Sensory overload

Overstimulation is a colloquial metaphor for an assumed state of the body in which that so many stimuli simultaneously receives through the senses, that they can no longer be processed and cause the person affected to mental overwork.

These excessive demands of the (human ) organism and nervous system through sensory impressions affects the senses (hearing, sight, smell, taste and touch ) individually, in combination, for a short period and long-term.

The focus of the studies on the situation of man in the modern world, especially the acoustic and visual perception are as triggers sensory overload.

Examples of possible causes are:

• Hearing: noise, multiple simultaneous acoustic sources (eg talk amidst crowd )
• Eyes: variety of colors, flashing lights, rapid movement
• Odor and taste: sensory overload can also occur when a motley food that the tastes sweet, sour, bitter, salty and umami contains at the same time so that the flavors can not be individually perceived and assigned.
• Drugs from the group of psychedelics

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Overstimulation leads to short-term stress, hectic, aggressive reactions and faster exhaustion. Above all schizophrenics, but also highly sensitive personalities (HSP ) as well as autism and attention deficit hyperactivity disorder ( ADHD) sufferers react particularly rapidly. Prolonged overstimulation can cause permanent difficulty concentrating, loss of reality or hyperactivity cause and is a possible cause of learning disabilities dar. Modern lifestyles, particularly the omnipresent use of the Internet and other modern media, bring the view of some chronic overstimulation and could result in many people to the typical interference images.

Others

In behavior therapy targeted overstimulation ( flooding ) is used as a psychotherapeutic agent to treat phobic disorders, for example, in the context of adversarial proceedings. Here, the client is exposed to anxiety-provoking stimuli after preparation strong. He learns this, endure the frightening situation.