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Old Jul 29, 2017, 05:47 AM
Anonymous59893
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Yes, I have a massive problem with sensory overload now. It can be very hard to cope with

My community pdoc said it was because of aberrant salience: supposedly the dopamine system in psychosis notices stimuli that normally your brain would filter out. That's apparently why we notice signs and meanings in things that others think is irrelevant too. So our brain is supposedly noticing every little thing and finding meaning in it and it just gets totally overwhelming. The theory is that APs reduce the dopamine and thereby the aberrant salience (and normal motivational salience too unfortunately, which causes the apathetic-type side effects of APs), but APs haven't helped that for me at all.

Does anyone have any strategies to cope with it? I try to leave the overwhelming stimuli, or if not, put my music on loud through headphones and try to focus on that. But it doesn't usually work and, when I get to the point where I'm completely freaking out, all I can do is focus on my breath and tell myself it will pass, which it does eventually do, but it is awful

*Willow*