Published on 12, July, 2020
The title says (asks) it all really. I keep seeing these terms but they are new to me (since joining this forum and wrong planet forum). Nobody seems to explain them, its as if it's taken for granted that everyone will already know what they mean.
I have picked up that 'stimming' means some form of self-stimulation and that hand-flapping is a classic 'stimming' example. I am pretty sure I don't do any 'stimming' unless keeping clenched fists a lot of the time counts?
As for meltdowns, I get very frustrated and angry when things I'm doing don't go right. I feel very tense around my chest and in my head, and I can sometimes swear very loudly when things get on top of me (usually when there's nobody else around to offend). Is this 'meltdown'?
Hi Technophobe23. Good question, and a good answer from Longman.
I get the same as you. If I'm doing something, and something goes wrong, I am instantly frutrated, I can get destructively angry, and my language knows no bounds. I also have full-on meltdowns. I think the difference is that if something gets me going into a rant, once the initial energy is spent I can generally get control of myself. Like Longman says, I can go off somewhere and do one of my chosen things while I calm down. These episodes can last from a few minutes to several hours.
The full meltdown is the one that frightens me - when the 'beast' takes over and I can't do a thing about it, it has to burn out in it's own time untill I can regain control. It takes anything from a few days to a few weeks to come back from those, occasionaly months. It's just as hard dealing with the aftermath, I have to apologise, deal with my shame and contrition, possibly put right some damage I've caused, all the while feeling completely drained, and it isn't even 'me' who did it. It's just plain horrible.
My 'stimming' moves are much like Longman's.