#autism shutdowns

[my-autism-adhd-blog]

Autistic Meltdowns vs Shutdowns

Neurodivergent_lou

[zebulontheplanet]

Hi! I have a question regarding your recent posts on catatonia. This is actually something I’ve been wondering about for a while now and I hope you have an answer. At first, it seemed like catatonia and autistic shutdowns where the same. I read that catanonia mostly occurred in people with schizophrenia, but could also be a symptom of autism, so I thought they were synonymous. Then I read that they weren’t, and I understood that the difference was in severity with catatonia being more severe and also lasting longer (hours to days). What you’ve described in your recent posts sounds a lot like what I thought were autistic shutdowns (which I’ve experienced in a similar way) and less like what I understood what catatonia to be. This isn’t me trying to tell you you’re experiencing a shutdown instead, I genuinely think I’ve misunderstood something and I’m hoping you could clear it up for me since I’ve clearly not had much luck with my own research. What is the difference between catatonia and autistic shutdowns?

Hey anon! This is a very good question that I didn’t really know the answer to for a hot minute.

So with my catatonia, I’ve been diagnosed with it. A doctor has confirmed it is indeed catatonia I’m experiencing and not something else. So there’s not really a doubt in my mind that it is catatonia. However, I do have autistic shutdowns as well, they’re actually more common than meltdowns for me so I can tell the difference pretty easily.

The difference for me, is that autistic shutdowns are caused by extreme emotions. They’re basically the opposite reaction of a meltdown. A lot of people refer to them as internal meltdowns cause they’re caused by extreme distressing things.

For me, catatonia can literally happen at any time. I could just be sitting there and boom, catatonia. Although it’s very common for me to have it when I’m starting a task. When I’m starting a task, I don’t feel every which way, it just sorta happens. My brain gets stuck.

Catatonia CAN get worse with intense emotions, and it can happen if you’re having an intense emotion, but that doesn’t mean you have to be having an intense emotion to experience catatonia. My catatonia gets worse with stress, but that doesn’t mean that my catatonia is a shutdown. Also to me, my catatonia is far more frequent than a shutdown. While a shutdown I have maybe once a week, I have catatonia maybe a few times a day.

From my understanding some doctors believe that shutdowns can lead to catatonia, but they still have a very distinct difference. Catatonia also comes with a variety of other symptoms, like no reaction to mild pain. While in a shutdown, I will personally react to mild pain.

Catatonia also comes with other issues, and my catatonia is really complex. From having semi-catatonic states that make me feel like I’m going through quicksand, to mutism, to so many other things. The lasting affects of catatonia are also not the same. While someone with a shutdown will eventually come out of their shutdown, catatonia can be more complex then that. From lasting hours to not being able to talk even after your catatonic episode.

I hope this explains some things! I’d also google “autism catatonia” there’s a few articles that explain it well! Many autistics with catatonia have lasting effects, like diminished social interactions and social isolation, and diminished ways that the person just behaves in general.

They’re very different and I hope this explains some! Im still not sure and my psych isn’t even sure if my catatonia is caused by my autism or by my Schizoaffective so we’re just shrugging our shoulders. Have a lovely day anon!

[autisticdreamdrop]

hyperverbal autistic ✅️ valid

fully verbal autistic ✅️ valid

verbal autsitic with verbal loss ✅️ valid

semiverbal autistic ✅️ valid

nonverbal autistic ✅️ valid

[theorahsart]

Here's a comic I made a few years ago, explaining autistic meltdowns and shutdowns in detail! They can be pretty different to what you might expect- I didnt even realise I was experiencing them for years. I thought they were panic attacks that just happened to last much longer than an average person's, or that I was very sensitive- newsflash, it was actually autism lol

[itsaspectrumcomic]

A shutdown is like a meltdown but internal.

[doctor-mccoys-sanity]

autism and strong emotion just be like… SHAKE! SHAKE SO HARD! BUT FEEL TRAPPED BY THE PRISON OF YOUR BONES *screams*

[autism-affirmations]

ball mode™

[neuroticboyfriend]

this is from the last post i reblogged, but here are alternatives to "going nonverbal" or "going nonspeaking:"

verbal shutdown

loss of speech / speech loss

situational speech loss

if anyone knows any others, feel free to add on. if you don't understand why alternatives are needed, please see the linked post; it's a long one which is why i made another post with the alternatives, but even just reading part of it shows you why.

be kind to your neurodivergent and disabled peers.

[aw-tysm]

Meltdowns and Shutdowns tend to happen as a response to extreme distress. And each autistic may experience these differently.

When you've hit that point of no return where your fight, flight, or freeze responses start to kick in, this is usually when meltdowns or shutdowns occur.

They are both uncontrollable, they're a reaction, a way our mind is trying to cope. If possible, it's best to ask the autistic person what their preferences are for help.

Meltdowns tend to be a more external reaction. This one is often confused with tantrums, but are not tantrums. A person may yell, scream, hurt themselves or others (unintentionally), stim, eloping, throwing or breaking things, etc..

Shutdowns tend to be a more internal reaction. One may look more withdrawn or "not with it". A person may not be able to move, become unresponsive, feel stuck or frozen or heavy, stare or unable to make eye contact, thoughts may be difficult to form if at all, etc..

Both may involve crying or shaking, inability to speak or form words, be unresponsive, may want to be left alone.

You may experience either or, depending on the situation. Or as some autistics get older, they tend to experience shutdowns more often than meltdowns.

[gorkaya-trava]

autistic imposter syndrome culture is adding "idk maybe it's just a common human experience and I'm just overthinking things" tag to every post about your obviously autistic experience

[mental-illness-bingo]

Struggling with transitions isn't always externalized in the form of a meltdown. Here are some examples of things (from an autistic former early childhood teacher) that also count as struggling with transitions.

Note: I'm including things to do with adult transitions and childhood transitions here. Examples and explanations are given in italics.

Trying to politely decline to transition - sometimes, this may include lying about your wants/needs or not even realizing you want or need something because your brain isn't processing that information during the stress of a transition; "Becca, it's time for snack." "No thank you, I'm not hungry."

Undetectable self-harm behaviors - digging nails into palm, "itching" when you aren't itchy, internally degrading yourself, biting cheek or tongue, holding breath until you can't anymore. Self-harm during transitions is a common and valid struggle, even if you didn't try to use it as leverage to avoid the transition.

Undetectable stimming to regulate (very healthy!) - especially with objects that have a similar texture to one from the previous area or material

Slow or stuttered transitions - Starting to move on, but repeatedly having "just one more thing (you) forgot" or physically walking away slower possibly while staring at the previous area or material

Verbal shutdown (total or partial) during or immediately after transitions - this could be part of a more overall shutdown or exist on it's own

Fixating on the previous task/area/material - may show by excessively talking about the previous task long after others have moved on for example trying to tell everyone about your cool lego building or even showing them pictures of it (taking pictures is good coping mechanism for moving on from a toy) long after everyone stopped playing with or talking about legos, or if you were moving from legos to drawing, wanting to draw a picture of legos

Keeping materials from the previous task - if you were playing with legos, but have to clean up, you might keep some to build with or even a single lego on your person somewhere as a comfort. In larger/life transitions, you may refuse to get rid of something long past when it is socially acceptable (such as an ex's shirt) or taking something "strange" such as a piece of trim or a scrap of wallpaper from a previous house.

Brain fog, fatigue, disorientation, and/or dissociation during and/or immediately after a transition

Internal emotional distress during/immediately after transitions - due to autistic issues with emotional regulation, these emotions may last the rest of the day if not supported because of bottling up the emotions

Executive dysfunction post-transition - especially if you don't usually struggle with it or weren't before the transition

When going to bed, insomnia is an extremely common presentation of struggling with transitions

Feel free to add on! Preferably in the text of the reblog rather than in tags so I can reblog this with your additions, but either works!

I also want to specify that not all of these are harmful or negative responses to transitions. If you do these things and they help you without hurting anyone, that's fine! This is just to help give you the language to get help as needed because it's much easier to get help if you say "I struggle with transitions because of my autism" than "I'm struggling right now but I'm not sure why".

[my-autism-adhd-blog]

Early Warning Signs of Autistic Shutdowns

Neurodivergent_lou

[zebulontheplanet]

Day two of being in a complete verbal shutdown. I’m probably gonna have to cancel my therapy appointment because of this if she doesn’t want to work with me using AAC. I’m gonna send her an email in the morning about it but I’m pretty upset.

[dreamdropsystem]

the struggles of being autistic in a speech obsessed world

[crip-wizard]

This is a vent post

I was sitting in french class, and the person behind me (a known "popular kid" and asshole) was chewing gum. Very loudly. And I, being the dirty little misophonic I am, asked them politely to stop, to which they ignored me.

So, I ask again, this time specifying that certain noises cause me physical pain because of my misophonia. So they do it LOUDER.

At this point I am ready to launch a full blown nuclear war upon this bitch. So I slam my headphones on and march out of the classroom.

Later, the French teacher (also one of two vice principals) comes outside and sits right up in my space. I am thoroughly in the depths of a meltdown and have gone into verbal shutdown.

This lady tells me to calm down and act reasonable. She knows I have misophonia and autism. I pull out my AAC (an app on my phone) and explain that the kid was purposefully triggering my misophonia and that my response was perfectly reasonable to the situation.

So, being the well trained cog in an oppressive system, decides that her physically disabled, unofficially (as it's quite pricey, but it is on my file) diagnosed Autistic student, is faking it for attention. The Vice principal takes my phone (and AAC app by proxy of being on my phone, and therefore taking my current only form of accessible communication [can't just write it cuz dysgraphia] so I cannot communicate my needs.) And gives me a detention for "making a scene".

[autisticdreamdrop]

hyperverbal autistic ✅️ valid

fully verbal autistic ✅️ valid

verbal autistic with verbal loss ✅️ valid

semiverbal autistic ✅️ valid

nonverbal autistic ✅️ valid

hyperverbal autsitic with verbal loss ✅️ valid

fluctuating verbalness / altverbal autistic ✅️ valid