An effect of trauma

Sensory overload

Sound that other people barely register arriving like an alarm. Overhead lighting, crowds, supermarkets, or a busy room becoming unbearable within minutes. Being touched unexpectedly landing as a threat before there is time to think. Certain fabrics, smells, or a television left on in another room making it impossible to stay in the house. A nervous system already running at full volume has nothing left to absorb ordinary input with.

This is not fussiness and it is not something to push through harder. It is what happens when a system that has been on alert for years has no spare capacity for ordinary noise and light. It softens as the alert level comes down, which is slow work and real work. Nobody here will ask you to sit in a room that hurts.

It can sound like

“Everything is too loud.” “I cannot cope in shops.” “I need the lights off.” “Do not touch me without telling me first.” “My skin feels like it is on fire.”

If any of those sentences live in your head too, you are in good company here.

Experiences this often follows

Effects do not come from nowhere. These are some of the experiences that people who carry this one often describe. You do not need to have been through any of them for what you feel to be real.

Nothing on this page is a diagnosis, and nothing here decides what is wrong with you, because nothing is wrong with you. Something happened to you. This page exists so that when you are ready, you can find people who understand it from the inside.

You do not have to carry this alone.

Bridge of Hope Recovery is a free, anonymous, peer-led fellowship for trauma survivors. Meetings run throughout the week by phone, by video, and in person. No cost, no waitlist, no one asking for your real name.

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