Autistic overstimulation and overload goes beyond the sensory.

Case in point: Emotional overload is when autistics receive feelings-based information from ourselves or others that are extremely difficult to process.
During autistic emotional overload, the emotional information we receive may feel overwhelming for many reasons. However, the impact of the overload may lead to meltdowns, shutdowns, rumination, and anxiety.
It is possible that emotions are overloading autistics merely because we do not receive emotional explanations and supports that are designed with autistic expression in mind.
Many autistics have neurodivergent ways of feeling and expressing emotion. Some ways that we may express emotion are through stimming, echolalia, monologuing, and logic.
For the most part, autistics have grown up in homes, schools, and community environments that enforce neurotypical emotional standards, cues, and body language.
Because NTs do not generally express emotion in autistic ways, many autistics are taught to repress our natural methods of emotional expression. We are told to adopt neurotypical expressions that are not natural for us.
Since autistics are often forced to repress our emotions, and since neurotypical individuals do not express emotions in ways that are natural for us, we may experience overload from our emotions and the emotions of others.
If it helps, my recent IG post has a list of possible causes of emotional overload as well as some calming techniques to use when experiencing emotional overload:
instagram.com/p/CReZjR0szh4/ Emotional overload may occur as a result of*: -Experiencing Some calming techniques to use when experiencing emotional o

• • •

Missing some Tweet in this thread? You can try to force a refresh
 

Keep Current with Lauren Melissa

Lauren Melissa Profile picture

Stay in touch and get notified when new unrolls are available from this author!

Read all threads

This Thread may be Removed Anytime!

PDF

Twitter may remove this content at anytime! Save it as PDF for later use!

Try unrolling a thread yourself!

how to unroll video
  1. Follow @ThreadReaderApp to mention us!

  2. From a Twitter thread mention us with a keyword "unroll"
@threadreaderapp unroll

Practice here first or read more on our help page!

More from @autienelle

3 May
I started having less meltdowns AFTER my autism diagnosis. Can you guess why?
Once I discovered my ASD diagnosis, I stopped believing that meltdowns were a personal trait. Meltdowns are actually a sign that I've been pushed too far.
I used to set ridiculously high expectations for myself to be perfect, so the greater NT society wouldn't see my differences and label me "broken." Then, I'd make mistakes, or get overloaded, and I'd meltdown 2-3 times per week.
Read 5 tweets
6 Mar
Undiagnosed autistics often wind up with social anxiety due to social confusion and severe bullying. Then, when the social anxiety becomes unbearable, we seek help. Except, we get diagnosed with Social Anxiety Disorder instead of Autism Spectrum Disorder.
From that moment on, especially if the autistic is AFAB, we are told that we are anxious and not autistic. But the truth: We are autistics that have developed anxiety.
Autistics with Social Anxiety Disorder can't be treated for one condition over the other. And stigmatizing those with SAD as people who do not understand themselves and their experiences is contributing to this ableist issue.
Read 4 tweets
18 Feb
PSA: Menstruation can be a sensory nightmare for autistics who menstruate.
Autism and menstruation is rarely discussed, perhaps because of the male bias in ASD diagnostic access, or perhaps because menstruation is a topic still so often silenced.
Many menstruating autistics experience sharp shifts in mood and sensory sensitivity during & around menstruation.
Read 4 tweets
16 Feb
Who else needs to use extra vacation days to recover from taking a vacation?
Vacations are essentially fun, planned routine change. For autistics, any kind of routine change can leave us exhausted, irritable, and anxious.
As a child, I would have an autism meltdown at the start of summer vacation because I couldn't handle the abrupt routine change of school to no s school. This happened even though I wanted the vacation.
Read 4 tweets
1 Dec 20
Let's talk about how young autisic girls go undiagnosed because their special interests are considered too "normal." Spoiler: That's sexism.
I lined up, organized, and collected massive numbers of Barbie dolls. I "played" this way for hours on end. I played with Barbies until the 6th grade, and I was even teased at school for it.
Substitute Barbies with horses, boy bands, makeup, fairies, and books. These are "girls' interests." When young girls become hyperfocused and passionate about these interests, the general public simply rolls their eyes and says, "Girls get obsessed over silly things."
Read 6 tweets
12 Jul 20
Let's discuss so-called procrastination. Just because autistics want to start a task and can't, allistics start shoving the word procrastination down our throats. Let's be clear: Procrastination is a neurotypical term that damages neurodivergents.
Procrastination is the avoidance of doing a task, or putting off doing something. Avoiding/putting off are choices. NTs typically procrastinate due to a fear of failure. So, is intentional inaction at the root of the autistic battle to start our work? The short answer is: No.
Most autistics struggle with executive functioning (EF). EF is a broad term that describes a set of skills that revolves around cognitive function, lime organization, inhibition, working memory, and task initiation. Task initiation is the cognitive ability to start an activity.
Read 5 tweets

Did Thread Reader help you today?

Support us! We are indie developers!


This site is made by just two indie developers on a laptop doing marketing, support and development! Read more about the story.

Become a Premium Member ($3/month or $30/year) and get exclusive features!

Become Premium

Too expensive? Make a small donation by buying us coffee ($5) or help with server cost ($10)

Donate via Paypal Become our Patreon

Thank you for your support!

Follow Us on Twitter!

:(