What Is Sensory Overload?
Sensory overload is a condition where the brain becomes overloaded with sensory information. This can occur due to stress or other reasons. For example, it may happen when someone is exposed to loud noises such as fireworks or during childbirth. It can also happen if one experiences extreme heat, cold, pain, etc., which causes excessive stimulation of the senses.
Symptoms of Sensory Overload:
– Uncontrollable urge to touch, taste, smell, hear or see something.
– Extreme sensitivity to sound and light.
– Difficulty concentrating or having problems remembering things.
How To Deal With Sensory Overload?
Symptoms Of Sensory Overload Treatment:
How To Treat Sensory Overload?
There are several ways to treat sensory overload. You could try to reduce the amount of stimuli, which would mean reducing noise, sounds and lights. Or you could change your environment so that there is less stimulation. Another way is to use different types of therapy. For instance, you can take medications to relieve some symptoms of sensory overload. Here is some information below concerning what are the causes of sensory overload:
Anxiety: It is a human emotion that occurs when a person experiences mental or physical distress. It becomes an issue when the anxiety lasts for a long period of time and interferes with a person’s life. In such a scenario, a person needs to get professional help.
Stress: When people experience stress, their brain produces chemicals such as adrenaline and cortisol. These make the body prepare for ‘fight or flight’. It is a good way to deal with dangerous situations when a person has to either confront the source of danger or run away from it. But when stress becomes extreme or lasts for a long time, it can cause several health issues such as headaches, anxiety, depression and others.
Depression: It is also a common mental disorder that many people suffer from around the world.
Sources & references used in this article:
” Psychedelic” Effects Produced by Sensory Overload by AM Ludwig – American Journal of Psychiatry, 1972 – Am Psychiatric Assoc
Effect of sensory overload on psychological state: changes in social alienation-personal disorganization and cognitive-intellectual impairment by LA Gottschalk, JL Haer, DE Bates – Archives of general psychiatry, 1972 – jamanetwork.com
Information and sensory overload. Information and sensory overload in psychology and marketing by NK Malhotra – Psychology & Marketing, 1984 – Wiley Online Library
Sensory overload: a concept analysis by S Scheydt, M Müller Staub… – … journal of mental …, 2017 – Wiley Online Library
Sensory overload by JE Lindenmuth, CS Breu… – AJN The American Journal …, 1980 – journals.lww.com
Sensory overload and noise in the ICU: Sources of environmental stress by CF Baker – Critical Care Nursing Quarterly, 1984 – journals.lww.com
Schizophrenia, sensory deprivation, and sensory overload. by AM Ludwig, LH Stark – Journal of Nervous and Mental Disease, 1973 – psycnet.apa.org
Sensory and information inputs overload: behavioral effects. by ZJ Lipowski – Comprehensive Psychiatry, 1975 – psycnet.apa.org
Sensory overload and imbalance: resting-state vestibular connectivity in PTSD and its dissociative subtype by S Harricharan, AA Nicholson, M Densmore… – Neuropsychologia, 2017 – Elsevier
