Assault Cycle, The

Also known as the Emotional Arousal Cycle, this is a model by Kaplan and Wheeler (1983) that describes the five phases through which a person progresses when triggered into a state of distress. It is useful in understanding how a neurodivergent person reaches the point of Meltdown/Shutdown, starting with the triggering event, escalating to crisis, de-escalating through recovery, and ending up in post-crisis depression, before eventually being able to return to a baseline level of emotional regulation.