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

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I remember that I had my last meltdown when I was about to lose my health insurance because I didn't have enough work hours to keep my coverage going. I just remember feeling a frustation and an outrage that I could live in a society that would deny someone health coverage. However the reason why neurotypical people do not have meltdowns is that they view access to healthcare as a privelege and not a right. It is simply socially acceptabe in this country that healthcare should only be available to those that can afford it so unless there is rioting in the streets why should anyone have a meltdown?

Eventually I was able to get healthcare coverage through welfare but I had to endure the stigma of being called a freeloader from my coworkers.

It's really funny when all of these right wing Republican and church groups call me on the phone and insist that any health care reform is some sort of Communist conspiracy as well as unbiblical. What these right wingers fail to realize is that in Ancient Israel the people paid tithes which was a 10 percent tax based on your ability to pay and in return the priesthood guaranteed healthcare to everyone regardless of whether you were rich or poor. However the American system states that if your health care premium is over 100 percent of your income then you do not have access to healthcare but if you are rich your insurance premium may be only 1 percent of your income so you are entitled to a good deal. Everytime I try to explain this fact I am immediately dismissed as being mentally ill because I am trying to mix Communism with the bible.

Yeah, I agree. People simply do not make sense on this topic.

You can have a meltdown from positive emotions?

All it says is "emotions" not "negative emotions". I have never and can't imagine anyone melting down or even getting upset because they are too full of happiness. In fact that's impossible by definition, since if you are melting down you're not happy.

And if by "emotions" they mean "negative emotions" then "positive emotions" must factor in somewhere, maybe as a counterbalance.

This might have some limited validity, but we're so far behind in knowing how the brain works of anybody that I doubt this is really the entirety of how such a complex phenomenon works.

I really only have meltdowns when I'm drunk anymore and instead of being angry it's uncontrollable sobbing and crying loudly about my emotions. Sometimes I wish I had the angry kind. Less embarrassing.

To come to think of it NTs have "meltdowns" all the time when they get drunk. Maybe they should study the effects of alcohol for some insights. Alcohol is a GABA agonist. GABA is an inhibitory chemical, but it inhibits a lot of thought processes. Alcohol is known for releasing inhibitions. It literally does this by inhibiting inhibitions.

Interestingly I've never had a fully out-of-control meltdown. Not that I can remember. When I was younger the angry, yelling kind happened more often but I was always in control enough to avoid striking anybody, although I often had to channel that into "posturing" i.e. for example swinging or throwing with the intention of missing the target.

Although I've heard meltdowns mean no control so are those even meltdowns or are they mini-meltdowns? I suppose there's nothing that's pure that doesn't have reduced versions of it.

Also to come to think of it if maybe the main part is not the anger or the lashing out but the loss of control. Anyone ever have not a meltdown but some kind of uncontrollable pleasure-seeking episode, or maybe a gigglefest?

I once knew a guy. I don't know if he was on the spectrum but a lot fits. He mentioned maxing out his parents' credit card to the point where they lost their house and had to move. Could there be a positive feelings version of a meltdown where the brain becomes so overwhelmed by positive emotion you lose control and go into an automatic pleasure-seeking phase?

And if that's the case then meltdowns no matter their form are something that NTs sometimes experience. It's just if it's an anger meltdown the NT has anger management issues. If it's a sadness meltdown the NT is suffering episodes of hysteria. Sadness shutdown=depression. A pleasure-seeking episode would be a manic episode or even a state of being actively engaged in an addiction, such as shopping addiction or gambling addiction.

And if that's the case why not see if maybe some of the same techniques used for NTs might work for us, just maybe a little more intense. Or maybe more logic/detailed-oriented therapy sessions. Back when I had anger issues I knew if I ever went to anger management it would do no good, because it's just too "touchy-feely".

Or maybe that's really it. Maybe we have meltdowns because we don't understand the methods our society uses to educate NTs about emotional management. Makes sense considering we tend to have trouble with anything that isn't taught academically, and emotions definitely aren't except maybe briefly in a high school health class and even then they still talk about them in too vague of terms.

Overtime I've self-analyzed my emotions and I've realized that things people treat as single emotions actually represent many different ways of feeling that are just lumped together under the same word. This has helped me to control my emotions better. If I can get obsessively focused on something why not let it be happiness?