Sensory overload/ overwhelm /overstimulation
Sensory overload/ overwhelm /overstimulation
I can struggle with too much sensory information, and it reduces my ability to bring my best skills to the table at that time. I have always described this as a difficult experience to cope with. More recently, I wondered if there was a different definition for each of the statements. Who knew, but there is.
This is what I discovered. I don’t know if I agree or not, but I found it interesting to think about.
1. Sensory Overload
Definition:
Sensory overload occurs when the brain receives more sensory input than it can process effectively. This leads to a feeling of being overwhelmed by the environment, causing distress or discomfort.
2. Sensory Overwhelm
Definition:
Sensory overwhelm is a broader and more subjective experience that may not necessarily stem from sensory input alone. It refers to a general feeling of being overwhelmed by the demands placed on the senses and the mind.
3. Sensory Overstimulation
Definition:
Sensory overstimulation refers to a state where the senses are bombarded with stimuli to the point that it becomes uncomfortable or unmanageable, but it is often used to describe more prolonged exposure to stimuli rather than a sudden onset.
Maybe I should have known that different terms mean something slightly different, but I was oblivious to this.
Then I read about real life scenarios
Going to a Concert
Sensory Overload: A person at a rock concert feels an immediate urge to leave due to loud music and flashing lights.
Sensory Overwhelm: The same person might feel overwhelmed if they were already stressed from work before attending the concert.
Sensory Overstimulation: Spending an entire day at a music festival might lead to sensory overstimulation by the evening.
Now, I know that what I experience should be referred to as sensory overload. I also think this is really difficult to truly decipher which category I fit into. Who cares anyway? I know what I experience is unpleasant. I know what to do about it and I think this is more important than anything else.
My most recent overload was going shopping.
Generally, I avoid shopping. I prefer to shop online. It gives me time to consider things, compare, and walk away if other demands arise or I just get bored. Sometimes however, I need to go to a shop.
I had just the opportunity to do this last week. I needed to buy a hat. I know it is usually tricky to get a hat that fits so this is better to do this in person. My daughter also needed a plain white T-shirt.
So off I went to a shopping centre. I took someone with me for company and they were doing the driving.
On arrival, we entered the car park. I would typically park on the lowest level as you need to go up a spiral-type drive to reach the upper level. This always makes me feel disorientated. It feels like I’m not sure of the width of the car and where the walls start. Then there are those warning lines which give me a visual disorientation, to me these lines often move.
If I need to drive in this environment, I take it very slow to compensate for this. I have intense symptoms of overload at this point especially when the driver moved faster than I wanted. Usually, I can feel my temperature beginning to rise and anxiety takes hold. If I’m driving, I need to take deep out breaths, to stop me from holding my breath while going up these ramps. When I’m in the passenger seat I typically grip onto the seat/ side of the door because it feels like I’m going to fall over. I also push hard down on my feet and push hard into the chair. This is all I can do to settle myself and manage the resulting anxiety from the overload. It looks odd to others, people will say it's an overreaction, they can lack some serious compassion, and they might laugh at my responses, but I don’t care what anyone thinks. In reality, it only lasts a few seconds but if we need to keep repeating to go up to different levels it gets very challenging.
From a sensory perspective, I feel additional feedback from my proprioceptive sense when I grip on and push down. This gives me a sense of reassurance that I am not about to fall over as my funky visual and vestibular senses get information a little mixed up. As an adult, I can rationalise that I am sitting down so I know I can’t fall over but this is what my vestibular sense and my vision is telling me. It is very disorientating.
Then we head to the shopping centre. I need to go up a curved staircase a bit different to the picture, but it gives the idea. Even worse than this there are patterns on the balustrades. I really hate these. I try my best to cope with these. Visually you see through them, and you see the steps too, so it looks like the stairs are going in different directions. It is much worse going down the stairs than up them, but both are unpleasant.
The tactic is to hold onto the banister or hold onto someone’s hand or arm, but they need to move slowly, or I get very dizzy. If the banister is cold, I’ve hit the jackpot, because as the overload increases so will my temperature so anything that helps to cool is welcome. I try not to think about covid or the amount of people who will have touched it before me. During covid I used lots of bannisters with a coat at the elbow and guided myself this way. If I go down this rabbit hole of over thinking it adds a new level of stress that I really don’t need in that moment. My temperature will be going up because these experiences result in anxiety. I can feel even worse with dizziness when I go downstairs and again it feels like I will fall over. Typically, I take a pause at the top of stairs before starting down.
As I get to the top of the stairs there are lots of people around. I can’t wait for anyone else I must go. As you come into the shopping centre it is a big atrium roofed space, wide, bright with lots of hard surfaces. This means it is very bright, loud and echoey. I struggle with knowing which direction the sound is coming from. If I was a child this would be awful, I might try to run but, as an adult, I know I just need to find an edge of the space to feel secure. I need to find a wall that I can hold onto to reorientate myself. This helps me to feel where my body is in space. I can’t stay in this environment long, so I wait just long enough to settle and then set off again.
People are moving, stopping, starting, getting in front of me. I can’t judge what they will do next. Noise is coming from all directions. I can just about cope with the human chit chat but, then there is the music in the shops. Oh, my goodness this is so difficult, the loud music that contradicts the next shop’s music, this is so overwhelming. I feel my temperature rising and I can feel the emotion of frustration and anger. I walk as fast as I can and get out the other side of the centre, then I can stop. It's cool, I need to feel the cool seat outdoors, I need to lean against a hard surface. I talk to myself and tell myself I can do this. I can re-regulate in the open cool space
Now, I’ve spotted the shop I need to enter.
I start by looking from the outside of the shop, where might the things I need be positioned? I plan and go for it. I enter the shop, it’s OK, I spot the hats. I try on the first hat it does not fit, then a few more with the same results. Then the music starts. Doof doof doof, it’s really hard to think through this. What should I do when something doesn’t fit? I can’t think about the hat it’s too difficult.
I head for the T-shirts. None fit the criteria I was given. Then suddenly I find one, take a quick picture and send it to my daughter. “Would this work for you?” I ask via messaging. No answer. The music feels like it is getting louder doof doof doof. Still no answer, I message my other daughter to choose. No answer. I think I gave them milliseconds to answer. That’s it I’m leaving the shop. I can’t wait, it’s too hard not to be in motion, waiting in the middle of a shop, that has no walls I can get to for soothing. I left the shop, and the girls responded. It took me 4 times to go in and out of this shop before I knew where the items were and which to buy. I rationalised, that all I need to do is go in, collect them and then pay.
My final attempt. I entered the shop quickly, picked up the items saw a hat and went to the counter to pay. I made it, I’m going to be finished…then… doof doof doof, the music started again. Arrgghh. I put the items down quickly at the till, only to then have a chatty salesperson. He wanted to know how my day was and what were my plans. Of all the things to ask me in that moment. It was like my brain and mouth was unable to comprehend the question and formulate an answer. The salesperson kept going. I just couldn’t cope with verbal interactions. I deflected to the person with me and hoped they would help. By this point, I’m done, I have nothing left I just want to cry. There is nothing left, I need to leave, I put the items in my bag only to be stopped by the salesperson again and asked can I have your email address to send the receipt.
I can only begin to describe the sensations at this moment. My heart rate is up. The noise is making my vision blurry, I can’t make conversation, I can’t manage social niceties (waiting on others, politeness). I am too hot; I am entering fight flight mode. This is not my idea of a good day out.
The question is, why would you put yourself in this situation when this is the result? To be honest I don’t do it often. But I also don’t see why I should not do the things I want to do. |For this particular event, I can say I was not well prepared, but I will be next time. I’m going to conquer this; nothing is going to control me not even my sensory system in overdrive.