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Difference in type of result

daniegirl6224

daniegirl6224

Well-Known Member
What is the difference in overstimulation that determines whether you have a burnout versus shutdown versus meltdown?
 
I don't have any experience with shutdowns or meltdows but I certainly went through burnout.

Burnout is not something that happens during the course of a day or a week. It's what happens when you've been pushing yourself too hard for too long over a course of many years. In most of us it's a completely life changing event, who we are after burnout is not the same person we were before it started.

 
daniegirl6224 said:
What is the difference in overstimulation that determines whether you have a burnout versus shutdown versus meltdown?
Click to expand...

According to this source, a shutdown is based on an involuntary response to overstimulation, while their reference to a meltdown would involve an intense response to being overwhelmed.

I'd speculate that burnout would involve a much longer amount of time to develop in comparison to both an involuntary response to overstimulation or an intense response to feeling overwhelmed.

Autism Meltdowns vs Shutdowns: A Closer Look at Autism Behavior
 
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I think that a shutdown is more common in some people and a meltdown in others. Either one is a signal of distress that has exceeded levels the individual knows how to handle in a normal matter.
 
What is the difference between shutdown/burnout and a nervous breakdown? I've had a nervous breakdown and I'm still in it (I get triggered very easily and keep having rage outbursts at work which are happening once a week now, due to severe stress, panic and anxiety).
 
Misty Avich said:
What is the difference between shutdown/burnout and a nervous breakdown? I've had a nervous breakdown and I'm still in it (I get triggered very easily and keep having rage outbursts at work which are happening once a week now, due to severe stress, panic and anxiety).
Click to expand...
I think shutdown is more of a in the moment reaction to something in real time or the immediate past. I think burnouts and nervous breakdowns build up over time and take longer to recover from. Judge discussed this as well earlier in the thread.
 
It's just that shutdowns and breakdowns seem the same but NTs call it breakdowns while autistics call it shutdowns.
 
I've been through burnout as well, more than once. For me it wasn't meltdown and it didn't feel like shutdown. I had no idea what was going on. Other than that I was slowly losing all interest in the work I loved so much. Try as I might, I could not figure out what was happening or how to fix it. Maybe you could call it shutdown eventually? But by then my body basically forced me out of that job and it was far, far too late.
 
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