OBSESSIVE COMPULSIVE DISORDER (OCD) COMMUNITY
Inability to tolerate interruptions, especially sound, what do I have?

Inability to tolerate interruptions, especially sound, what do I have?

Hi all,
I have a personal question and don't know where to turn for answers.

I'm in my 30's. Since I was 14, I've always been highly sensitive to interruptions of any kind, especially noise, so much that it would throw me off totally, sometimes into a tantrum, and still does.

I had this problem along with my OCD symptoms, which gradually faded away once I was removed from the persecutory environment of high school.

But this acute sensitivity to interruptions of any kind still affects me daily. If I'm standing or sitting and doing nothing, interruptions don't bother me as much. But if I'm writing, watching something, paying attention to something, or focusing on anything, then it throws me off like a sudden needle or pin *****, because it causes an abrupt and sudden halt of my thoughts, blocking their flow, like a TOTAL INTRUSION and attack. It's like my mind is hyperfocusing on something and can't tolerate being blocked or disturbed.

The interruption that throws me off can be the sound of a phone ringing, doorbell, the fridge motor starting and whirring, or even someone calling my name. The phone ringing tends to be the worst, and also when I'm in the middle of a conversation and get interrupted, that is also the worst because I will feel anxiety about where the conversation WOULD have gone had the interruption not occurred. I can't understand how others can have their conversation interrupted and brush it off like it's nothing.

It's more intense when I'm at home, when I don't expect to be interrupted, than when I'm outside around other people, where I expect to be interrupted by people and stimuli. So expectation plays a role too.

Once I get interrupted, I feel like my thought flow has been blocked. It feels like a chain or link is broken, and it's hard to pick up where I left off. The only way to get back on track is for me to remember the state of mind I was in BEFORE the interruption and try to continue as if the interruption didn't happen. This requires concentration and visualization, and can sometimes be difficult or easy, ranging from a few seconds to ten minutes, depending on my mood and state of mind, as well as the pressure on me by others to return to normal. But each time I do this, it causes me some pain and anxiety, more or less, to get over the interruption and return to my prior state before it.

My dad thinks I can train my mind to not be bothered by these interruptions and learn to tune them out. But I have no idea if that's possible, since I don't know if this is a "mental disorder" or something that can be cured, or if it's learned or inherited or related to my brain chemistry. Nor would I know even how to train my mind to tolerate interruptions.

I do know one other guy with the same symptoms. Actually I know him online. He is a deep insightful writer and thinker too, like me. So I wonder if this is something that artistic creative intellectual types suffer from, due to their acute sense of perception and insight?

I looked in the DSMV psychiatric manual of mental disorders online and did not find any name for this condition. I even googled it, using terms like "intolerance to interruptions" but no mental disorder or label came up. The closest thing I found was a long word that described a hyper sensitivity to sound, but that's sound only, not interruptions in general.

Does anyone konw what I have exactly? And if it's curable?
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I have that too.  Noises that **** me off are gum cracking when Im concentrating.  Chewing or mouth noises when Im reading.  Nails tapping sharply on a shiny hard desk.  A sudden raucous, sharp sneeze.  Its unbelievable.
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