Real name of "sudden inability to cope"?

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I experience something that I call "sudden inability to cope". As the name suggests, it often comes on suddenly. Everything becomes too bright and too loud. I have difficulty talking, struggle to make any kind of decision, and feel disoriented. Does this phenomenon have an accepted name?

Seems like a problem with the sensory aspect of things.

Maybe “sensory processing disorder”?

Sensory overwhelm? When our processing can't keep up with the input we freeze, have meltdowns, react in various ways to try to remove or protect ourselves from this experience.

I had two daughters with selective mutism. It was my observation that there was an almost paralytic reaction to anxiety causing situations. Rather than a sensory cause, I thought it was an anxiety caused by uncertainty as to what outcome would be achieved for any given response.

What kraftiekortie said.

Good shot. Maybe just "overwhelm" would fit me better, because when it happens to me there doesn't have to be a lot of external sensory input bombarding me, in fact I'm not all that susceptible to attacks by sensory stimuli, although they do have some impact. And if "sensory" includes the brain's internal activity, then "sensory overwhelm" fits me.

For example, when I was trying to plan a journey to the USA and it got so complicated trying to pre-empt all the millions of things that might go wrong that I kept getting this powerful "shutting down, can't cope" feeling. I was in the comfort of my own home with no immediate external crap at all, so it was entirely the fault of this brain of mine. Fortunately this stereotypical British trait of "keep calm and carry on" is strong in me, so I somehow managed the sense of panic, and the horrible feeling soon passed.

I count myself lucky to have never completely shut down in my entire life, but I've been within a hair of it quite a few times. It feels like my mind has turned to mush for a few seconds.

Shutdown

Possibly a pre-meltdown.

Otherwise known in academic circles as "Isabella Linton Syndrome" or ILS.

'Overwhelm' is the term I've heard used, too.

For me, the overwhelm can be either sensory or social.