Sensitivity repeat exposure

[Ken]

Anxiety and overstimulation aren't very alike, so I don't understand why some people confuse them, except for the fact that both are in the brain. Overstimulation is more like a shutdown, there is too much going on, the brain goes into loops about all the everyday scenes that you've experienced during the day, too much light, noise, smells, unusual things - the memories come back time and time again with great detail. Overstimulation is a core feature of autism. Anxiety is excessive drive / energy in response to an emotional, not sensory stimulus. If to sensory, it's to something clearly unpleasant. Overstimulation is sensory, sometimes also too much information - complicated procedures, many people wanting things, frequent task switching, adjustments, unnecesary additional steps and minor decisions etc. It can make you feel more energetic in the sense of being "activated" but it's not as agitated as in anxiety. One of the very few similarities might be more intense stimming to let off the energy, but imo it's a different type of stimming. It's also not a negative mood, there isn't a mood associated with it. Anxiety results from a negative emotional state.

Thank you so much for that excellent explanation. I don't think I "confused" them. I just wasn't clear on the definitions.

Still learning!!

 

[vergil96]

Thank you so much for that excellent explanation. I don't think I "confused" them. I just wasn't clear on the definitions.

Still learning!!

Ah, I didn't mean that you confused the two, it was clear to me that you didn't from your message, you simply asked out of curiousity, as far as I understood. I was referring to the psychologists who didn't understand - it was very frustrating.

 

[Tired]

So what would be the best way to help someone who is overstimulated? I leave SO alone because most of the time he asks for that, he kind of recharges by listening to some music or just scrolling net under the blanket. Sometimes he asks for hugs. Is there nothing specific I can do which works for everyone? He sometimes still isn't sure what to do when he's overstimulated, he's just all over the place and "wants it to stop because it's too much."

 

[Judge]

So what would be the best way to help someone who is overstimulated? I leave SO alone because most of the time he asks for that,

Maybe you just answered your own question. That sometimes solitude can be the best thing for us to "recharge our batteries".

I know in my own case the fastest way to recover from such stress is to simply be alone in my own thoughts without much external stimulus happening around me.

 

[Tired]

Maybe you just answered your own question. That sometimes solitude can be the best thing for us to "recharge our batteries".

I know in my own case the fastest way to recover from such stress is to simply be alone in my own thoughts without much external stimulus happening around me.

Yeah, I do listen to what he says, I just wonder is there maybe some another way which can help him of which he doesnt know about. Only after he met me and I told him about autism he started allowing himself to just chill from the overstimulation and not try to push himself harder and ask why is it so hard for him and not others... So I kind of hope that maybe someone knows some other tricks to this.

Recently I got overstimulated when I was ill, and it was the first time for him when someone didn't want him to touch them. He says he never was on another side of that and that it is quite painful to want to help someone and not knowing how, and not even being able to give them comfort with a touch.

 

[Tired]

I know in my own case the fastest way to recover from such stress is to simply be alone in my own thoughts without much external stimulus happening around me.

What are you actually thinking about when you're overstimulated?

 

[Judge]

What are you actually thinking about when you're overstimulated?

Once it happens, logically speaking I'm literally trying to think about nothing.

Though I might add, it's not easy when I'm overstimulated. An attempt to simply shut out all sounds and sometimes shut my eyes as well. As if no one else existed for that moment...

 

[vergil96]

So what would be the best way to help someone who is overstimulated? I leave SO alone because most of the time he asks for that, he kind of recharges by listening to some music or just scrolling net under the blanket. Sometimes he asks for hugs. Is there nothing specific I can do which works for everyone? He sometimes still isn't sure what to do when he's overstimulated, he's just all over the place and "wants it to stop because it's too much."

I don't know any other way either. I wish I knew.

I have found that prevention is helpful. Once I'm already overstimulated, I can't do much about it other than rest (be alone, listen to something, read - the TV is too much, games too). But prevention goes a long way - no crowds and shopping malls, loud parties, noisy conferences, a consistent, healthy daily routine.