I help people with hypnotherapy for sound and light hypersensitivity. You’ll be surprised how many people become upset at ordinary noises or things they see. It’s not that unusual.
I my clinics I help you if you’re upset at common noises like a bell or the sight of someone eating. You may even get health fund rebates.
As a clinical psychotherapist and registered mental health professional (PACFA), I look at any psychological reasons this may be happening to you.
As a clinical naturopath (ANPA) I’m also checking if there are any physical reasons you may be oversensitive.
What is sensory hypersensitivity?
This is when you’re experiencing ordinary sensory experiences at a much higher intensity. It can become annoying or unbearable for you (1).
Here we’re not talking about tinnitus or looking at horrible scenes that upset you. We’re just considering everyday sensory experiences that disturb you.
Other people may find what you’re experiencing bizarre, and don’t understand your distress. To you, however, this sensory overload is very real.
It can happen to you at any time in your life for many different reasons.
How your sensory systems work
You have five sensory systems, which are sight (visual), hearing (auditory), physical touch (kinaesthetic), smell (olfactory), and taste (gustatory) (2).
These are your sensory perceptions of the world outside your body that then affect your experience of the world.
You then have the same five senses internally as your brain interprets those experiences or imagines them. So, you have external sensory experiences and internal sensory experiences.
Eating a piece of cake in a dream is as real to you as actually eating a cake when you’re awake. Imagining your favorite song inside your mind can be as engrossing as actually listening to it.
Each of these sensory experiences also have ways to alter that experience, which are called sub-modalities. For instance, sight has colour, brightness, stillness or motion, etc. Every other sensory system has its own sub-modalities.
When it goes wrong physically
When people experience viruses, they can become photosensitive. The reason is viruses don’t like ultraviolet light as it kills them (3).
If you’re tired or stressed, you may become hypersensitive to noise, light, and touch, and you can find the slightest rise in volume deeply upsetting. It’s a stress response (4).
When you experience poisoning, such as with metals or chemicals, you can become hypersensitive to touch, smell or contact with almost any substance.
In nutritional deficiency your sensory system fails to work properly. Your eyes get worse, hearing is distorted, and your body begins to shut down and ceases to pay attention to the outside world (5).
When it goes wrong mentally
Your brain changes your experiences of the outside world for thousands of different reasons. Perhaps your mind thinks the incoming information could be uncomfortable or dangerous.
A woman came to see me who couldn’t bear the noise of other people when they were eating. When I regressed her in hypnosis, it turned out her parents always criticised her during mealtimes. While this was partly a phobia, hypnosis also helped her reinterpret those sensory signals differently.
A man came to see me who got frightened when he saw the colour green. He a had condition called synaesthesia. For him the green felt like subzero temperatures, and he was afraid of freezing to death. His synaesthesia was hardwired, but by helping him to see that colour differently, he was able to enjoy looking at anything green.
In schizophrenia and addiction people often experience distorted sounds, see hallucinations that are not real, and lose control of their emotions (6). While hypnosis doesn’t cure schizophrenia it can help you manage some of your symptoms.
Photo is of model only.
What will medications do?
In sensory distortion, healthcare practitioners often prescribe antidepressants, sedatives, or antipsychotic medications. But they frequently don’t cure the problem; they subdue the symptoms.
If you have a bifunctional problem, this needs to be identified and remedied as much as possible to resort to normal sensory experiences.
When you’ve been poisoned, which is quite common, that poison must be screened for and eliminated from your body.
We can test for nutritional deficiency or toxicity and your ability to detoxify. When the results come back, we can help you make the dietary adjustments to restore normal function.
Many practitioners automatically prescribe medications without extensive investigating the problem, which is often the strategy of family doctors and psychiatrists (7)
A naturopathic approach
Since I’m a naturopath, to begin with I’m always looking at what’s happening with you physically. I like facts – facts, not assumptions.
Anyone who’s been to see me will tell you I asked hundreds of questions during the consultation and may order some tests.
There may be a need to change your physiology as well as your psychological and emotional experiences.
It’s not just about fixing a problem, but also about getting you to function well, so the problem won’t reoccur.
How hypnosis helps
Clinical hypnotherapy can help change your internal experiences of the external world in any of your sensory systems.
Your programming for interpreting the external world lives in your unconscious mechanism. It’s like the program that runs your brain. That can be innate (you were born with it); or developed from what you’ve learned (the result of your acquired knowledge and experiences).
You may find it hard to change these consciously because your conscious mind is only a tiny part of your mind: around 1-5%. Hypnosis, however, gives us access to the other 95-99% of your mind that runs your brain.
This means we can change your interpretation of your sensory experiences, which relieves you of the problem fast. I use these techniques all the time with medical hypnosis, hypno-anaesthesia and hypno-analgesia, pain control, tinnitus relief and hundreds of hypnotic procedures.
This way you keep control of your body and experience without taking drugs. Hypnotherapy is also a relaxing and pleasant experience that works fast.
Dr Tracie O’Keefe DCH, BHSc, ND is one of Australia most qualified therapists, published author, clinical naturopath, psychotherapist, hypnotherapist and PACFA-registered mental health professional. She has helped tens of thousands of patients. You can consult her in the office or by Zoom from anywhere in the world.
Call our central booking for your FREE telephone consultation with Dr Tracie O’Keefe DCH. Phone 0403 398 808.
References:
1. Morellini, L., Izzo, A., Celeghin, A., Palermo, S., & Morese, R. (2023). Sensory processing sensitivity and social pain: a hypothesis and theory. Frontiers in Human Neuroscience. https://www.frontiersin.org/articles/10.3389/fnhum.2023.1135440/full
2. Gadhvi, M., Moore, M., & Waseem, M. Physiology, Sensory System
Mahesh Gadhvi; Marlyn J. Moore; Muhammad Waseem. (2023). Physiology, Sensory System. National Library of Medicine. https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/books/NBK547656/
3. Clouden, T. (2020). Persistent Hallucinations in a 46-Year-Old Woman After COVID-19 Infection: A Case Report. Cureus, 12(12): e11993. https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pmc/articles/PMC7793411/
4. Shribman, S., Davis, A., Vella, N., & Giovannoni, G. (2013). Heavy Metal Toxicity: Lessons from a Case of Simultaneous Occupational Exposure to Manganese and Mercury. Journal of Neurology, Neurosurgery & Psychiatry, 84(11). https://jnnp.bmj.com/content/84/11/e2.31
5. Wang, W. & Liang, B. (2012). Case report of mental disorder induced by niacin deficiency. Shanghai Arch Psychiatry, 24(6): 352–354. https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pmc/articles/PMC4198903/
6. Waters, F., Allen, P., Aleman, A., Fernyhough, C., Woodward, T., Badcock, J., Barkus, E., Johns, L., Varese, F., Menon, M., Vercammen, A., & Laroi, F. (2012). Auditory Hallucinations in Schizophrenia and Nonschizophrenia Populations: A Review and Integrated Model of Cognitive Mechanisms. Schizophrenia Bulletin, 38(4): 683–693. https://doi.org/10.1093/schbul/sbs045
7. Alegría, M., Nakash, O., Lapatin, S., Oddo, V., Gao, S., Lin, J., Normand, S.L. How Missing Information in Diagnosis Can Lead to Disparities in the Clinical Encounter. J Public Health Manag Pract,14: S26–S35. https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pmc/articles/PMC2677445/
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