Why do you have Meltdowns when an NT doesn't?

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NT's have machinery that'll shuffle responsibility for unresolved stuff to other people. Aspies don't. That's enough of a difference to account for meltdowns, isn't it?

This is a meltdown model NOT an exact replication of how it happens to anyone specifically. The significance here is that it IN GENERAL takes MORE of the sensory processes for an autistic person than an NT. It takes MORE of the executive function processes, etc. With respect to emotion... NTs generally do not walk around with emotional processes firing all the time. Autistics have anxiety firing all the time at some mild level at least. (even if they claim they do not, their anxiety is always higher than a typically processing NT)

Now many NTs have more emotional outbursts than I do. This is because of a combination of things. One might be that they are lesser in IQ than my model for a typical NT so have less processing space to start with. Another may be that they have a HUGE amount of emotion for a given situation that I do not have. It is not likely that they are working as hard as me for executive function or sensory processing.

I do not understand the truth (or the relevance for that matter) to this statement. Generalizing in this way about NTs is ridiculous. I have many NT friends who would and could not do this. Aspies also do have this ability as evidenced by this forum which has some amount of Aspies blaming NTs for everything that has gone wrong in their lives without taking responsibility for themselves. I would say that trait exists pretty equally in both neuro-types.

The diagrams show exactly this. In the NT diagram, there is no emotion (AKA anxiety/stress) happening at all in a given moment whereas an Autistic person will have emotion all the time (always on). The NT also has less processing for sensory stuff (this is the sensory thing you mention) and executive function too. All of these things give the NT a lot more free space. Even compared to a Gifted/ASD person the NT wins due to the extra processing that is required.

Simple and to the point.

It brought to mind a car analogy - every car has a different idle rate. The NT idle rate is low - there isn't a whole lot going on, very littel gas consumption until someone steps on the pedal and the power is needed. The autism idle rate is much much higher - there is always a considerable gas consuption, even while standing still. When the power is needed and the pedal is pushed, it is very easy to run out of fuel.

I have a very hard time wrapping my brain around the idea that NT's do not always have something going on in their head. They have the ability to block out the myriad of sounds around them everyday. In a conversation, they aren't distracted by the air vent blowing overhead, or screensaver or the other people coming and going around them. They aren't making any sort of conscious effort to read body language or replay their responses before speaking to make sure they are apropriate. And they aren't fighting to stay focused on the topic at hand rather than letting themselves get pulled into thinking about whatever current project they are stuck on.

It sounds like most people have a very quiet, boring day. But, that quiet gives them reserves for whatever they may need them for. Adding stress on top of an already stressed system results in meltdowns or, with much practice and determination, inhuman levels of tolerance. Added processing capacity, if you will. I think I still have meltdowns - especially in emotionally charged personal situations but I think I have expanded my capacity for 'out there' input - on the job, in public - impersonal situations. I actually use my 'fantasy world' as a redirection strategy. When input gets to be overwhelming, I can go to my fantasy world - my brain always wants to anyway - and it steals all my focus long enough to retain control. Of course, this doesn't really work in the middle of a conversation...

As always, interesting stuff kfisherx. Keep it coming!

I used to have high anxiety. Now I have very low anxiety. Lower than the usual NT. My galvanic skin response showed the change exactly when it happened. They were measuring it for some stuff at MIT, and when the change happened, it went from being some of the highest stress levels they were dealing with, to being so low it was barely measurable -- much lower than usual. The shift happened with the onset of a medical condition, and I'm pretty sure my anxiety is generally less than the average person. When I used to feel that super-high anxiety, it showed up on that testing, and now it doesn't. I truly am just incredibly calm most of the time. I experience the discomfort of overload, but rarely the anxiety. It manifests more as "brain pain" than as anything emotional. Some parts of overload can scare me, but that's different than the ongoing anxiety I used to have. Overload now happens without so much (if any) anxiety attached. (And the anxiety that does happen is so tiny compared to how it used to be that it may as well barely even exist.) Right now I'm painfully overloaded and wish I could go lie down, but not anxious in the slightest. I suspect a shutdown in the works eventually, though. Too many words the past day or two.

What is this "free space" of which you speak? The diagram shows nothing except someone's unfounded speculation. Like I said earlier, I don't think this model matches up to reality.

The way in which the different types of input are allocated seems arbitrary. I understand that it's meant as a general model, but it gives the impression that the amount of each (emotion, recall, new input and attention) can be accurately measured. Perhaps it would seem more accurate to me if the different types of input were represented as gradients fading into each other than as separate blocks.

And perhaps I am bothered by this because I don't feel that the model is entirely accurate in representing what happens in a meltdown. In my experience, all other input except emotion is obliterated. I don't see meltdowns as a cup-too-full phenomenon but rather as a sudden overflow of one kind of input, namely the anxiety and emotional kind, that is usually brought on by some small but unbearable trigger. It's not always the case for me that there has been a buildup of too much input, though it sometimes does happen that way. Sometimes it's very sudden and doesn't seem to have built up. At other times a meltdown is caused by stress that has built up over weeks.

I am not convinced that a gifted person on the spectrum has more room to process non-intellectual input like anxiety and other emotions (though you don't present it that way, but as having more room to process everything else). Is it a fact that gifted aspies are less likely to have meltdowns? I am not gifted, but my intelligence has never helped me when I was overcome by the overwhelming stress that led to a meltdown.

On a technical note, the text is very hard to read.

Thank you for taking on the work of trying to describe in concrete terms something that is so difficult to explain.

I am not diagnosed with an ASD (although I suspect one) but I do get what I call meltdowns and sometimes what seem to be shutdowns (I had not heard of shutdowns before so was not aware of what they were before I read about them and thought...oh I get that lol) and I would say the diagrams are fairly accurate.

I have long tried to explain to people that I am not just a bit annoyed about the noise or just a bit upset over something and have lost my temper...it's more that I get a sense of overload as though I am unable to process whatever is going on. It is not over one thing though, there is usually a build up of things before a meltdown occurs.

Can I make the people I try to explain it to understand what I mean though...no. Usually they just pat me on the arm and say well breathe and try not to get so upset...don't take it so personally or ignore the noise.

AAAAAGGGGGGGGGGGGGGGGGGHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHH

Their attempt to comfort me just seems to make it worse. The best thing they can do is leave me alone and let it fizzle out on its own, which it will.

I support this. I do very much alike.

Im sorry but the colour contrast between background and text wasnt enough for me to focus on it at the speed it changed. Perhaps consider more accessible colourscheme for people with visual difficulties. I have no idea on the content as I couldnt see it.

I find models rarely perfectly represent what they are intended to represent. To some extent they simplify the explanation to better establish the core concept. Once the core concept is established, it's much easier to go into nuanced, more detailed explanations.

This model is pretty incomplete, but it gets at the core of what causes meltdowns for at least some people. My own perceptions of my meltdowns are more complex than the diagrams, but I can't really fully explain them.

This tends to be the case for me- I have a huge amount of emotion for some situations that most people don't have. and very little for some that they do. I think probably this isn't a "meltdown" at all, so maybe I just don't have them.

I'm curious to know how the project is progressing. Has it changed as a result of the responses here?

Is there any difference between a meltdown and an outburst?

Sorry missed this. Still rolling data into the project and adding new content. I will show you guys the changes as I have new material. This is a very part time project in my life right now but one that is moving steadily forward...