What is Dysregulation
What is meant by dysregulation?
The term dysregulated is now often used in the context of describing a loss of control of someone’s emotions and/or behaviour (usually with reference to a child), but what does it actually mean?
The generic term ‘emotional dysregulation’ refers to difficulties in identifying, managing and responding to emotions in a flexible and appropriate way. Anyone can be emotionally dysregulated at times during their life due to many different reasons, for example, illness, stress, trauma. Neurodivergent individuals are likely to experience emotional dysregulation much more frequently for different reasons.
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Dysregulation manifestation
According to the National Autistic Society www.autism.org.uk emotional dysregulation in autistic people often manifests itself as:
There are a number of reasons why autistic people are more susceptible to becoming emotionally dysregulated:
Differences with interoception
It can be harder for autistic people to recognize the signals that their own body is telling them, for example, hunger/thirst cues, internal cues about their own emotional state. This means that they are unlikely to act on their needs early on, resulting in an intense response when they have become overwhelmed.
Alexithymia (difficulty identifying and describing one’s emotions)
A much higher proportion of autistic people (around 50%) have alexithymia compared to the neurotypical population (around 5%). An inability to recognize what you’re feeling leads to confusion and not being able to put into place appropriate support strategies for oneself, again potentially resulting in an explosion of emotion or an emotional shutdown.
Sensory processing differences
Many autistic and neurodivergent people process information through their senses differently, for example, perhaps being over-responsive to auditory stimuli or under-responsive to tactile stimuli. Each individual’s sensory profile will differ and even within one individual, their sensory profile may fluctuate, depending on the situation and how they are feeling. Being in environments that are not suited to your sensory needs can also be a trigger for an individual becoming dysregulated.
Changes in routine
Changes in routine can also contribute to dysregulation in autistic people who often have a need for predictability and sameness in order to feel safe.
How can we as TACPAC givers support our receivers’ emotional regulation?
TACPAC can work to provide some of these supports and therefore be a valuable tool in helping receivers to achieve emotional regulation.
Structure and routine
In TACPAC sessions, the giver uses consistent communication methods to cue the start and finish and each activity in between to achieve predictability for the receiver. Each Set is delivered in the same way each time so that the receiver knows what to expect and learns to anticipate what is coming next. Each Set is delivered for at least 6 months so that the receiver becomes very familiar with its structure and routine.
The touch is delivered to the beat of the music and in a specific body pattern, so that the receiver learns to anticipate when and where the touch is going to happen on their body. Again, this establishes a structure and routine which helps the receiver to regulate.
Adjust expectations
In TACPAC sessions, we aim to be flexible and meet the receiver where they are at, rather than expecting them to be able to stay for a whole Set straight away.
Use sensory tools
During TACPAC, the giver is encouraged to be aware of the receiver’s sensory profile and make any necessary adjustments to help them to feel regulated, for example, changes to lighting, positioning, where the touch is delivered or amount of pressure used.
Engage in calming activities
Receivers of TACPAC often find it a calming and regulating activity in itself. This is due to its structure and predictability as described earlier and also delivering the touch to the beat of the music. Sticking to the beat is calming as it means the receiver knows what is coming next. TACPAC also uses deep pressure in some of its activities, which has also been proven to calm the nervous system.
Recognise signs early
Once a receiver is familiar with TACPAC, it can be used as a tool to prevent a receiver from tipping into complete dysregulation. Once the giver recognizes that the receiver is showing some early warning signs of dysregulation, TACPAC can be offered as a tool to help calm their nervous system. Set 6 (HandyPac) is a useful one for this as it can be delivered wherever you are as it doesn’t require any objects and the music can be accessed from the TACPAC app.
Further Reading
Connecting and communicating with your Autistic child: A Toolkit of activities Tessa Morton, Jane Gurnett and Glenys Jones 2021. This book gives lots of practical ideas for activities to establish connection and build communication skills.
The Zones of Regulation Leah M. Kuypers 2021. This book describes how to apply the zones of regulation programme to help individuals to identify and describe their emotions and recognise what they can do to establish regulation.
Energy Accounting Maja Toudal and Tony Attwood 2024. The energy accounting approach teaches the neurodivergent person to recognize what drains their energy and what they need to do to recharge their energy and provides practical ideas for how to balance energy levels in order to avoid frequent dysregulation, which can potentially lead to burnout.
Further Reading
The Kids’ guide to staying awesome and in control: Simple stuff to help children regulate their emotions and senses Lauren Brukner 2014. Lots of simple ideas to help children to regulate their emotions.
National Autistic Society Know Yourself series this new series of videos and accompanying workbooks is aimed at autistic teenagers and looks at various different topics, including energy accounting.
Autism and sensory processing National Autistic Society. This section of the website gives detailed information about sensory processing differences and also has practical ideas for helping to identify an individual’s sensory profile.
Dysregulation FAQs
Energy accounting is a self management strategy where an individual tracks, budgets and balances their mental, emotional and physical energy throughout the day. It’s often used to prevent burnout and avoid extreme dysregulation, leading to overwhelm or shutdown.
The zones of regulation is a framework designed to help individuals to understand and manage their emotions, energy levels and state of alertness. It organizes these states into four colour coded zones, which make them easier to talk about.
Blue zone – low energy, sad, tired, ill, bored.
Green zone – calm, focused, ready to learn, in control.
Yellow zone – anxious, excited, silly, frustrated. Heightened, but has some control.
Red zone – extremely angry, out of control, overwhelmed, panicking or elated.
It was developed by OT Leah Kuypers and her book ‘The Zones of Regulation’ was first published in 2011.
Catastrophising is a style of thinking when a person imagines the worst possible outcome of a situation, however unlikely that may be. This results in heightened anxiety because of these thoughts and imagined disasters and makes challenges feel more overwhelming.
Anyone can have or develop this pattern of thinking but autistic individuals are more prone to catastrophising due to the tendency of having all or nothing thinking styles.
A shutdown is a response to overwhelming stress, sensory input or emotional load. Instead of displaying emotions and behaviours outwardly, the person withdraws inwardly and their ability to interact with their environment is reduced. The individual may become quiet, withdrawn or unable to speak at all and may have reduced movements. Cognitive processes may also be affected, for example, thinking less clearly and not being able to process information. The affected person needs time, rest, space and a feeling of security in order to recover.
A meltdown is an intense overwhelming response in which the individual temporarily loses the ability to regulate their feelings or behaviour. There may be intense reactions, e.g. lashing out, screaming/shouting and it often takes time and space before the person is able to recover. It usually happens when the person is experiencing an overload of stress or sensory input that they cannot cope with.
It is a difficulty in managing, controlling or responding to emotions in an appropriate way. Emotional reactions are often intense, rapid or hard to recover from and seem disproportionate to the situation or trigger.
In autistic individuals, dysregulation often manifests as meltdowns, shutdowns or catastrophising and sensory processing differences also contribute to dysregulation.
Helpful supports for emotional regulation
Helpful supports for emotional regulation According to the National Autistic Society, there are some key strategies that are helpful for managing emotional regulation for neurodivergent people: Structure and routine – [...]