What does sensory overload feel like?
In this video, Vanessa Castañeda Gill explains that sensory overload isn’t “overreacting” — it’s every sight, sound, smell, and sensation turned up at once, and understanding that is the first step to real support.
Transcript
Sensory overload can feel a little different for everyone, but for many neurodivergent folks, it feels like our senses are just all amplified and there is no way to turn the dial down. For instance, if I'm in a crowded room and there's a bunch of conversations going on, I start to just hear all of them getting progressively louder at the same time, and there is no way to turn it back down or the lights overhead might just start to get so unbearably bright that it's almost painful.
In terms of touch, i'll start to feel things like my pant leg brushing against my ankle, and it becomes extremely irritating. And then with smell, I'll start to smell everything from perfume to food, to anything going on outside, and they start to kind of clash in my brain.
Overall, it just feels like this cacophony of different thoughts and feelings and sensations to the point where my brain kind of feels like a fuzzy TV screen after a broadcast ends, and then it just kind of puts you into a fight or flight mode. So when you're working with neurodivergent young people, it's really important to make sure to understand their sensory triggers, and control the ones you can, giving them headphones or earplugs or dimming the lights down and helping them create kind of an action plan to escape or to feel better once they are regulated again.
For more tips like this, you can find us at socialcipher.com.
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