Overstimulation

Hello! Here is a lovely post about overstimulation.

There are different types of overstimulation. However the two I want to focus are "Emotional overstimulation and "Social overstimulation."

Emotional Overstimulation ( EO)

I personally find it difficult at times to identify what I am feeling. This is possibly "related to the finding that the brain of an individual with an autism spectrum disorder exhibits decreased long-range connectivity, in particular between the limbic system (where emotions originate) and the prefrontal cortex (where they become conscious) (Geschwind, D.H., and Levitt)." I often sense a meltdown occurring when asked to verbalize my emotions.

Many people on the spectrum experience and absorb emotions differently then neurotypicals do. I experience angry outbursts or crying fits when people don't understand me or why I am overstimulated. Perhaps in part because people on the spectrum "cannot easily access our emotions, we cannot easily regulate them."

"Emotional OS may be sparked by any number of everyday occurrences: rooms on cups that have too many people in them, mods or commods not understanding the differences between neurotypicals and nuerodiverse, listeners not knowing how to work with autism, a scary movie, a sad book, an intense psychotherapy session, a troubling lecture, a thorny conversation. Even joy – especially unanticipated joy, as in pleasant surprises – can be overwhelming in its intensity. All this makes me so so hesitant and in fact closer to a meltdown and angry moment.

Social Overstimulation ( SO)

Social interactions are challenging with rapid exchanges of verbal (intellectual) information, ever-shifting nonverbal (emotional) messages, and loud voices ( caps).

The multimodal nature of social intercourse makes it supremely challenging for those on the spectrum. "There is so much to process at once – and it all moves so quickly!" Interactions that flow intuitively for most neurotypicals can leave me unsure of what to say next or how to react. Often what I most need to say is, “Slow down! Wait for me! Or I need you to stop, read the overstimulation post and come back to me.

everything in quotes is from https://autismspectrumnews.org/four-faces-of-overstimulation/