
Social interactions and mass events can be exhausting for autistic people, and lead to sensory overload or meltdown or shutdown reactions. In contrast, an autistic meltdown is not manipulative and arises from distress. Tantrums often have manipulative motives, when the child learns that he can get what he wants if he cries or screams. Unlike a tantrum, a meltdown is involuntary. The shutdown may vary in duration and intensity, and last from a few minutes to several hours. During the shutdown, the person may have difficulty processing information, making decisions, or communicating with others. It is used as a coping mechanism for autistic people with the pain they feel due to being overwhelmed. The shutdown is usually caused by sensory overload, social exhaustion, or emotional distress. In contrast to a meltdown, which often manifests as an intense emotional outburst, a shutdown manifests as an inward withdrawal, when the individual becomes non-communicative and seems detached. A temporary withdrawal from social interaction characterizes the shutdown and includes a decrease in communicative and cognitive abilities. Comparison to other behaviors Īutistic shutdown, like a meltdown, is another type of response to over-sensitivity. The sensory overload may cause signs of distress, inability to communicate, and even a meltdown. A person with difficulty processing sensory information may experience sensory overload, so too many stimuli may cause stress, anxiety, and even physical pain.

Īutistic people may behave in a way that does not always seem utterly related to the difference in sensory stimulation, although excess stimulation is the main cause of the behavior.

While the intensity and frequency of meltdowns can vary, understanding the triggers and implementing coping strategies can help manage and ease the lives of autistic people and their environment. It results from distress that unexpected changes may cause, certain social situations, or sensory overload. Meltdown manifests itself as an intense emotional outburst and may include crying, shouting, aggressiveness, or self-harm. Other characteristics that usually appear in autistic people are stereotypic and repetitive behavior, narrow areas of interest, and problems with sensory regulation and emotional regulation. This is a clinical syndrome characterized by various difficulties in interpersonal relationships, in the social, linguistic, and communicative areas. Background Īutism, or the autistic spectrum is a neurological variation caused by a combination of hereditary and genetic. It results from severe distress, due to sensory or emotional overload, and is an involuntary behavior.

An autistic meltdown is an intense and uncontrollable response to an overwhelming situation in some people on the autism spectrum.
