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Silent meltdown, is it possible?

Meltdown?

  • Yes it's possible and yes it's a meltdown

    Votes: 6 60.0%

  • It's not possible and not a meltdown

    Votes: 0 0.0%

  • No idea

    Votes: 4 40.0%
  • Total voters
    10
Eleri4094

Eleri4094

Well-Known Member
Sorry for posting so soon after the other one but this question has been bothering me for days. Everytime I get bit I'm always overwhelmed and upset and I cry (silently) and just shutdown quickly afterwards. I told this to my last therapist but she said it wasn't a meltdown but it feels like one. So is a silent meltdown possible? Is this even considered a meltdown?
 
Ame568 said:
Sorry for posting so soon after the other one but this question has been bothering me for days. Everytime I get bit I'm always overwhelmed and upset and I cry (silently) and just shutdown quickly afterwards. I told this to my last therapist but she said it wasn't a meltdown but it feels like one. So is a silent meltdown possible? Is this even considered a meltdown?
Click to expand...

YES and NO.

Basically,...there is a MELTDOWN which is typically an emotional "explosion",...crying, screaming, sometimes violent behavior. Then there is the SHUTDOWN which is typically an emotional "implosion",...silence, internalization, avoidance behaviors, etc.
 
Hmmmm. I never really thought about such a distinction, based on whether or not such an outburst is in public, while interacting with others. The only meltdowns I recall as a teenager and child definitely involved others at the time. However when it comes to shutdowns (which I still but rarely experience) they can happen whether I am in the presence of others or completely alone.

My last shutdown was while I was at a shopping mall at Christmas. Surrounded by way too many people, yet not interacting with any of them. I doubt anyone noticed me at all...yet it was their presence that so stressed me out at a certain time and place.
 
Last edited:
My meltdowns are very rare and exponentially more emotionally intense than a shutdown. Meltdowns I go off grid until my emotions are back under control. I will literally make myself disappear.

Whereas a shutdown, I go quiet. Everything turns off. This is when my selective mutism kicks in. I don't hide in a physical sense of the word, but mentally I refuse to engage because I simply don't have the spoons.
 
All I know is that when things get to be too much for me, I just run. Sometimes I cannot keep up with the mess that people make or the fear in my own head.
 
Since I've had to learn to live with someone besides family, my meltdowns have had to become
mostly implosions.

Snapping back verbally or being explosive would be devastating now.
Occasionally I have had a few directed words, but, it could get out of hand, so I shut down.
No matter how I feel.
I then retreat to my room for a day or run off for a day until I can get my emotions under control.
 
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