I have only recently discovered that I have Aspergers Syndrome. Well technically speaking, I haven't been diagnosed with it yet but rationally thinking, its pretty damn obvious. The doctor who referred me has Aspergers, so probably knows what he's talking about. I got another referral from school, specifically the ASN workers, who I spend every lunch and break with. My family are convinced. Lot's of factors, I also suffer from OCD like tendencies and anxiety. Enough about that. Autistic meltdowns. How do I tell the difference between being angry and having a meltdown. If I'm mad I cannot deal with being touched at all. I can tolerate it to a degree in a normal situation, but if I'm mad and u touch me..... Be ready for a punch. I shout. A lot. I kind of lose rational thinking. On a scale of 1-10 this is how mad I get on situations Being touched= 3/4 Pen lids not being perfectly in line with the writing on pen= 6 Things not in the right order= 7/8/9 Someone betraying my trust= 10 I go from being 0 to what ever number instantly. Like there is no inbetween. Anger is probably my most felt emotion. Is there anyway to determine if I'm just mad (eg. when I'm gaming XD) or having an autistic meltdown?
I'm not diagnosed and i haven't been lucky enough to see a professional about it but my mom is convinced I'm ASD - specifically HFA/AS - as well. For me, i can see it but its hard to tell what's from potential HFA/AS and what's because my mom is emotionally and verbally abusive. That's a hard thing to figure out. I think a lot of it depends on the individual. In my opinion, both meltdowns and shutdowns are normal reactions for those on the spectrum they're just extreme and unique to the disorder. The way i see it, anger is an emotion, a reactionary emotion. Like if i page a supervisor to bring money for my drawer at work as a cashier two times and they don't bring it, i start getting pretty damn pissed off cause its usually the same person that does that. That's normal anger. But a meltdown is on a completely different scale. That's like my mom level of flipping out and its totally uncontrollable, completely unhinged. I rarely ever have them and can count on my hand the number of times its happened, cause just between my personality and how i was raised i'm more prone to shutdowns instead. But with a meltdown, from what i've experienced and read its like 'the last straw' so to say - a lot of stress has built up and its gotta go somewhere and you can't control yourself anymore. But differentiating this - a meltdown - from someone with an anger control issue...now that idk. With a meltdown there could be some self-injury component or injury to others component with sensory issues. With anger control issues like my mom has, its still 'immature' in the eyes of others but its not as extreme or varied - just yelling, maybe throwing shit too, but usually limited to yelling and ranting and no sensory issue.
