I learned something from my occupational therapist about sensory defensiveness that has proved very helpful.
Last week, before I went in for my appointment, my OT called to get some background information. At one point in the call, she asked me which senses get highly overloaded. I told her that I have a lot of trouble with visual and auditory stimuli, and that I also find light touch very difficult. For example, when my husband comes over to me while I’m writing and gently kisses me on the head, I feel like I want to execute a self-defense block and shout “Stop!” It’s the light touch combined with the fact that I also happen to be using another sense at the time that puts me over the top.
In describing the feelings of anger that rise inside me, I told my OT that I used to say to myself, “Girl, where is this anger coming from? You’ve got a lot of issues.” But now, I realize that it’s just my nervous system that can’t handle light touch or too much sensory input at once.
She very emphatically agreed, saying, “Yes, that’s right. It’s not psychological. It’s your nervous system defending itself.”