Sensory Defensiveness Self-Test

Sensory Experience
Check any of these stimuli that seem to bother you more than they bother other people.

__ Smells
__ Sounds
__ Lights, contrasts, reflections, or objects close to your face
__ Eye contact
__ Touching dirt, glue, or paint
__ Walking barefoot in grass or sand
__ Tags and labels in your clothes (which you generally remove)
__ Turtleneck tops, tight-fitting clothes or belts, elastic waistbands, nylons, hats, or synthetic materials in clothes
__ The feeling of jewelry (rings, earrings, necklaces or bracelets)
__ Certain food textures in your mouth
__ Looking down a long flight of stairs, going down an escalator or riding in a glass elevator
__ Creams or lotions on your skin
__ Cutting your nails or washing your hair
__ Baths or showers
__ Someone touching you from behind or unexpectedly
__ Someone standing too close
__ Strangers approaching you and putting their arms around your shoulder, especially of the opposite sex
__ Crowded areas such as elevators, malls, subways, some city streets, shops or bars
__ Shaking or holding a stranger’s hands
__ Vibrations from vehicles, elevators, furnaces, air conditioners or appliances

Check any of the following that apply to you.

__ Getting car sick
__ Getting dizzy very easily
__ Feeling easily hot or cold easily
__ Dreading to go to the dentist
__ Certain parts of your body are especially sensitive (often, but not always, the scalp)
__ Discomfort with being hugged when growing up, except perhaps by your mother
__ Discomfort with physical intimacy because touching bothers you
__ Problems with coordination and balance
__ High level of activity as a child or now
__ Feeling you must mentally prepare yourself for situations in which people are apt to touch you
__ Attempting to avoid situations in which your senses will be stressed

Mental Experience

Check any of the following that apply to you.

__ Easily frustrated
__ Pronounced mood swings
__ Inability to unwind and self-calm
__ Sleep problems: going to sleep, waking up, sleeping too little, too much
__ Anxiety much of the time
__ Sometimes feeling panic
__ Dislike of new situations
__ Difficulty in transitioning from one situation to another
__ Feeling thrown when lacking control or in unpredictable situations
__ Low self-esteem
__ Impulsive
__ Perfectionistic or compulsive

Abstracted from Too Loud, Too Bright, Too Fast, Too Tight