Meltdowns

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People keep talking about them...but I have had less then 10 in my life...
I was always told it was wrong to go to that stage of anger-that was my above and beyond and I should learn to contol myself...
And in many ways I have, as I am always blamed for whatever I say or do during a meltdown...
So I control it and repress the rage
(Being aspie isn't a good thing or even a thing in my house-its an excuse)

hmmm, i have not had many since the teen years, when even younger they would occure both at home, school and around friends freqently. It was looked down upon, I realized it was time to stop freakin as much once the teen years came and have been better since. Its rough, I wonder how many still have this problem in adulthood. Ya man, im with ya i have not had a ton eather, but i think i beat your 10 b4 I was 10, heh. I can imagine in adulthood its bad for your health to freak like that, but probably bad to repress as well... heh... good luck bro!

thanks man

I haven't been able to figure out precisely what a meltdown is.
I get confused everytime the subject comes up.

From what I've read at WP,
it seems to mean so many different things to different people.
For some it can mean a fit of rage, for others it can mean an incapacitating sensory
overload. I just don't get how all of these extremely different behaviors can be
lumped together as some sort of indicator of AS.

I agree with you guys, I’ve also had probably less than ten in my lifetime. In fact I never heard the term “meltdown” applied to AS before I joined WP. I saw the term used by posters on WP so frequently that I re-read the DSM to see if it was a feature (and clarify what it was). Funny…I’ve worked with hundreds of extremely high functioning autistics in my life and don’t recall more than a handful of incidents that would remotely qualify as meltdowns.

I see...interesting

officially,specialists use the word rage instead of meltdown,meltdown is a word that has been used mostly by the autist/aspergist community.

it probably affects the lesser mild? and severer aspergists and HF/MF/LF kanners autists,a lot more than the extremely high functioning aspergists,they do not have the same,or at least the same severity of-problems as lower functioning aspergists and HF/MF/LF autists who might not be able to understand how they are feeling,what they are feeling, have problems with changes in routine,can not tolerate things being out of moved out of it's order,they might be non verbal or mute,they might not know how to start sentances,only able to answer questions,they might have sensory difficulties..all of these and a lot more than what am can think of now, is part of what can set off a meltdown,extremely high functioning aspergists tend to be affected mostly by the social problems,and have better coping skills.

A meltdown is a loss of control [it can be headbanging and biting flesh and attacking self and becoming non verbal,to shouting,swearing,hitting out at people...there are lots of different types of meltdown]

Repressing the rage only makes it sit and fester and get worse and worse - can you move away from your folks? They sound like prime losers to me.

ahh man, his parents (like mine) just dont understand, and cant understand, their generation never heard of AS or HFA, they want whats best for their son, they r not loosers

I had a few meltdowns in 4th and 5th grade. They happened when an instance of roughhousing or friendly teasing became too much for me to handle.

I can remember one time having a snowball fight with some kids. When it turned into a contest to see who could stuff the most snow down the other person’s back I wanted them to stop but they weren’t taking me seriously. After one of them stuffed snow down my shirt I had this big adrenalin surge where my hands started shaking and I felt kind of light headed. I hauled off and attacked the smallest kid, threw him down and pushed his head into the snow. Attacking someone my own size just wouldn’t be as satisfying (nothing’s worse than impotent rage). The worst part was that the kid I attacked wasn’t even the main offender. He was just guilty of association.

One thing I remember about meltdowns was that the adrenaline stayed with me the rest of the day. It was like I couldn’t relax after I had one. The few times I actually had a fight I felt jittery and sick to my stomach for a long time after.

There has only been two... maybe three times in my whole life where I've lost full control of myself... and I am running on pure emotional overload.

Overall, my emotions are much more low-key than others.

I guess you could say I had one today. I don't know what happened, other than I shut down for two or three hours.

I didn't eat the whole day. I think I was stressed out from all the disorder around here.


I once told my teacher off a few years before I was diagnosed. And once I shut down in class and our principal told me to leave the school grounds or he was going to call the cops on me. Around that time I only had been diagnosed with ADHD.

I have had very few 'rage' meltdowns during my life. But I think I probably would have had more if I had been born in more recent times. Instead, I was born during an era when physical punishment was perfectly acceptable. Any serious 'misbehaviour' in my family of origin, resulted in a whipping with a willow stick. As a child I therefore learnt at a very early age to repress any feelings of frustration or anger. As an adult, it took a long time to unlearn this, and to express such feelings in appropriate ways.

The end result is that I have very good control over my more negative emotions. As soon as I start to express these feelings, I 'turn the tap off' almost immediately - otherwise it would gush full blast. Then I use internal 'self talk' and analysis to work my way through it (process it on an intellectual level) until I feel calmer. Doing a physical activity to the point of exhaustion helps too - it rids the body of the excess adrenalin. And of course, it helps a lot if I can get right away from other people for a while.

NTs often advise each other to allow oneself to fully experience the emotions and work through it that way, but personally I think that doesn't apply to autistic people, and would be counterproductive.

Anyway, these days, where physical punishment is generally viewed (quite correctly in my opinion) as assault and child abuse, AS children probably don't learn to repress their anger and frustration at a very young age. Instead, they learn a certain amount of self-control gradually throughout their childhood and adolescence. And I guess some have more difficulty than others. My little AS family members, and especially one with PDD-NOS, have major meltdowns on a regular basis, although they are becoming less frequent as they get older.

My personal definition of a meltdown, is when a person becomes totally overwhelmed by their emotions, and is unable to control them, and includes sensory overloads. For me, a sensory overload results in a mix of overwhelming emotions - usually frustration, anger, fear, etc., and an incredibly strong need to get right away, be by myself, and withdraw into my internal universe.

no not for a little while
being myself is not acceptable here though, and that makes it impossible to like myself
when everything I do from being aspie is looked down on

Back when I was in band I at least came close during every practice (mild Asperger's and a militaristic leadership don't mix). These meltdowns were actually what lead me to be diagnosed with Asperger's Syndrome.

Since I left Band I've had almost none. But that's because I've been teaching myself that stress is a choice. When something doesn't work out you can get either stressed out about it, or you can just calmly fix it. I simply choose the latter. Not only does this positively affect me but also people around me. I'm sure the Pizza Pan workers were happy I didn't get angry because they didn't notice my online order until I walked in to pick it up. They gave me the standard apology of a free 2-liter, so my mood actually IMPROVED, during a situation that would cause most NTs to go crazy.

i think the only times i have a real meltdown are during confrontations.... say with BFs or say my supervisor (type) at work...

handling arguments in relationships has always been hard for me... ive never felt they listen or are respectful (this was all prior to my knowledge of AS ect) and i never felt i was given a fair chance and i always got pinned into a corner cause i cant speak very linearly when emotional (so im told)... and it's just bad... ill say terrible things when hard pressed and cant seem to get my point across... things just get raw-er and raw-er... and i usually just just go balistic in my inane emotional rational for justifying how/why i feel... never have had someone ever actually understand me in a fight like this... so i always just give up cause im afraid of what ill say next. i usually have to leave the area (house) and just go cry about it and rock... and apologize for my behavior later.......

same-ish thing goes for the workplace... only it's different as you dont really fight with your supervisor, so much as take their criticisms/critiques... it's just hard for me cause when they misinterpret WHY i did something... it's really hard to get a word in to explain yourself... i usually just nod and manage to slink away before blubbering over my inaptitude

only other time might just be during a depressed state... but i dont really qualify that as a meltdown per se... just that null state that lacks inertia to do anything about it.

meltdowns at least seem to clear up... run their course