This is in no way authoritative nor complete. Secondly, this comes from first-hand experience as an autistic person myself, as well as, from other autistics who shared their experiences.
Summary: A 'panic attack' is vastly different from sensory/input overload and meltdown/shutdown.
Q: Can you have a sensory overload without a meltdown?
A: Yes.
Q: So what happened to Attorney Woo Young Woo in episode 11?
A: Meltdown because of sensory overload.
Q: Are there other causes of a meltdown?
A: Yes, there are but sensory overload is the most common one. Other triggers are changes in routine when an autistic heavily relies on it. Or, sudden emotional changes like fear and pain. But a meltdown because of senses is most common.
Q: If emotion can be a cause of a meltdown, then does not that mean panic attack also?
A: Yes. However, diminishing an autistic meltdown as "an uncontrollable panic attack" is wrong and dangerous for both the person having a meltdown and the person who wants to provide support.
A panic attack, even if it is "uncontrollable", is not an overload of senses and information. Also, an autistic person having a panic attack can usually recover from it in a few minutes (some longer) but in an autistic meltdown it takes 30 minutes or more (some the whole day or longer).
Panic attacks usually stem from anxiety. Some describes it as a reaction to extreme fear.
The way a person handles a panic attack or a meltdown are also different. In meltdowns, most common reaction is different actions like moving arms up and down as if flying; stimming; or trying to cover one's ears (like what Young Woo did); some suddenly cries, while some shuts down.
Q: Why did you say "sudden meltdown"?
A: Because a meltdown does not necessarily happen instantly. There are stages or put it another way it is a slow build up. In most cases there are noticeable signs (at least to the autistic person).
In Young Woo's case, it was a sudden meltdown. Think of the world suddenly changing from "okay" to "post-apocalyptic". Suddenly all your senses, brain processes, and everything else, are bombarded by thoughts, sensations, information, here and there, left and right, front and back.
You're probably thinking in that scenario:
- "What happened?!!!"
- "Where am I?!!!"
- "How did I get here?!!!!"
- "Why am I still alive and everyone else are dead?!!!!"
- "What are those sounds, is there an invasion?!!!"
- "What is this intense heat? But the wind is cold? Am I burning?"
- "My hands are on fire but I'm not feeling pain only heat!!"
- "What should I do?!!"
- "I don't want to die!!!!!!!!"
- "Someone help me! (just shouting inside your mind)"
- "MOVE FEET MOVE DAMN IT MOVE!!!!"
And that's just the beginning of it. Autistics have sensory sensitivities and have different "levels" of sensitivity in each senses. For some autistics they are hypersensitive in many senses, in some they are hyposensitive, in yet some it's a mix.
Then there are checklists in your mind about "how to act socially", "how to act publicly" because people will judge you, discriminate against you, and so on.
You are thinking all of it at the same time. You are trying to process all of it at the same time. You are trying to organize all these information. Trying to make sense of it all. Which ones should you prioritize? Which ones matter most?
And then you have a routine you usually follow that now … boom … gone.
Your careful preparation … poof … gone. Everything is in chaos. Everything no longer make any sense. The variables are crazy.
What happens next if you're an autistic person? Meltdown NOT panic attack as some news sites and blogs are reporting re: episode 11. It's overload. It's meltdown.
In Young Woo's case in episode 11, she started covering her ears wildly. If Joon Ho did not see her, she would have done far more than that like jumping, talking to herself, stim, flap her arms, roll, cry, even shout. She was not having a panic attack, she was having a meltdown, and she was trying to contain it because she is also very concious people will judge her and whisper about her "weird" actions which will cause more discrimination against her.
The extreme control that she has burst. It's gone. She imploded. Think of a dam breaking. The dam is her control while the massive water is the result of the information/input/sensory overload. It is all bursting out, it is why an explosive reaction is commonly observed in meltdowns. It is also an internal struggle. She is fighting with herself trying to setup her control back. It is not an external "DIE EVERYONE" moment as the narrative from the West usually report.
Some autistics handle this by locking themselves in their rooms. Some go to sleep. Some do hurt themselves (again, not other people) -- you may want to check them if you know this is the case. Some goes to a corner and talk to themselves or rocks back and forth. Some shuts down and the only reaction you'll get is "yes" and "no" and "uhh", some won't even talk anymore, they're just staring blankly.
But deep inside, it's an internal struggle. Deep inside, an autistic is thinking "they'll think I'm crazy", "they'll think I'm acting like a stubborn kid", "they'll think I'm using my autism as an excuse", "they'll think I'm not normal".
Meltdowns are not panic attacks. Panic attacks (usually caused by anxiety and seen in autistics too) can be a cause of meltdowns but that is not always the case, the most common and frequent cause is sensory/input overload. Next is changes in routine.
What Young Woo experienced in episode 11 is that … sensory/input overload. It was not a panic attack.
Oh, and you can actually join autistic support groups, or watch videos by autistics. "Panic attack" vs "meltdown" is an often discussed topic even within the autistic community.
Again, I do not speak for the autistic community. I am only trying to explain things, mainly coming from my own experience, and the experience of other autistics who shared their stories and complaints.
No two autistics are the same; and autism is four-dimensional.
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