Hypersensitivity is it all neurological?

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Or is part of it psychological.

I really doubt people with hypersensitivity to sound for example actually hear anything louder than NT people. I think their brains just THINKS it hears it loud when it doesn't. To me this seems like it could be a psychological issue and not entirely a neurological one.

Hypersensitivity and hyposensitivity are associated with an abnormal sympathetic to parasympathetic nervous system relationship. In each one reacts stronger than the other does so the balance between the two is off.

Some hypersensitivity is at the level of what you mean by hearing more than NTs. Much is to do with abnormal processing of sensory information, however the processing of sensory information is still neurological.

Of course it's neurological. The improper wiring in the brain leads the person to experience the sensations as more intense and unpleasant. There is no disputing that those of us with hypersensitvity are experiencing the same stimuli, just to a different degree. Hearing a sound as louder doesn't mean that the sound is a larger number of decibels. But we experience it that way due to the improper circuitry. ALL neuropsychiatric symptoms are neurobiological in nature and lead to psychiatric symptoms. That's the whole definition of the disorder. Saying that sensory hypersensitivity is purely psychological in nature is no different than saying that schizophrenics are making up auditory hallucinations on purpose rather than having improper activation in their auditory cortices. As someone in the maths and sciences, you need to read more neuroscience journal articles and see the overwhelming evidence there is of neuropsychiatric disorders resulting from abnormalities in the brain, not a person's "weak character."

Hmm. If a light touch from a person makes my skin crawl, but brushing up against something with the same pressure doesn't, isn't that psychological? It depends on me knowing that the source is a person.

It's still a matter of the brain. In this day and age, there's really no difference between psychology and neuroscience. All things we experience, whether we experience them normally or abnormally, are thanks to how our brain perceives something and reacts to something. The only reason we as humans are able to consider "psychological issues" is because of our highly defined prefrontal cortex and its ability to create consciousness.

neurology leads to psychology so yes it is. I think it is one of those things that is not really treatable with traditional psychotherapy but i'm sure there is or will be techniques in the future that will help some people. sorry not much help!

I think it's psychological with me. My mind knows I hate certain loud noises so much, so I find I am always listening for them and getting extremely annoyed when I manage to hear something what I don't like.

Last night I was sitting in the living-room with my mum and my aunt, and someone knocked on our door and my aunt heard it but my mum didn't, and I didn't but I got a funny pain in my ears the minute my aunt said ''there's someone knocking at the door''. So my ears didn't connect the noise to my brain but the noise must have got into my ears for them to vibrate funny and cause a weird pain.

It's interesting to note that the volume "mis-interpretation" goes both ways.

"NT"s hear certain sound more muted than they are whereas others, such as a voice, they would hear louder than they they are. Their brain "thinks" that because it is accustomed to tune out noises (to differing levels) that are deemed unimportant and meet certain other criteria (such as being ongoing sounds like the ticking of a clock) to avoid interferences of those sensory information with mental activities. In short, to avoid the possibility of 24/7 overload about hearing your heart beat, hearing all your clocks ticking, the sounds of electricity humming in your home... this is the mechanism altered and/or broken (wish I knew which or whether it's both) in people with sensory it - but it can also be disrupted in perfectly normal people in extreme situations during which their cognitive abilities are getting weirdly altered as far as performance goes. Or maybe as the result of a head injury albeit that might be permanent.

At the same time, other sounds that are deemed important and/or meet other criteria by which they are then mistaken as important or of which the level of importance cannot be determined beforehand (such as the sudden and unexpected sound of thunder or crashes), they hear louder. Human voices is one thing most non-autistic brains are very skilled at picking out of a horrible chaos of noises by tuning out other noises or "making other noises seem quieter" while the human voice would seem to louder by tuning in to and creating the illusion that it is far more distinct from the other noises than it truly is. That can be different for autistic people too - and I'll dare say it's true for all those who're so definitely autistic that their neurological make-up does not zoom in on voices because they don't have this super social neurological inclination even if they decide to be very interested in people.

The same goes for visual cues, really. Simplified explanation from memory: Normal people tend to see many faces in patterns where there are none, their neurological make-up altered in a way to ensure they're good at recognising faces and identifying people. I can't see illusions of faces in random patterns for the live of it. (I'm pretty good at recognising other non-existent shapes non-human however.)

Tick-tock. I hate clocks. I hear them all day. Getting annoyed about it, now that surely would be a reaction I might be able to change. Alas, I don't get annoyed by it so all's good and I don't mind listening to tick-tocking for hours but it is boring and does get in the way of thinking because there's ticking every second - in the same manner as that almost everyone else fails at solving maths problems (and get all anxious and angry and utterly mad) when they're listening to the a large amount of noise such as that of several TVs or a rock concert all at once.

Anyway, the brain (and yes, active thoughts do have an effect on this, of course, that's known) "thinking" stimuli of all kinds are different from how they really are is a perfectly human matter, it's altered and branches off from the general principle in people with autism/sensory integration dysfunction.

I think it has to do with brain wiring......I mean now I am kind of confused by the term neurological.....if neurological refers to the nervous system or whatever what does that have to do with brains and how they are wired? So yeah not sure, but psychological from my understanding would indicate it's more about thoughts and maybe brain chemicals......not so much brain wiring.

But yeah I feel like I do actually hear things louder, and that light is actually brighter to me...if my brain just thought it was loud or bright, I don't think it would cause as much physical discomfort but I could be wrong. Also if it was psychological that would imply it has to do with thoughts and brain chemicals which as far as I know would not make things seem louder. So I guess since the term to refer to the different brain wiring seems to be neurological even though I don't quite understand that term I would say its more neurological.

IMHO, the distinction between "psychological" and "neurological" is mostly artificial. The term "psychological" is used more to describe the interaction of thoughts, emotions, and behaviors, while "neurological" is used to describe more permanent issues that are thought to be related to the physical structure of neurons in the brain. However, there is definitely a neurological component to thoughts, emotions, and behaviors as well. It may be that in the past psychologists avoided this because the idea that we are controlled by physical neurons is rather depressing and might seem to fly in the face of any belief in the concept of free-will.

Last edited by marshall on 20 Apr 2012, 12:16 pm, edited 1 time in total.

Exactly. "Neurology" refers to the actual biochemistry and structure of the brain. All modern creatures share most of these things, like having a hypothalamus and amygdala or having electrical impulses in neurons. "Psychology" explains phenomena that only humans have, experiences that deal with consciousness and feelings/emotions and a sense of self. Animals do not have a PFC as advanced as ours, so this is why these experiences are often thought of as "human." But it has been proven long ago that all psychological processes are a result of brain activity, and even when CBT or other therapy can be used as treatment for a disorder rather than medication, the CBT/therapy works by changing the brain. This has been shown in multiple fMRI and PET scans.

Well that makes a little more sense....also I don't see how being influenced by neurons negates free will, but whatever.

It does not change the whole brain, but effective CBT can improve certain things, but it's not always effective at all.

I don't think it's accurate to say that only humans experience consciousness and feelings/emotions. No other animal may be able to analyze and reflect the way humans do, but I think it's pretty safe to say a lot of animals experience the same set of basic emotions. There's also some evidence that other primates and even some species of dolphins do in fact have self-awareness. They will recognize their own reflection in a mirror and pose. They also react negatively to social rejection, often showing signs of depression like anhedonia and decreased appetite.

it definately can be acombination of both psychological and neurological but it is defeinately neurological.

Anyone who has a dog or cat should be aware of animal emotions and self awareness........lol, though cats are typically much more independent but they certainly have their own personalities and such. I always love the cat attitude, the more you try and control a cat the more stubborn it becomes. Then again most cats I've ever been around are outside/inside cats that could probably learn to survive as feral cats as they know how to hunt and fight. As for dogs, they are more pack animals and it seems they will see humans they trust as part of their pack and certainly act like it. But yeah my friends dog can tell if you're copying her.....if she's panting and I start doing it she knows I'm copying her and will playfully come after me, or she likes to scrape her feet on the hardwood floor....so if I wear shoes that make scraping sounds on the floor and scrape my feet she'll do the same thing. And then sometimes she even messes with me..but we usually catch on to each other. Some people might find my level of interaction with animals a bit insane but whatever they're fun to interact with.