Overstimulation - it looks concerning

[vergil96]

OK, so I have a question for you again. I got something recently that my therapist described as overstimulation. The symptoms are unsettling and I'm just making sure that it's not just me. If my therapist, who is a licensed mental health professional, didn't see the need to go to psychiatrist, I think I can trust him. Although it looks like a mental health episode.

I feel tired and hypersensitive to pretty much everything, so a few days ago when I went shopping for groceries, I had trouble computing body movements including facial expression and tone of the voice, had a hard time speaking (texting was fine for whatever reason?), so I must have looked robotic and every sensation was drilling, so I looked mostly into empty space and at walls, I lost focus easily due to sounds so I didn't really take out earbuds. It must have looked concerning, shop workers asked me if I need help, because I couldn't find things. I stimmed a lot when nobody was watching me.

IDK just looking for reassurance. I don't know what it all really means. I mean, a lot has been going on recently for me, I went to a lot of different new places and met a lot of new people and faced a lot of new situations, so no wonder I'm tired, but the symptoms look like a mental health episode. I don't have any "positive" symptoms such as delusions or depressive feelings, and I think the therapist would notice if I needed to visit a psychiatrist and wouldn't tell me it's overstimulation if he suspected it's something else.

 

[Rodafina]

With the information you provided, this sounds like a meltdown to me. When there is sensory or social overstimulation and no good way to manage it, I can start to feel like I am losing control of my thoughts and actions. For me, this often happens after having bright lights in my eyes and having to negotiate a crowded space or listening to too many people. To stop it and reset, I need a significant amount of time away from everybody in a quiet space, preferably with some darkness.

Spoiler: One definition of a meltdown.

 

[vergil96]

I unfortunately sometimes have the exact thing that is described in the spoiler. I feel like what I'm having now is a bit different but a similar breed, so to say. Shutdown? Burnout? Idk.

 

[vergil96]

I have what you describe as a meltdown in response to a combination of the following:
- physical fatigue
- being tired in the evening
- participating in a social event with more than 3 people
- sudden loud noises (such as tooting, shouting)
- smells
- hunger
- being touched (such as someone suddenly giving me a pat or a hug)
- things falling on me
- having stomach pain
- being exposed to an emotional trigger
... and I don't really know how to manage those if they appear in a social setting, because people judge me very harshy for it e.g. say that it's because I'm selfish, want attention (I hate attention), I'm mean, arrogant etc. One of the times that it happened I left and took a 20-minute walk and that was read as being angry at everybody and feeling more important, punishing them. I'm clueless, it seems like no matter what I do, I will be perceived as having negative intentions towards others. But it's just being overwhelmed.