I recently had a friend ask me some things about Aspergers and what happens in the middle of meltdown in the head of someone with Aspergers. If you don’t know, meltdowns happen when someone with Aspergers gets overwhelmed or overstimulated by something. For the last few days I’ve been thinking about this and their is not much information out there on this other then from the perspective of non-autistic people.
What Causes A Meltdown?
Meltdowns are typically caused by being overwhelmed. Autistic People can get overwhelmed from various things including lighting, clothing textures, stress, too many people talking to them at once, a rapid major change in life, repetitive noises and certain pitches of noise. For me specifically stress, too many people talking to me at once, and rapid major changes are usually the major triggers, with lighting, textures and noises adding too the pot. It is important to realize that people on the Autism Spectrum are unique, and everyone has their different triggers.
What Is Going Through My Head?
When I’m in the middle of a meltdown I’m trying to do anything I can to cut off input into my brain from the outside world for a few minutes while I get my head to reset. All I need is 10 minutes to sit in a place where I can’t get noises, people, etc to be able to get myself to reset. When I’m in the middle of a meltdown people often confuse me running and hiding and being visibly upset as they should try and talk to me – which just results in me being more verbally forceful in getting away from them. This has led to problems for me. I think its important to state that during meltdowns I am never physically agressive unless I am physically provoked. In the middle of the meltdown I have no intention of hurting other people, and I think its a very common mis-conception about those with Autism.
What Can People Do To Help?
The best thing to do is just to give me space for five or ten minutes. When I am overwhelmed I just need to cut off things that stimulate my brain. Often when I’m overwhelmed I find a ’safe feeling’ texture to rub my hand on to help calm my brain. A more recent development is finding out my fiance holding me is another thing that helps calm me, or if were home having her lay and put her weight on me.
I know its human nature to want to talk about things, and believe me I will want to talk about things after I’m through with the meltdown. For me I need a bit of distance, and then I can talk – and often when people are forceful about trying to help it causes me to alienate myself more causing bigger issues.
If Your Autistic: What helps you in the middle of a meltdown?
If You Know An Autistic: How have you helped an autistic successfully in the middle of a meltdown?
{ 3 comments… read them below or add one }
My son also needs space during/right after a meltdown. Once he’s in full meltdown talking to him or asking him questions is the worst thing I can do. I believe for him it is also about too much input from the outside world. He will sometimes lash out physically, but in a way that makes it obvious that he’s not trying to hurt me…he just doesn’t know what else to do.
Singing helps him. Hiding under his blankets helps him. Crying without me trying to stop him helps also. If he’s not too far into meltdown and he can understand directions, asking him if he wants to go ride his bike (favorite activity) can help him avoid melting down.
Definitely, getting away from the problem/irritant is the first step.
It’s difficult to learn to recognise the triggers because meltdowns are essentially “overloads”. You’re never quite sure exactly how much stress your system can take before it goes into meltdown. The descent is often sudden and unpredictable – it takes US by surprise just as much (perhaps more so) than those around us.
When I was a child, the remedy was to hop on my bike and pedal away. I’d often be gone for hours but during the time I was pedalling, I’d be calming down. When you’re with people however, it’s far more difficult and sometimes, there’s just nowhere to run.
This was a wonderful description of what happens to me.
I finally have answers after 40 plus years. Generally it’s someone’s tone of voice that pushes me over the edge combined with noises.
I am getting better at removing myself before I say something I would regret – however I wish I could stop the meltdown all together – at least now I’m aware – and can try to work on minimizing the damage – I liked the suggestion of carrying something with me to touch to calm myself –
narrah