Psychology
What does Sensory overload mean?
When light, sound, smell or touch pass the limit and the system jams or blows.
Definition
Sensory overload is when the room fills too much: a mall, a party, an open office, fluorescent light. The core is the stimulus, though anxiety can share the same party. Afterwards can come shutdown — switching off — or meltdown: spilling over.
People with ADHD report it too. People who live it ask for headphones, shade, a door. “Normal” mall volume can still blow the filter.
Origin
English joins sensory to overload. Leo Kanner, in Autistic Disturbances of Affective Contact (1943), already noted hypo- and hyper-reaction to sound, fabric, light. DSM-IV tested a sensory criterion in the field trial and left it out. DSM-5 (18 May 2013) put hyper- or hyporeactivity in autism criterion B.4.
History
From Kanner’s observation the theme reached DSM-5 criterion B and the TikTok card with the list of what blows. Autistic and ADHD communities use shutdown and meltdown for what comes after the overflow. Occupational therapy talks of sensory processing; the short nickname stuck as overload.
How it emerged
Too loud did not describe the collapse of processing. A name was missing for the filter that blows; the community stuck overload and DSM-5, in 2013, finally listed reactivity on the report.
Usage examples
The office fluorescent blew the filter.
They left the party with headphones and a door.
Translations
- pt sobrecarga sensorial
- en sensory overload
- es sobrecarga sensorial
Synonyms
- sensory overload
- DSM-5
- Kanner
- stimming