Better Understanding Sensory Processing Disorder
Sensory processing disorder, though not an official mental health diagnosis, is a condition widely recognized in the medical community. Still, it doesn’t seem to get as much attention in the general population as it might deserve.
Have you ever heard of sensory processing disorder? Are you confused about what it is, or how to describe it to others?
Rather than telling someone else they are “too sensitive”, consider other language you can use to describe your experience in the moment and make related requests or communicate your limits if needed:
“I am starting to get frustrated … can we slow down and pause for a breath?”
“I’m feeling overwhelmed in this moment and need to take a beat”
“This is a lot for me … let me take some space to feel a bit more settled”
Sensory processing disorder is not an official mental health diagnosis, but managing SPD in a neurotypical world does have an emotional impact.
The phrase “you’re too sensitive” is full of judgment, and does nothing to actually help whatever sensitivity is surfacing.
To be clear, some people who regularly receive this feedback struggle with sensory processing disorder, and some do not. Either way, it’s an ineffective way to communicate frustration with someone’s sensitivity, and it reinforces a negative, stigmatized view of sensitivity in general.
Many people do not have sensory processing disorder but still experience challenges related to their emotional regulation or physical sensitivity for other reasons (anxiety, depression or trauma, for example). It is reasonable to expect that there will be variation to people’s nervous systems and responses to various situations and stimuli.
In the case of sensory processing disorder, there is a clearly identifiable difference in the way that sensory information is perceived as compared to the rest of the population. People who struggle with sensory modulation may literally struggle with what medical professionals call over-responsiveness to stimuli … in other words their sensory experiences register far stronger than what the average person would experience.
While it may be true that these individuals are by definition hypersensitive, this is a mere variance in their neurological makeup, not a character flaw.
Alternate terminology to use:
over vs under-responsiveness
When looking to treat or accommodate sensory processing disorder, it’s important to get clear on the presentation (check out the slides above for more info about the subtypes of sensory processing disorder)
One relevant distinction for those struggling specifically with sensory modulation, is whether they are experiencing over or under-responsiveness to a given stimulus.
Under-responsiveness means that the nervous system needs a lot more stimulation for an experience to register as compared to the average person. By contrast, when someone is over-responsive they need a lot less.
It is common for people with sensory modulation difficulties to experience over-responsivity to some stimuli and under-responsivity to others.
Getting clear on which senses are over-responsive vs under-responsive can make sense of how sensory modulation difficulties are being expressed, and perhaps more importantly can help us to design interventions and accommodations that actually support the individual’s unique needs.
Take a moment to reflect on this. Perhaps it was in your family of origin, or at school. Maybe it was on a work assignment, or in a romantic relationship. Most of us, if not all, have been taught to ignore our needs at some point or another.
Focusing specifically on sensory needs, many children and adults with sensory processing disorder or other forms of sensory difficulty are not appropriately identified, let alone accommodated. When sensory needs are habitually ignored, a breakdown of sorts is inevitable. Burnout, meltdowns, and internalization of the belief that they are “too much” are regular consequences of perpetually unmet sensory needs.
In truth, all of our needs cannot be met all of the time. This reality, however, ought not be used to halt self-advocacy or perpetuate shame for having needs that might appear to exceed what the average, neurotypical (privileged) person possesses.
The invitation for everyone this week is to the consider ways in which you ignore or deny yourself your needs, and explore where this impulse came from. What are the consequences of your needs not being met? Are there ways you want to challenge that habit now?
