Dealing with a Lot of Information / Experience at Once

[BK111]

I do not see a thread for this in the forums, so I will ask away in a new thread here.

So my anxiety comes in two parts. The first part of my anxiety, basically, is worrying. It comes and it goes, but usually over hypothetical situations. This drives me nuts and honestly makes up a good chunk of my anxiety. My mind can function when it worries, but very slowly as I have to then work it out and show myself that this possibility cannot happen because of this or that in my daily life. Because I am having to do this a lot of the time in my life, one of the things I've come to realize is that I have a need for stability in my mind. I will say that it feels so nice when my mind is silent and quiet.

I think this first part affects the second part of my anxiety, which deals with anxiety from being overstimulated. Now, if I must say, overstimulation for me occurs in social settings where I am working in collaboration with my classmates on understanding one thing. Or in new experiences. These are the two occasions in which I am afflicted by overstimulation, and personally I can be easily overwhelmed by information to the point of mentally shutting down in class or in the middle of the new experience. This causes worrying, aggravating the first part of my anxiety, and thus creates almost a feedback loop for me. And then I do more worrying or take longer to work through the new experience than actually doing it.

Therefore, I wish to ask the following question: How do you go through situations in which you are being bombarded with so much to deal with at once? And, how do you sort through all of the information / experience that is coming at you?

 

[Bay]

These are excellent questions. I usually use all my coping skills just trying to get through such situations. Then whenever I am able to find quiet time for myself, I make sure to take it, even if it is only escaping to the bathroom for 5 minutes (better than nothing)! The quiet time, even if its only in the morning or evening, helps to balance out the over stimulation.

I also tend to worry about things that may never happen. In a sense, it is a good quality to have, as I believe that it can make me more proactive in dealing with problems. I don't think it's a bad thing to work out plans or other ways of dealing with things before (or if) they arise. But if you believe that it is consuming too much brain power, or that you are obsessing (not saying that you are, but I have seen it happen to others), I think that you must find a way to "release" it, either by talking about it to someone or by writing it down.

My two cents, anyway.

 

[BK111]

These are excellent questions. I usually use all my coping skills just trying to get through such situations. Then whenever I am able to find quiet time for myself, I make sure to take it, even if it is only escaping to the bathroom for 5 minutes (better than nothing)! The quiet time, even if its only in the morning or evening, helps to balance out the over stimulation.

Can you elaborate more on your "coping skills?" Do they depend on the situation at hand or is there a more general approach you take with each situation?

 

[Bay]

Well, coping skills for me means mostly using my "scripts" in social situations. By social situations, I mean any sort of interaction with people such as at work, out and about, etc. Usually the scripts work (and no one guesses that I have trouble actually having conversations) but every once in awhile someone I'm talking to goes "off-script" and it throws me. The more I use my scripts, the easier it is to use them.

 

[Spinning Compass]

What I tell people when I am confronted with that sort of situation at work (which is where I experience it most often), is that my mind is like an old-fashioned record player. Of course I can get away with it because of my age. But what I mean is this: most people's minds are like compact disks, they just push a button and get right to where they want to be. Whereas I have to pick up the needle and drag it over to where I want to be or even turn the record over. So it takes a little longer for my mind to process instructions especially if they are complex. I have found that people tend to understand that analogy and it is not threatening to them.

 

[Christian T]

I can also get into a very uncomfortable and anxious frame of mind very easily, either by suddenly recalling a past social embarrassment (there are plenty of them) or obsessing over a future event and exponentially increasing its scariness through pure imagination. I always find it helps to remind myself that such memories or imaginings have surfaced in my mind many times before, and that I've always come out unscathed because the actual event seemed harmless compared to my exaggerated predictions and because everyone else has forgotten all of my humiliating moments. Think back to how you felt when you were last in a state of panic and couldn't imagine how you'd ever get over it, but remember that now you have, and you'll quickly realise that you'll soon get over your current anxiety attack.

I'm also very well acquainted with information overload. I even experience it on this site - each time I attempt to read and respond to a long thread. It's often a struggle for me to absorb the information from all the other posts before I can even begin to formulate and voice my own opinion.

Breaking things down is often what works for me, in fact that's what I did in order to respond to your initial post. Focusing on and going over one element at a time, and never expecting to comprehend everything at once and to be able to jump straight to the answer. That might work for you in class or in new environments, focus on what you do know and slowly build on from there. If it's all foreign to you, concentrate on one small element at a time, unless of course it's also difficult to ignore the other stimuli.

These are my thoughts, anyway.

 

[Athena]

I would also try to break it up into smaller pieces (sometimes I don't manage). I also like to make a list, if there's too much information, writing down important bits. If I can, I take a break (ie. by going to the toilet or, lying down if at home). I easily get overwhelmed and these things are usually what I do if possible. Every once in a while I have a bit of a meltdown or panic attack.