Asperger's Syndrome and Shutdowns

[Simbaholic]

I think it's reversed for me; I have meltdowns when I'm frustrated, and have shutdowns when I'm overstimluated.

[g1gavet]

@3dsuniverse It is true, i'd say. However, being part of the aspie community, i can safely assure you my artwork is nothing amazing, it's sort of standard. I wouldn't ever backchat though.

I shutdown relatively regularly, but i have only ever had two meltdowns. I can tell you ow, there is no way to pick a prefered method of emotional discharge, as I call it, so if you know someone out there who is an aspie, don't give them a reason to put themselves through that.

[3dsuniverse]

I read in time magazine the limbic system (emotional brain) is bigger in autistics. I find this poetic and also find people with as to be less judgmental, not talk behind your back about you, have a wealth of knowledge to share, great problem solving ability, good artists, and generally my preferred kind of friend. I know the difference between true kindness and just charm.

[Yetti0]

Shut downs and melt downs are two different things folks

[Astronautical123]

i have just meltdowns, and not that many shutdowns

[zippierainbow]

I enjoyed this video, thanks.

[01stanbk]

I have shutdowns, i've been total that when i shut down it's scary for who ever is with me at the time. I go blank and very quiet, completely unresponsive and i no longer care. I feel like i've retreated to somewhere were i'm safe. I do how have melt downs, and people do autamaticly think if you have AS you have melt downs, not true. good video, it's a subject that should be talked about more often.

[ssssroryssss]

One thing I have struggled with is being able to express my sadness because I like a lot of aspies just simply go quiet, some times I cry but usually just quiet and others don't see that I'm actually extremely depressed and some times in that moment I become so peacefull that I feel if my heart stppoed, I wouldn't care.

A great example of this is in the The Terminator when he gets crushed and for a moment you see him become peacefull while his red eye slowerly fades away.

any1 else feel this?

[DeathShamans]

i don't even have asbergers, but i have to suffer just as much with my son, i am so tired of it after 27 years, when do i get to just live my life that is not depressed, not angry, not selfish... i have to let go as a mother, i cannot bear the cross for him anymore.

[seaweedbeach]

wow this is really good! And I love the background :)

[nprfan2002]

Reach out so I can get screwed. Thought I made a wiser older friend. She is 60. After sharing my deepest and darkest with this person. It turns out she wants sex and a relationship. Wow... felt that one coming but wasnt sure how to read the clues. Then boom. Tried the let down easy method and that didnt work. Then had to just block her out. Sound like aspergers?

[PencintaOm]

these feelings are exactly how I felt....thank you so much for letting me feel that I'm not alone in this....  --___--

[bobbyfluffynoodle]

This is also known as "once bitten twice shy" or "10 times bitten 10 times shy"

just so all you aspies know there are a lot of painfully shy people out there,me included it is hard to keep burning your hand on the stove,there are a lot of mislead people on the planet that are walking around confused and they don't have aspergers.

[TheGreenSweater]

Thanks for making this video.

[77Godsgirl]

I feel like this quite a bit...I try to reach out but I've never really felt connected...the isolation is heavy

[micheals1992]

@LycanthropicAsshole

did you know Albert Einstein is beleived to of had aspergers syndrome?

[OrangeCourage1]

this made me cry...

[DougShatter]

Thank you!

[77Godsgirl]

Listening to Il Divo helps calm me from a shutdown/meltdown.

[aquateenman3]

I can relate to this. I really wish people stoped hating each other and stoped trying to find weaknesses in others to put them down. In realty all non aspies are this way.this society is sick. I just want to rest

[music4now]

@aquateenman3 I hear what you're saying. This has been my experience many time myself as an Aspie.

[Octobre1986]

I'd wish I would know ppl with AS. Twice, I had virtual contact to Apsies but it broke away and I don't know why. Anyways, don't give up, the world needs you!!!

[Epica124]

I have shutdowns to much. Ever time I try to reach out to my family it goes in one ear and out the other. I'm sick of being alone. I'm sick of not being able to just be me. I'm sick of the empity feeling I have inside. I just want to live my life that's all I have ever wanted to do.

[tarantulady]

I'm happier alone, most of the time.

[jbyai]

I am here, have been there and it is an endless cycle that wears on you.. Some moments during the days are the best and do not last long. In everything I have gone through across my 40 yrs a Ketogenic diets work for me with in 3 weeks I feel amazing and when you crash, you still crash hard. Our sleep is absolutely key. Alone is what I have endured to embrace as almost no one understands and can live with ASA.

[ellemueller]

this video is striking... I work as a waitress in a very busy establishment... sometimes I start stimming on the floor. How do I balance my need for shutdown after work against the need to not totally isolate myself? I'm tired of fighting for balance. It is also one reason why the majority of my videos were pulled down - I felt trapped, type-cast, and over stimulated and silenced by them. i want to speak out again, freshly, but find it is as difficult as standing up to a terrifying bully.

[bluebanshee3]

curling up and sleeping. if it's bad enough, i have a difficult time talking.

[01stanbk]

i have aspergers and always shut down, in films and documentary and book about aspergers all you ever see is the melt downs the screaming shoting roking types, so it's nice to know there are other aspis who sout down as well and it's not just me, so thank you for posting the images were really strong as well.

[Tsisemore9]

I got AS, I know what it feels like to shut down and cry, been doing it lately.. i'm so lonely

[weatherstorms]

I have aspergers syndrome. I know what is it like to completly shut down and cry. I usually afraid people will judge and criticize. I should keep my mouth shut more. I have a bad habit of interrupting. I do it without knowing it. I keep doing inappropiate things without knowing it. It's really embarrasing especially if someone yells or snaps at you. If someone scolds/yells I break. I think people are yelling when they are not.

[liesje9876]

@weatherstorms I know how you feel

[weatherstorms]

I have aspergers syndrome. I know what is it like to completly shut down and cry. I usually afraid people will judge and criticize. I should keep my mouth shut more. I have a bad habit of interrupting. I do it without knowing it. I keep doing inappropiate things without knowing it. It's really embarrasing especially if someone yells or snaps at you. If someone scolds/yells I break. I think people are yelling when they are not.

[michellen2008]

What song is this?

[UK7BRITISH]

@michellen2008 Song: "Useless" by Imogen Heap

[Joelomite]

Sometimes, having Aspergers is a royal pain in the ass. I just recently failed my clinical internship at a hospital because the stress became so unbearable. I couldn't think straight and my mind was constantly stressing to keep up with the present.

My supervisor tried to help me, but it didn't work. It sucks when even simple things can stress you out and you don't know how to reverse it. :-(

[MaximumRideFan2010]

Hey, asshole!!!!! You have no right to even begin to talk about aspie's!!!!!!!! You don't know what it's like!!!!! You try then try to tell me how much of a loser Aspie's Are!!!!!!!!!!!! Dumbass!!!!!!!!

[omgbutts]

An Hero time autistics.

[MrWaeseL]

assburgers more like autism

[JisakuJ]

@MrWaeseL i like this

[ghostmonkeyrape]

cocaine is a hellava drug

[AspieKid]

Thank you so much for this video! I am now in a period when I am very withdrawn, very isolated. I am losing hope I will ever come out. But your video has inspired me so much, that I might give it another try. Thank you again. All the best!

[LucyShy]

Wow. I've done that my whole life. I didn't know there was a word for it. I just thought of it as "checking out" or "disconnecting".

No thoughts, no words, no emotion, no expression, no movement. It's like I go on 'standby'.

[crystal0angel]

welcome to my club honey welcome to my club i had some kinda weird meltdown the other day and i just shutdown and i didnt know what was happening yet i knew i was doing what i was doing i have aspergers too

[ghodium]

great video... i once stopped talking for 10 days out of sheer frustration... was put in a mental ward for a couple of weeks and treated by a majority like i was playing some kind of twisted game... was only years later a doctor suspected aspergers syndrome... i didn't know about autistic shutdown at the time, but that i had 'shutdown' was one of the ways i tried explaining to others what i had experienced... (continued below)

[ghodium]

... that, and that i had 'lost the will' to speak... was so frustrating that many reacted as if i was just playing some kind of twisted game... the only explanation some found understandable was that i 'did it on purpose'... i suppose that shutdown does serve some kind of purpose, but not i think in the intentional sense that is usually meant by 'on purpose'... does that make sense?

[Moffpot1982]

Great video. Thank you. It helps just to know that it is not only me that feels like this.

[milascave]

I shut down during arguments when I feel like anything I say will be perceived as wrong. It's like "why bother, than."

When I come out of it, I am usualy very emotional, crying and so forth.

[catin23hat]

this is brilliant, I have a 16 year old with AS and this is the kind of thing he would relate too...even create himself, he is very talented...explains shutdowns really well. Thank you :)

[Skinned91]

I had a shutdown today at school No one knew what was really wrong. They were telling me to continue my stuff, but i didn't respond at all. I was extremely confused.

[ursusarctosana]

Hello, This same thing happened to me in a graduate level class. I couldn't talk anymore and my grade was lowered because of it. The professor didn't understand and, later, when I tried to explain (because I felt really embarrassed) he said, "I know a young man who as Asperger's and you're nothing like him." It really sucked! I still think about it.

[per4manz]

Excellent, thanks for a truly inspiring video, God bless.

[sybeve]

Thank you Laura. Really nice video.

[slash4689]

this vid encompasses how i feel most of the time

[datadad3]

I am near people now but I am sooo alone.

Where do we go on the internet to connect?

[whitetigerdream]

Try wrongplanet net

[MuppetPro]

Great Video! This will hopefally help out lots of Aspies on the net!

I can relate 100% :) You are not alone!

_Eric C. (Aspie)

[MrHowie1976]

Great video laura!! I feel very lonely as well! But i do keep trying to connect to people!! Its hard work but we must keep fighting!!

[Ackalan]

Loneliness comes from seeking others company and get left out.

[akai454]

Wow, You're amazing, I've been stuck in this for about nine months and I am so lonely, but don't expect any thing good to come from new relationships so now I am totally alone. My last friend graduated and went to Japan and the other person was a "User/Abuser" ( I learned my lesson with them ). You're right Laura, I've got to do some thing, I can't just hide in my room, I feel like I'm just waiting to die. I've got to do some thing, Thank You Laura, I fee like some one understands.

[sarahMLP]

Really good, I like your videos you make a lot of sense :)

[MusicalAspie]

That was a beautiful video. I often feel exactly as you describe. I will try to remember what you said and try to reach out.