We had our first frost this morning, so I'm back from the garden for the season.
Before continuing the blog with the topics I mentioned in March: 1) Creativity and 2) Mentalization-based Therapy, I have a new book I am reading which speaks strongly to me, and many of the symptoms and challenges I've faced since birth.
The book is Too loud, too bright, too fast, too tight by Sharon Heller.
To my knowledge, Sensory Defensive Disorder is not recognized by the psychiatric community. i.e. It is not listed in the Diagnosis and Statistics Manual of the American Psychiatric Association. (DSM - VI)
The professionals taking point on this are occupational therapists who often work with autistic children and those with learning disabilities.
What is comes down to, is a lack of sensory integration which happens on an ongoing basis in "neurotypical" normal people from birth onwards. Well adjusted/adapted people, are able to tune out noise, lights, smells, etc. that greatly affect people with Sensory Defensive Disorder.
Speaking from my own experience, it is as though everything, all sensory information comes in at the same weight, creating a feeling of threat or confusion. This causes a lot of stress and tension in my being, causing me to react strongly against the stimuli to the point that I have curtailed much of "normal" life, to live as alone and isolated as I possibly can arrange.
Every day is a huge challenge in modern urban life. I am easily overwhelmed. Traffic sounds and smells, even the refrigerator running...can drive me crazy and make me vibrate inside. I feel angry, frustrated, like running away.
And knowing that most other people don't even register or notice the stimuli that is overwhelming me, makes me feel even worse. I'm the strange one. My request to turn off the radio or the lights is met with irritation. It takes so much energy just to get through a day I am in despair, depressed and often feel like dying.
I don't know if this disorder is corollary to BPD or correlated; but it is certainly something I experience, and I note that a number of people in the group I attend of varying diagnoses, have varying degrees of this sensitivity.
I wanted to post this information as I am processing it. It would be interesting to know if this sensory disorder is common in BPD, or independent of it.
Before continuing the blog with the topics I mentioned in March: 1) Creativity and 2) Mentalization-based Therapy, I have a new book I am reading which speaks strongly to me, and many of the symptoms and challenges I've faced since birth.
The book is Too loud, too bright, too fast, too tight by Sharon Heller.
To my knowledge, Sensory Defensive Disorder is not recognized by the psychiatric community. i.e. It is not listed in the Diagnosis and Statistics Manual of the American Psychiatric Association. (DSM - VI)
The professionals taking point on this are occupational therapists who often work with autistic children and those with learning disabilities.
What is comes down to, is a lack of sensory integration which happens on an ongoing basis in "neurotypical" normal people from birth onwards. Well adjusted/adapted people, are able to tune out noise, lights, smells, etc. that greatly affect people with Sensory Defensive Disorder.
Speaking from my own experience, it is as though everything, all sensory information comes in at the same weight, creating a feeling of threat or confusion. This causes a lot of stress and tension in my being, causing me to react strongly against the stimuli to the point that I have curtailed much of "normal" life, to live as alone and isolated as I possibly can arrange.
Every day is a huge challenge in modern urban life. I am easily overwhelmed. Traffic sounds and smells, even the refrigerator running...can drive me crazy and make me vibrate inside. I feel angry, frustrated, like running away.
And knowing that most other people don't even register or notice the stimuli that is overwhelming me, makes me feel even worse. I'm the strange one. My request to turn off the radio or the lights is met with irritation. It takes so much energy just to get through a day I am in despair, depressed and often feel like dying.
I don't know if this disorder is corollary to BPD or correlated; but it is certainly something I experience, and I note that a number of people in the group I attend of varying diagnoses, have varying degrees of this sensitivity.
I wanted to post this information as I am processing it. It would be interesting to know if this sensory disorder is common in BPD, or independent of it.
