Tuesday, May 10, 2022

MANY NEUROTYPICALS HAVE SENSORY PROCESSING ISSUES

 



When Sigmund Freud, one of the most influential geniuses of the last century, was asked what he would like to have changed in his life, he replied, ironically, “I wished I had been given a better brain.”

My wish would be for a more organized nervous system. Who wouldn’t wish that! The more balanced and organized the  nervous system, the steadier we are: on our feet; in our moods; in our thinking; in our life.

All behavior relies on the organization of the nervous system. As the brilliantly insightful occupational therapist Patti Oetter, my  mentor put it: “Behavior is a reflection of the organization of the nervous system at that moment and under those conditions.”

Those words, spoken to me over lunch one day in Los Angeles twenty years ago, widened the lens from which I viewed human behavior, a subject that, as a psychologist I know a bit about, and changed profoundly how I understand the impact of body on mind. I learned that how we interpret and respond to sensory information underlies all human behavior. Without knowing a person’s sensory world, you can’t understand their behavior

Our thoughts, actions, and feelings and how we express them—our behavior—begins with how the brain codes and processes sensory information. If we feel bored, we seek sensation; if we feel overwhelmed, we avoid sensation. Both states drive us and divert our attention away from what’s going on in the world. For this reason, behavior is not easily modified until sensory needs are met.

To understand why, let’s explore sensory integration.

SENSORY INTEGRATION

How our brain integrates and makes sense of incoming sensory information relies on how well our brain processes sensory information.

Let me explain.

To move the body effectively and to think clearly, the brain must organize and integrate the bombardment of sensation impacting us at any point in time: sensation from one’s own body—vestibular (sense of balance); proprioceptive (sense of body awareness); tactile (sense of touch); and sensation from the environment—sound, vision, smell, taste.

This process is called sensory integration (SI), the theory of which was first conceived in the 1970’s by occupational therapist A. Jean Ayres. SI forms the basis for how we make sense of the world.

Sounds straight forward. It’s not.

How well our brains interpret the sensory world varies, from those who see though a clear lens and glide through the world with ease, to those who see through a distorted lens and struggle with the slightest obstacle.

Well Organized Nervous System

If you have good sensory integration, you make sense of what is seen, heard, smelled, and felt and respond appropriately and adaptively. You easily block out irrelevant stimuli, neither overly seeking nor overly avoiding sensation, control impulses and persist in tasks, navigate space with ease and move as a compact presence in the world.

As your brain appraises sensation appropriately, you are sound in body and mind, alert and adaptive, functioning well and thriving. You maintain a comfortable steady state and regular body rhythms for sleep, rising, eating, eliminating. At the same time, a steady state allows the higher, thinking brain to function optimally and you feel competent, capable, motivated and in charge of destiny.

My friend Josie, whom I’ve known since grammar school is an example of great sensory integration. Smart, funny, competent, outgoing, even-tempered, a good athlete with great posture (this has importance for nervous system integrity), and a good listener, she was one of the popular girls, admired by all. Steady and stable, independent and self-contained still today, never having shown, to my knowledge addictive behavior or neurotic musings, she has, throughout life, enjoyed warm and loving relationships, a satisfying career, many friends and much joy.

Off Center

Unfortunately, few of us have that well-organized of a nervous system. Most of us have average SI. We may be a bit clumsy and uncoordinated; a bit distracted and spacey; a bit messy and disorganized; a bit reactive to noise and bright lights; a bit of a loner or a social nerd. In an article published in 2013 in Journal of Neurodevelopmental Disorders, one research team led by Nava Levit-Binnun found 17 studies that reported sensory and motor abnormalities in healthy individuals.

A bit off center, we get by—with a few glitches. We call these glitches stupidity, anxiety, stress, depression, laziness, and so on, and the world generally agrees with our assessment.

For some of you reading this, such incidents ring a bell.

How have you coped with your limitations? You compensated. Said Patti Oetter: “The majority of us have escaped diagnosis but know our limitations well. We have learned strategies to capitalize on our strengths and cover or avoid those things most difficult.”

In other words, a good chunk of the “neurotypical” population has sensory processing issues!!

Excerpted from Yoga Bliss, How Sensory Input in Yoga Calms and Organizes the Nervous System. 

www.sharonheller.net. Email:info@sharonheller.net.