Does anyone else hate the term 'meltdown'?

I can't stand it...I think it's such an invalidating term, and as a 21-year-old woman I hate it when it's applied to me and my behaviour because it sounds like people are referring to a toddler tantrum: 'meltdown' sounds too frivolous a term for what is such a distressing experience for many people. However, most autistic people I've spoken to don't seem to mind it and freely apply it to themselves, so I'd be really interested to hear what people on here think.

Anyway...I hope you've all had a lovely bank holiday and that you have a good week. :)

  • So lets make new word up
    dragiment (Dragion I Moment)

  • I'm not against it, its sure easier to say than anxiety attack, and whenever i think anxiety attack I always get a flashback of that time where I called 999 because i thought i was having a heart attack, this was before the nhs 111 service btw which would have spent less resources because in the end it was just dehydration.

  • Call them overloads, either caused by emotions, information or senses, or a combination of the three. I don't mind what they are called just as long as I have them as little as possible!

    Hope you had a good bank holiday too!

  • I'm perfectly happy with it. 

    It accurately describes my experience, like a nuclear meltdown. Pressure builds up for whatever reason, and then I reach breaking point often with tears and panic. 

  • I'm wondering if it comes from nuclear meltdowns, which wouldn't be belittling at all but rather the opposite? The chain reaction gone out of control thing would make some sense, in a way. And being described as a "reactor", not in the technical sense but as in reacting to something rather than just being inappropriate in itself seems quite fitting too, now that I think about it... I don't like the term either though, because it is used mostly in the way you describe. I don't really get them anymore but did as a child and the closest I can compare it with now is a panic attack really, only that the "bad" feeling was so intense that I didn't even know what it was while now it is more distinctively fear. Perhaps a term that implies that comparability to a panic attack would be better because if people understood it that way they would perhaps react differently and judge a little less. 

  • I do not like the term "Meltdown''.

  • Hi Angel Cake thank you for saying you hope we have a good week, may I say that is a very kind thing to say.

    I don’t have such a thing as a meltdown, I get very stuck at times, have a desire to run away,often struggle to keep focus,,the word does sound like an ice cream left out in the sun.or something you do to gold when making an ingot.

    I really hope you have a good week also. Take care.

    x()x