Coping with the Coke Bottle Effect: Five Ways to (Sometimes) Prevent Autistic Meltdowns, Shutdowns, and Crashes
As Orion Kelly describes in this video, the Coke Bottle Effect is a great metaphor for what happens to me at the end of most days or weeks. Though I do what I can to avoid sensory triggers and changes in routine, the bottle gets shaken up by each unexpected change or trigger. If I don’t let it all out, it builds up and eventually explodes. Meltdowns help, but they certainly aren’t fun. It’s impossible to completely avoid shaking the bottle, so the best solution is probably opening the lid more often.
Photo by Slashio Photography on Unsplash
Autistic Meltdown Prevention Strategies for a Controlled Release
Movement
Movement is the best way I know of intentionally releasing the bottled up energy. This could mean things we might think of as exercise like swimming, running, dancing, and sports. If you don’t have a favorite way to move, experiment until you find something that feels good. Or, if you feel safe to unmask, it could mean letting yourself do movement stims like tapping, flapping, or bouncing. Put the music player on random or a five rhythms style wave and move however feels right. Explore what feels good and experiment with movement you may have been preventing yourself from doing
I love to swim as my outlet, but that option isn’t always available. When I can’t, another option is to literally shake my body from my core muscles. This is something that happens to me automatically during a meltdown or an orgasm. I’ve learned that if I trigger the shaking intentionally, and it can really help. I can get it going from sitting, standing, or lying down, but lying down feels safest and most freeing to me. The most common way I start is to intentionally contract my core muscles by doing chest or hip isolations. As I do so, my core muscles often begin contracting on their own. Another way to start is to use a spine roller or a set of tennis balls to stimulate pressure points in the back. Once the shaking is started, I just breath through it until it calms down. This is definitely something I’d recommend doing in a safe, private place. If family or friends are around, you may want to let them know what you are doing so they don’t get alarmed or think it’s a seizure.
2. Visual Expression
Whatever you have the tools and materials for, try just playing around with them. Follow your body instead of your mind. Try: Scribbling with crayons on newsprint, finger painting, abstract collage (rip, don’t cut!), clay… Whichever mode you choose, lean into what feels right. Experiment with unusual (for you) marks, shapes, or colors. Don’t try to represent something or master a technical skill; just play.
3. Sound
Don’t follow a lesson or score today. Don’t focus on technique or composition. Just make sound. Using your mouth and your body, let the sounds out. Follow what feels good. Experiment with sounds you don’t usually make. Repeat sounds that feel good to make. Vary speed, volume, and pitch. Notice how the sounds feel in your body and how what feels right changes over time.
Photo by Aaron Burden on Unsplash
4. Freewrite
Set a timer and put pen to paper. No corrections, no stopping, no censorship. Afterwards, you can choose to read it or throw it away. If you do read it, notice what you repeated, what seemed important. Can you identify parts or teams of part that spoke through this exercise? How do you feel toward the parts that wrote this? What does this tell you about what you’ve been ignoring? What you need?
5. Acknowledge the Emotions and Let them Happen
Often masking means pushing down the emotions, sensations, and urges that happen when we are challenged by an unexpected change or sensory trigger. This strategy will work best from a regulated arousal state. If we do something such as vagal toning to regulate our system first, the practice of acknowledging our reactions can help. Once we acknowledge them, we may then be able to identify what we need whether it’s a sensory break, one of the above activities, food, reassurance, tears, etc. Sometimes feeling and expressing the emotions or urges to act when they happen can prevent a build up that will lead to a meltdown. This is a learning process more than a strategy; please have patience with yourself as you practice.
It’s okay to melt down.
I know you don’t want to; I don’t want to. And sometimes it will happen. I believe that a meltdown is a body’s way of discharging energy that has been held in the body due to incomplete autonomic defense reactions. There are consequences of carrying that stress long term including burnout and chronic illness. When we understand this, a meltdown is not a failure or a cause for shame. It is okay to allow our bodies to protect us when other strategies are not enough.
