Published on 12, July, 2020
Hi everyone :)
I have a question to ask and you might think it is silly.
I understand and can identify with 90% of what is posted on this forum but something keeps tripping me up. I don't **really know** what people mean when they say they had a 'meltdown'.
I can only assume that I do not get these? I am on a lot of medication that makes it hard to really feel any feelings, so maybe I am just too numb to experience this.
Anyway, if anyone can share their experience of what happens/means when someone talks about meltdowns that would be helpful.
(Is it the same as if, for example, you said a child was having a meltdown? eg. throwing a tantrum)
Thanks in advance and sorry if this is a stupid/obvious question.
Autumn_Trees said:Anyway, if anyone can share their experience of what happens/means when someone talks about meltdowns that would be helpful.
It helps to understand the definitions of these terms as they are often confused.
Meltdowns:
https://www.psychologytoday.com/us/blog/the-forgotten-women/202307/what-is-an-autistic-meltdown
According to the National Autistic Society in the U.K., an autistic meltdown is an intense response to an overwhelming sensory or emotional stimuli. When this happens, the autistic person temporarily loses all control of their behavior.
Burnout
https://www.spectrumnews.org/news/autistic-burnout-explained/ Autistic burnout’ is the intense physical, mental or emotional exhaustion, often accompanied by a loss of skills. With a meltdown you basically shut down and with burnout you can function a little but it is painful.
Burnout can come in stages as it builds while a meltdown tends to be abrupt and total.
I've suffered levels of burnout throughout my life but luckily not a meltdown that I can recall. For me it feels like more and more weight being put on my shoulders and my mind starts to reach for the coping mechanisms which tends to make things worse as I'm no longer focusing on what is causing the burnout.
Iain this was such a useful list of links, thank you.
I can confirm I have had the autistic burnout before - I had to take a lot of time off work and have had to have some special measures put in place on my return to work life so I can function.It isn't fun to get pushed to the point that you're unable to actually put one foot in front of the other.
My last big burnout came from being promoted from the position of a technician in a bank to head of IT Support with 26 people reporting to me and 45,000 office users around the world under our support.
It took a month but as I was without managenet mentoring / support it quickly spiralled and the stress grew to the point I couldn't sleep, barely took time to eat and was tense as a board. I wasn't aware of my autism back them and with hindsight I would never have accepted the position had I known.
Luckily I got a job in IT security at another bank back in my home town on a 35 hour week just completing security access requests - bliss! That lasted for 3 months until the first bank called and asked me to come back as a technician as almost all the team had left and the management had been sacked. I got a 60% rise which made it worth while.