's perspective - you might find them interesting.

Part 1
http://life-with-aspergers.blogspot.com ... -view.html

Part 2
http://life-with-aspergers.blogspot.com ... ew_14.html

I'm not sure if I have meltdowns. I think not.

How can I tell a meltdown apart from a mood swing, an anxiety overload or getting mad at the "last straw" of an already stressful situation?

Thanks, everyone. Your responses are very helpful and exactly what I was hoping to receive. Thank you!