Your child's body is reacting to tactile defensiveness and tactile
People with hypersensitivity are oversensitive to things in their environment. If you've ever been irritated by the sound of a dripping tap or a shirt that's too tight, or you flinch if someone touches your arm, you'll have some idea of what sensory hypersensitivity feels like.
It's an over sensitivity to being touched - a nervous system condition.
Being overly affectionate can be a sign of Sensory Processing Disorder (SPD). According to the STAR Institute for Sensory Processing, some symptoms are: Being overly sensitive to stimulation. Moving constantly.
"When someone gets too close to us ... the part of the brain known as the amygdala is triggered as we (potentially unconsciously) feel we might be attacked." Obviously, if you recoil or flinch at your partner's touch, it's a clear indicator that you're uncomfortable around them.
Heightened Startle Response
This can be anything from reacting excessively to a tap on the shoulder, to flinching when being called by name. Certain actions, from sudden movement to something related to the trauma, may result in more of a startle response.
Often it's used to describe a person who shows a moment of weakness or fright: he was so tough, I thought he'd never flinch, but snakes really freak him out. To flinch is to pull away suddenly or recoil when something frightens or hurts you.
Signs of sensory processing disorder include sudden mood swings and strange behavior. Kids with sensory issues might avoid bright lights or loud noises, run around crashing into things, throw tantrums, or appear clumsy.
Children with ADHD have more difficulties in tactile processing. The level of tactile defensiveness in females with ADHD is higher than that of males with ADHD.
The theory behind tactile defensiveness is that your child's light touch receptors on the skin are overly sensitive. When their receptors are activated, they trigger a “fight or flight” response. This emotional, physiological response causes your child to view certain types of touch as threatening.
Muscle twitches are caused when your brain interprets anxiety as stress and sends signals to your body that trigger muscle spasms. These spasms can occur in different muscle groups at any time. Learning how to effectively manage stress and anxiety is the best way to prevent and manage anxiety-induced muscle twitching.
In many cases, feeling disgusted by your husband's touch points to a resolvable issue, such as an emotional disconnection within the marriage. However, it is also possible that your lack of desire for his touch is because of a more serious issue, including physical and/or psychological abuse in the relationship.
Holding tension in your muscles can disrupt body signals and create changes in nerve energy. Anxiety can also cause symptoms like rapid breathing, which can result in calcium levels in the blood plummeting. This can result in a range of nervous system symptoms, including muscle spasms and twitching.
The flinch response is an involuntary physiological response to an unexpected attack that is highly consistent and functions as an effective protective mechanism. Flinching is the lightning-fast, whole-body, instinctive protective response to an assault.
Haphephobia is an intense, irrational fear of being touched. It is different from hypersensitivity, which is physical pain associated with being touched. People with haphephobia feel extreme distress over the thought of being touched. This anxiety can lead to physical symptoms like nausea, vomiting or panic attacks.
If someone is stressed, or upset, it tends to increase the startle response. There's also a connection to anxiety. For anxious people, a higher startle response tends to be part of the personality profile. Or, the startle response could be tied to a specific anxiety, like fear of flying or fear of spiders.
Research shows that the level of tactile sensitivity is higher in women with ADHD than in men with ADHD. This sensory over-responsivity in ADHD is associated with anxiety as well, and if you live with this, you didn't need a study to tell you that.
Sensory processing disorder can make it difficult for people to function if they become overwhelmed by senses including touch or hearing. The condition is known to be closely related to autism, but research shows that sensory overload and attention-deficit/hyperactivity disorder (ADHD) can also go hand in hand.
Over-sensitivity or under-sensitivity to sensory stimuli is one of the criteria for an autism diagnosis. However, sensory challenges are not a part of the diagnosis of ADHD. Nonetheless, children with ADHD do experience sensory differences.
A child with autism spectrum disorder may have sensory processing issues, however a child with sensory processing disorder does not have autism. The earlier a child with autism and/or sensory processing disorder receives early intervention and help, the better.
Sensory issues are common in people with autism and are even included in the diagnostic criteria for autism spectrum disorder. Each autistic person is unique, and this includes their personal sensory sensitivities.
Currently the standardised assessment tool used to diagnose Sensory Processing Disorder is the Sensory Integration and Praxis Tests. This consists of 17 tests that are used to test several aspects of sensory processing.
He flinched when I tapped him on the shoulder. She met danger without flinching. The bill was much higher than expected, but he paid it without flinching.
Counting to five or ten, slow presses on the trigger, focusing on the correct gun and ammunition, and having a good grip on the pistol will help you stop flinching. By focusing on these fundamentals you will see your shooting improve.
Some common synonyms of flinch are blench, quail, recoil, shrink, and wince. While all these words mean "to draw back in fear or distaste," flinch implies a failure to endure pain or face something dangerous or frightening with resolution.