"Meltdown"

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I hate the way certain NTs have used this word.

It means something specific.

It is physically painful for those experiencing it.

It is not just a tantrum.

They need to stop using our word like that.

"Our word".

Meltdowns aren't tantrums, but they are things that are experienced by everyone. Just more frequently by autists, because we operate closer to the edge than normal for most people.

But if you push someone to that point, they're going to have a meltdown, whatever their neurotype. Because they are human.

I've never come across an NT who has them for the reasons we do. I've never even come across an NT who can see in half light, let alone having sensory overload.

They come about because of sensory overload.

No adult should have a tantrum.

No. *Some* meltdowns happen because of sensory overload. Maybe all of yours do. But don't think that your experience is reflective of everyone.

A meltdown is what happens when circumstances overwhelm a person's ability to deal with them. That happens to everybody. It doesn't have to be sensory in nature.

A sensory meltdown and a tantrum are different things.

What is the difference between 'circumstances overwhelming you' and having a tantrum?

Children tantrum when they can't get their own way.

Are you talking about mental illness or healthy, NT people? Because what I define as a 'breakdown' might be what you define as a 'meltdown'.

I think it is unhelpful to use such language when describing mentally healthy, NT people acting badly. It lessens the sympathy towards people who are genuinely in physical or mental distress.

I don't think meltdown is "our" word. I seem to recall seeing that word used to describe general behavior (not autism-specific behavior) long before I ever saw it used to describe an autistic meltdown.

Surely there is one meaning of the word that is specific to autism, but I don't think the word itself is specific to autism.

KT67,

Being overwhelmed by your situation to the point you can no longer function isn't "behaving badly". It doesn't matter what's causing it. Autistic people don't just have *sensory* issues, and a meltdown brought on by the fact that you can't explain what's wrong with you in a stressful situation doesn't cease to be a meltdown because of that.

A breakdown is something different. Meltdowns are time limited in a way breakdowns are not.

Again, autists are not a different species to neurotypicals! The behaviours seen in autistic people under extreme stress are the same ones that are found in neurotypicals under extreme stress *are the same ones found in animals under extreme stress*. We just have fewer reserves to cope, so we hit the wall sooner.

Spoiled brats have tantrums. They are throwing fits because they are being manipulative trying to get things they want and can't have.

Everyone has meltdowns, whether they are nt or Autistic or anything else. As Autistics, we have them a lot more frequently because we get overwhelmed to that point much more frequently. Meltdowns are also not only caused by sensory overload, they can be caused by a thousand different kinds of overload. Sensory overload might be one of the most common causes for us but even we have meltdowns from many different kinds of overload as well.

A neurological breakdown is not a meltdown. Nts have them as well but we are much more susceptible to them because we get overwhelmed so much more severely and so much more often. A breakdown is a huge massive ordeal where the mind and body completely stop functioning in a normal or productive way for a long period of time, like many days or weeks or months or sometimes even years. Some people never recover from them. I never fully recovered from my second massive Autistic burnout breakdown. I don't know if I will ever fully recover from it. It has left me extremely disabled. For an NT a breakdown might happen once or so in a lifetime if at all, where a meltdown might happen fairly often depending on stress levels. For Autistics, we are much more susceptible to breakdowns so even though some of us might not ever have one, it would be much more likely that we would since we live on a much more intense stress threshold.

It is very important that the words meltdown and tantrum not be interchanged or confused. They are not synonymous at all and much damage has been done to the Autistic community because people confuse them. A meltdown is a neurological response to stress overload and it cannot be helped. A tantrum is a bratty behavioral issues which needs to be disciplined.

Meltdown is not a word that belongs to us nor is it exclusive to us. We just experience meltdowns much more frequently and sometimes much more intensely than the nt population. But they also have them.

I still think it's really bad that supposed left wing people are using it in the place of 'tantrum'.

Considering it's mostly caused by something which isn't the person's fault and which is a cause of extreme distress.

People really need to quit using ableist language. YES, some of it is hard. Such as saying 'stupid' or 'crazy' for someone you dislike, hard to give that up. But I only started hearing 'meltdown' and 'triggered' about 5 years ago? Not hard to take them out of your vocab or to use them in more specific ways.

Other people seem to be really bad at using words properly. I've learnt to quit being annoyed at it if there's no moral basis to do so: they're/there/their doesn't matter, specific ocean doesn't matter. But it does matter that if I say 'I had a meltdown' people don't think 'tantrum'.

Yes, it really does matter. I was really angry beyond comprehension when I saw that Autism Speaks had replaced the word Meltdown and started using tantrum instead. Just another thing to add to the list of why I hate them. The damage that does to us is really massive.

And I've decided to correct my dad when he says I had a 'breakdown'.

I had anxiety. It stopped me getting out of bed. I didn't want to die. But I didn't want to live either. I just wanted to be, to exist. Just breathing was a massive thing.

But it lasted a day. It built up into that stress over months then it went into getting better over years and with medical help and knowing I was never going back into that negative situation again.

That's something else. I'm not sure what but it doesn't feel right to call it a 'breakdown' since my dr never did and your description sounds more serious.

Let's see...

Meltdown = Distress + Trigger
Tantrum = Distress + Trigger

Meltdown - Distress = Shutdown?Exhaustion?
Tantrum - Distress = Wanting/Bargain...

Meltdown - Trigger = ?Anxiety?Overwhelm?
Tantrum - Trigger = NONE?Craving?



Hmmm...

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