Hey, am I a toxic person? I have meltdowns very easily when things are unexpected or stressful. This is obviously bad but I don’t know if it’s “toxic” bad, “abusive” bad, or “irredeemable POS” level bad.
- I often have meltdowns over really tiny things, like something not going a way I expect. Stuff like this makes me think it’s closer to a temper tantrum than a meltdown, but when people have temper tantrums they seem to be lucid and able to understand what they’re doing, while I kind of just blank out mentally and start doing insane shit.
- My meltdowns/temper tantrums are often violent to myself and others. I have repeatedly hurt my parents in the past by hitting them. This makes me think my behavior is abusive.
- Because of this, they understandably feel the need to constantly police their behavior so I don’t freak out. Example of similar behavior by redditor which Reddit seems to think is toxic
- I freaked out today because I was trying to explain that a 30 minute conversation where I’m expected to perform being really happy the entire time (it was because someone was getting something for me which I was genuinely excited about, but I couldn’t mimic the correct verbal and physical reactions forever) is super exhausting. They kept repeatedly telling me I should do it anyways and I was trying to explain that that would end badly but the frustration I was starting to feel was making it hard to communicate, and I ended up freaking out and literally attacking my parent.
I really should do therapy or something to get this fixed, but it’s not something I have any idea how to even begin to tackle. When things get bad enough over and over again I just come out with complete and utter violence and frustration and hurt people I care about and do things I wish I would never do. I think I’m abusive and I’ve often thought about not living with the rest of my family but I don’t know if I can economically afford that.
I’ve tried asking for accommodations that make it less likely for me to melt down, but I think my parents view it as just another thing they have to work around to stop me from hurting them. “Always walking on eggshells” and I hate doing that to people.
Can anyone help? I don’t know what to do and I hate myself right now.
You definitely need to work on being violent. My meltdowns aren't like that so idk how easy it is to work on. Maybe try removing yourself from the situation.
Using the example in 3, the best thing for him to do would probably be just staying in his room for the duration of the event. But the parents absolutely need to work on understanding the effects their actions are having on him and be more accommodating. They should have told him as soon as it was planned, not hours before the event.
If it was last minute (doesn't really sound like it though) they could have told him in person, told him how they understood he might not be prepared for such an event, suggested staying in his room, and asked if there was anything they could do to help. Obviously it depends on his likes, but maybe they could have ordered him a pizza or some other food he really enjoys so he can take it to his room and stay chill. And made it clear that if he needed anything from outside the room, he could just text them and they would help.
From the way it was written it sounds like they still expected him to attend the event which is just bad and not at all understanding what it means that their child is autistic.
For number 4, work on recognizing when explaining something like that just isn't worth it. Tell them you're going to do your best to show your gratitude but cannot handle putting on a happy face for the duration of the event. If they try to argue, just tell them that's just how it is and there is nothing to argue. If they still argue, tell them fine but then just don't do it. It's not always worth convincing someone, know when to just end the conversation. If they argue with you afterward, it's their fault for continuously harassing you about it when you did the best you could.
Honestly I think the "walking on eggshells" thing might be sort of circular reasoning. They don't actually accommodate you, so you melt down, then they get stressed by your meltdown, and that stress is what they're feeling when they say that phrase. It seems like that phrase is really only used after something bad happens. "Walking on eggshells" effectively ends up meaning they did nothing then had to deal with the consequences, basically the opposite of what they are trying to use it for. idk though that's just how it seems to me and I'm sure it depends on the specific person and situation. But the two things I've gone over, the party and the argument, should honestly be pretty easy to accommodate if they would just consider how you feel for 2 seconds.
But yeah, definitely work on the violence. Removing yourself from the situation if possible is usually a good way to go about it. Maybe have a straightforward stock phrase to throw out if you need, "Sorry, I feel as if I'm about to have a meltdown and need to remove myself from this situation" or something, then just go. You could also try to figure out some (non-self harming) stims to put your feelings into.
Also, the fact that you recognize what you do it bad and want to work on it means you are nowhere near "irredeemable POS". An irredeemable POS wouldn't give a shit.
I am in no way defending my actions, but autism is really different from person to person and this doesn’t really mean much in that regard for other autistic people.
specifically in the context of self-harm I’ve seen plenty of autistic people talk about how difficult and sometimes seemingly impossible it is to prevent that
I honestly think the responders in the post I linked were stupid and the behavior of that autistic person was entirely harmless (except to themselves) and it being a form of “hostage-taking” would require them to think things through logically which they aren’t. And even if they were, that would imply they desired physical harm more than the current situation which means the situation genuinely sucks for them. And when people talk about self-harm in terms of the emotions of those around the people doing it instead of the people literally driven to self harm in the first place, I always kind of get pissed off anyways.
That doesn’t apply to my situation and violence against others is different. I just don’t think “holding yourself hostage” is something accusing autistic people of is ok.
In terms of removing myself from the situation, it’s definitely something I want to work on, but it’s literally impossible for me to do it once I’ve gotten to the point of actual violence (or maybe it isn’t, but I think it is? It’s definitely not normal slow-burn anger), I have to catch it first which is what I’m hoping to do
And in terms of the phrasing of “walking on eggshells”, yes, to be honest I’ve gotten that impression too, but I’m hesitant to think of it in those terms because it feels too much like it lets me off the hook somewhat. Maybe that’s ok, and blaming myself is worse than just moving forward, but I don’t know which is better