Aspie Meltdown?

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I saw a little autistic boy while I was at a wedding, and later on in the night he was having one of the sensory meltdowns, and crying loudly (according to his parents)... I found it odd because my little brother is autistic and he only had one of these meltdowns, and that was when daddy was there (he is really attached to my dad), and that was not due to sensory issues, and he quickly outgrew that behavior.

Are meltdowns just one of those things that a select few aspies and autistic people (aussies?) have? I never had them, I mean, there are times when I have to be by myself because I feel like I am overwhelmed, but it is not often and I never cry (although I cry when I cannot find something I own, or if something I own and like very much breaks)

But are meltdowns things only a certain number of aspies/aussies have?

my name is Laura I'm currently getting tested for asperger erm I have a lot of the traits as for meltdowns I don't cry in front of people the only reason I would cry is if somebody has annoyed me and they keep on doing it and I cant get away from the situation I cry not because I'm upset only because I'm very angry and I don't want to hurt the person I'm angry with or harm myself so I find my self crying and screaming usually swear words as well and hitting something like a door or the arm of the sofa I would never lash out at another person but I will storm off if I can get away from the situation I'm in and I will take my self to my room to calm down my melt downs don't usually last for more then an hour then I will still be mad but I will have calmed my self down I normally tap my fingers or make a fist and bite into my hand softly or bite all my nails off I will also listen to some soothing music to calm my self down I'm not sure if this is classed as self stimming and would this be classed as having a melt down could anyone please help me out on this I would be great full thank you

I'll have shutdowns, but it's pretty rare for me to go into a full meltdown.

I actually had a shutdown last Saturday, for reasons I will not mention.

My melt downs are usually just me yelling shut up really loudly at someone or in more severe cases, non stop loud and aggressive talking, no arm flailing or strange noises involved. (Happens about 2-3 times a year, I'm 15)

I shut down more often than I would like to admit. But I don't meltdown more than once or twice a year

My sensory sensitivity causes me pain and confusion and eventually, anger outbursts. So yes I do have those types of meltdowns. I have emotional meltdowns too that are just from a lot of stress building up or if my body is weak because I just can't keep the tolerance levels up.

So people who have higher sensitivity to any of the senses and usually many of them, will have a more outward meltdown. It has a lot to do with the awareness of your actions. An autistic person may lash out because they haven't learnt the behaviour is seen as disruptful in our society.
When I'm really under sensory stress I would act out like that too.

I don't have meltdowns anymore, but i do have shutdowns, last one i had was in public.

i have meltdowns... but majorly have them in my own house... never really out in public. but I may have had public ones when i was a child.

I find this a quite good description, except for the second to last sentence.

I don't think that people lash out because they don't know its disruptive. I know when I meltdown (which is currently very often but almost always at home), I am to some degree aware that I'm harming people and I hate myself for that and end up melting down harder because of that.

What it is in me though, is that the bombardment of sensory inputs and emotional overwhelming, and everything shuts off my ability to control. I know I shouldn't do it, but I can't stop screaming. Just processing everything else, which is something I don't have control over, removes all ability to have any choice about what's going on. I can't choose to shutdown instead of meltdown.


I do think that people with more severe sensory issues meltdown and shutdown more on average than people who don't have the sensory aspect.

As for the original question. The levels that it requires for various people to hit meltdown are drastically different, and the levels of stress in our daily lives are drastically different. We seem to vary from multiple daily meltdowns on average to once in their lifetime. It's a question of what your breaking point is, whether you can control if you hit it, and how often you hit it.

So, everyone has a breaking point, including NTs, but some spectrumintes have one far more commonly reached than most people do.

Read my last sentence. I was going to go into 'althoughhh...there are some of us with such severe issues that we have less control over our behaviour.' I think they are some who aren't aware though, the more severe type of autism. You can try and learn various ways to not lash out at people. Running away from them and sort of keeping it all internal. I suppose it has a lot to do with how you melted down as a child. Sometimes stress brings out regressive behaviour. I seem to explode away from people. I think my meltdowns have performance anxiety. I always think about being arrested or having people say I'm over reacting so I try to have them away from people. I've not always been that lucky though.

80% of that is me just guessing.

I have had very few full on meltdowns in my life. I tend to handle stress very well, though. I've gotten close more times than I can count but I've been able to at least contain it to internal raging instead of a horrible breakdown.

That makes sense. I was just thinking how you said that originally suggested things about meltdowns being more stoppable than they are in people who are high functioning.



I find it interesting that this isn't true in my case to the best of my knowledge. I was solidly a shut everything out when I lose control person until a few years ago. Emotional abuse swapped me from solidly shutdowns only to currently having meltdowns most days a week as well as shutdowns. I was always the overly polite little girl as a kid, got awards for that.



My meltdowns definitely seem to have performance anxiety. Without any amount of controlling it myself, I rarely meltdown around anyone other than my boyfriend. I'll shutdown and go nonverbal, I'll at times meltdown, but I'll not have the multi-hour sobbing fits that my meltdowns at home are.

Unfortunately I've been being pushed farther and farther into the meltdowns occurring in public despite their performance anxiety. I really wish I could take my kitty out in public with me to prevent the meltdowns (and alert me to migraines and things). She's able to swap some of my meltdowns into shutdowns, and most of them that occur in public are ones that would be able to be swapped by her and I'd rather go nonverbal for 3 hours than sob uncontrollably for one.

I have meltdowns as well 95% of the time I hold it in, and let it out when I get home.

Can't be bothered to quote people. This is how bad my ADHD is today.

I remember crying when I was younger. I only lashed out at my sister who provoked my meltdowns and I remember trying to control it by grabbing her arms.

But with worse sensory issues and with less control over my emotions due to just having more stress or a very drug addled brain, I can't always hold in meltdowns.

Also, I do feel better when they're over...after I start shaking and can regain some movement.

I didn't mean high functioning people don't have meltdowns I just meant they're less likely to hit their head on the ground repetitively if they know they could get a brain injury. And for those that want to to fake NT they will do their best to not show any autistic behaviour. I was not very good at faking NT. I would forget scripts, not see body language and couldn't construct a clear sentence. So I decided to just be myself, just meltdown away from people so they don't want to know what going on or so I don't get arrested or kicked out of venues.

This explains me very well. I usually have the meltdown before the shutdown. Then after the meltdown I completely shutdown because I am absolutely drained. With the lack of ability to control what's around me, my stressful situation intensifying, etc. I just need the emotional shutdown to help assist recovery.

To the question at hand, as many people stated. All of us have differing reactions to differing stimuli.

I do. I know that my NT peers/colleagues, in our professional positions, etc. are able to handle routine stress better than myself. At the same time, I am often the one to be really stoic, even cold. However, in private, unbeknownst to them, I can meltdown.

Even when I'm feeling physically unwell, I can start crying hard and uncontrollably. (I know most adult NTs do not do this)! Last night I had a fever - - - when I woke up I could not stop crying.