I'm another who can relate to the whole sensory hypersensitivity issue. Usually, and typically, it is sounds that are most overwhelming and distressing for me, and this can take the form of too much volume, or simply too many competing overlapping sounds and noises all of which feel as though they are ceaselessly clamouring for my attention, an attention I can't accurately divide well enough to cope with all of them.
Is it possible that the "spatial invasion" with "the world too full of things" could also be sensory overload -
visual overload? I experience this less often - I have to be pretty well stressed already, but I know it well. I told one counselor in an intake interview that there was no way that I could do therapy or anything else in his office because there were WAY too many pictures and quotes and doo dads wallpapering his office. For me, the visual effect of his office was way too loud.
I have paid a lot of attention in my work and personal life to whether a person is more visual or more auditory. In my observation, if you are more visual (learn better visually, are artistic, tend to use visual language, etc), you are more likely to become
auditorily overwhelmed and just unable to process auditory information. That's me.
I just went upstairs, in fact, and offered the staff person at this "crisis house" a compromise - I would take my Clonazepam early to help me calm down if she would
shut the f*ck up. No, no, actually I said, "if we could lower the noise level in the house." Blank stare. "... if you could try to be aware of the volume of your voice and the fact that you're going on and on and on and I can't even escape it in the basement with the door shut." Luckily she complied and didn't seem to take too much offense.
So for me, it's only at more stressful times that visual overload kicks in, because my brain is wired to process visual stuff easily. At those times, though, I love nothing better than staring at a blank wall or ceiling - no patterns, no texture, ahh... calm. I.e, the homeless shelter director "scolded" me (yeah - I won't even go there) for not attending a mandatory house meeting. "There was a notice up about the meeting," she informed me. "There are a thousand notices about various rules and schedules and directions and procedures posted all over this building," I tried to explain. "There is no way that I could possibly take all that in and have picked up on one notice about the meeting." I think she thought I was making an excuse and didn't really believe me, but that's hers to deal with.
I've only met a very few people who are wired to take in stimuli primarily through auditory means, but they do seem more likely to crumble (in my experience) when faced with a visual task that is overwhelming for them at that moment. One primarily auditory friend would get frustrated if someone talked with her while she was performing the fun chore of picking up dog poop in the yard. The actual visual hunting was stressful because visual is not her forte and took all her mental resources to handle.
I don't know if any of this helps, but just thought I'd toss in my 2 cents.
Sensory overload is a real issue when I am anxious. Sounds are disturbing because they all blend together into some type of deafening roar that just increases the anxiety. I am learning just to control it.
Have you had any luck with "real control starting inside," and if so what methods have you utilized to achieve that control? I would love to know and be able to replicate it.
Assertiveness does help a lot in certain situations and I'm trying to practice it more and more - places and people who you can ask to slow down when they're talking or talk one at a time. I wear earplugs (which make me look like a dweeb) on the bus because of the radio and in stores because of the Musak and in-store commercials.
I've learned that, when someone is giving me directions to get somewhere, to tell them once that I cannot take in auditory directions and I'll need to write them down or draw a map. I've learned to
only tell them once, and that only about half of people believe me. So many others say, "No, no, it's easy. You just go...." And I inwardly sigh and let them ramble on and on while I am able to retain none of it, because they're going to anyway. Then I go ask someone else to draw me a map.
I know this Sensory Overload or Sensory Processing Disorder is commonly treated by specialized Occupational Therapists in children. More and more I'm reading and being validated that SPD can be a by-product of PTSD, but so far I haven't found reference to OT's treating adults with Sensory Processing Disorder caused by PTSD. I'd really like to hear from anyone who knows anything about this, with either positive or negative results.
Not sure how to write this. I want to ask if anybody else has sensory overload at any time.
I'm sorry. This oversensitivity is awful. And, like PTSD in general, it's an "invisible disability." It's not like you have a cast on your arm or are in a wheelchair, so strangers and probably even people close to you have a harder time understanding why you respond the way you do. Yes?
