What is a meltdown like?

Wait this is what meltdowns are??? I thought meltdowns always looked the same no matter where they were. When I have mine I’m like you, if friends are around I shut down. If they are random people, I’ll walk furiously too (like when I had a meltdown in an airport) or if I’m sitting in a class room and I can’t walk, I shutdown. However, when I’m alone or alone with my GF, it gets much worse, my GF is the only person this comes out in front of. I scream, cry, sometimes break stuff, I hit my head, and I would always say I felt insanely stressed during those times, I suppose overwhelmed is pretty similar or maybe it’s the word I was looking for. I haven’t noticed if I walk in circles but I don’t sit or lay down during a meltdown and I stay in the same room so I’m assuming I probably walk in circles. So I always thought meltdowns were the same no matter the situation, so I had no idea what I was experiencing. I haven’t gone for diagnosis yet so I’m still putting some pieces together.

/r/AutismTranslated Thread Parent