You're Not Overstimulated, You're Extractulated

​​We all have an optimal state in which we feel and function in alignment with our mindbodies and in balance with our environment, in control of how we process our emotions. Dr Dan Siegel describes this as a ‘window of tolerance’: the best state of 'arousal' in which we are able to function and thrive in everyday life. Falling out of that window is described differently depending on the perception of that person. When that person is Neurodivergent, we may describe it as ‘sensory overload’ or being ‘overstimulated’.

The stress bucket is another concept that frames overwhelm as a linear process of input. The smaller the bucket, the lower one’s ability to cope with stress. When the bucket is full it overflows and the overflow is the state of anxiety/meltdown/shutdown.

These framings suggests that the resulting states are purely the result of the level of outside or sensory input - that we have ‘reached our limit’ for cognitive and emotional processing due to the level of external stimuli. This way of looking at things operates from a point of view that ‘functioning and thriving in every day life’ fits neatly into colonial interpretations and that it looks the same for everyone. However, the experience of what we refer to as ‘overstimulation’ and its subsequent manifestations are much more complex than this.

When I use the term overstimulated, it is not simply that I have reached my limit for cognitive functioning. Yes, I am experiencing a high demand on my attention, my behaviour, my executive functioning. But in addition, I may not be feeling rested, well, nourished, understood, worthy, held, purposeful or safe.

The window of tolerance and the stress bucket, as well as our generally understood concept of overstimulation, fail to take into account the base-level of resources being used simply to attempt to operate within the systems we exist in. Instead they place the ‘issue’ with us and many of the ‘solutions’ are based in reducing input. This is deliberate - western concepts of mental health rely on us being the problem so that we don’t challenge oppressive systems. Overstimulation as a concept points to ‘too much’ rather than ‘inherently harmful’. Instead, I argue that the solutions lie not only in reducing input, but in redirecting energy into changing our systems so that they are no longer extractive. I coined the term ‘extractulation’ to describe the combination of extraction and stimulation that is harming us as a result of capitalist, colonial norms and expectations. This definition contextualises what we are experiencing within the systems we exist in, instead of intimating that it is a personal failing or pathology.

Why is this necessary?

Language is a key part of our liberation from colonialism. Language that pathologises us has been used to trick us into thinking we are the problem, which simultaneously keeps us upholding systems of oppression against others while colluding in the oppression of ourselves. Noticing this and evolving language to facilitate our freedom is essential to this journey of decolonising our mindbodies.

For example, if I notice that my mindbody is going into shutdown - I might communicate this to others by saying or writing ‘I am feeling overstimulated’. If I am non-speaking then I might communicate this through a change in behaviour, one which those around me are likely to describe as being caused by ‘overstimulation’. This signals to my community, my employer, my partner, my caregiver that I am unable to give of myself, produce, or engage right now - that I am unable to meet your needs and expectations. But where is the challenge to whether the needs and expectations are reasonable? ‘I am feeling extractulated’ or ‘they are experiencing extractulation’ encapsulates this and points to different solutions.

By reframing overstimulation as extractulation, we can receive a communicated need for peace and softness as a response to unreasonable expectations and most importantly - a call to action. By challenging our relationships with giving, engaging and production, we can collectively draw attention to systems, processes, relationships and environments that are not supporting wellbeing and balance. We can prompt personal accountability for communicating neuro-normal boundaries (for those of us who are able to conceal them through neuro-performing), as well as encouraging community accountability for creating systems that work for all of us.

—AJ

Today’s Neuro-Embodiment Prompts:

Suggestions and questions to help you engage with mindbody decolonisation:

• Get in touch with the language you are using to describe your own experiences of extractulation and similar concepts. Is that language pathologising you? Does it call out oppressive systems or does it collude with upholding them? How do you want to evolve the language you are using to reframe and challenge that?

• Are you in a relationship with someone who experiences what they/you describe as overstimulation or sensory overload? How do you seek to help them when that happens? How can you incorporate the concept of extractulation into the solutions you suggest and implement?