Getting easily frustrated or overwhelmed by information, choices, and decisions, no matter how big or small, is known as cognitive overload. It’s typically caused by mental and emotional distress, and it can make daily life difficult. You might feel stuck, put off choices, lean on other people’s opinions instead of forming your own, and make more mistakes at work.
Usually, something like burnout or anxiety is at the root of cognitive overload. The added stress makes it harder for your brain to process information as it normally would. However, cognitive overload can also be a sign of a mental health crisis or a condition like attention-deficit hyperactivity disorder (ADHD). This article will explore:
Your brain can only process so much information before it becomes overloaded. When there’s too much to take in, or your thinking is already depleted, you might reach a point of paralysis. At that point, you can’t process any more information or act on it. That is cognitive overload.[1]
Cognitive overload can show up differently for each of us. If you’re wondering whether your brain has become overloaded, look for the following signs:[1][2]
With cognitive overload, symptoms like these can appear in any situation. You might expect big decisions to be affected, but small ones can be affected too. Whether you’re choosing between outfits for the day or between different careers, cognitive overload makes all decisions harder.
Like your body, your mind can tire for many reasons. From accumulated stress to more serious mental health conditions, mental distress is typically at the root. Below are the most common causes, and more than one can apply at once.
Cognitive overload might arise after a long period of chronic stress. You might also notice physical, mental, and emotional exhaustion, despite getting enough sleep.[3]
Burnout is usually tied to a high workload, caregiving duties, and juggling too many stressors. The key is a real period of rest so that your system can recover. This is crucial, no matter how much it feels like you need to keep going.[3]
A decline in cognitive performance is commonly associated with burnout, where you:[4]
As well as feeling cognitively overloaded, other symptoms of burnout include:[3]
These symptoms arise because long periods of stress keep your body and brain under high levels of pressure, and they stop working at their best.
In addition to symptoms like physical tension and hyperarousal, anxiety can also cause cognitive performance to suffer. Anxiety can enhance some cognitive functions such as threat detection and planning, but it comes at a cost to other functions, particularly working memory.[5]
Working memory is the brain’s temporary storage system for the information that’s needed to complete a task.[5] A common example is remembering someone’s phone number as they tell you so you can write it down, but forgetting it later. Good working memory is essential for many daily tasks.
People with anxiety are more likely to feel overwhelmed day to day. Anxiety uses up internal resources on watching for threats or ruminating over worries. Cognitive energy runs out sooner, and overload becomes more likely.
Anxiety can also cause a specific kind of cognitive overload. Research finds that people with anxiety disorders more often have trouble with spatial working memory, the kind that tracks where things are.[5] This may mean that their cognitive overload centers around things like:
Cognitive overload can also arise as a result of depression. The low mood that’s characteristic of depression can lead to mental fatigue where you feel:
Research finds that people with depression find it harder to make decisions because they already feel overloaded and pessimistic.[6] When faced with too much information, you may feel like it’s all pointless anyway.
Depression can also impair your attention, decision-making, and memory for details. It can make mental flexibility harder too, and that flexibility is what lets you adapt your goals, plans, and behavior. These difficulties may show up as cognitive overload, where you feel:[7]
Though many people still use the term “mental breakdown,” it is not a medical term. A more accurate term is “mental health crisis”. A mental health crisis is an overwhelming amount of:
These symptoms become critical if they make it very difficult for you to function in daily life, or if they put you at risk of harming yourself or others.[8]
If you’re in crisis now, or at risk of harming yourself, call or text the 988 Suicide and Crisis Lifeline. It’s free, confidential, and reachable 24/7.
Typical symptoms of a mental health crisis include:
In addition to these symptoms, cognitive overload is highly likely during a mental health crisis. With stress running high, people in crisis may feel completely overloaded, unable to make decisions, and struggle to focus on anything.
People with attention-deficit hyperactivity disorder (ADHD) are also prone to cognitive overload. ADHD is a neurodevelopmental condition that affects how the brain works. It involves difficulties with executive function, known as executive dysfunction. This includes issues with:[9]
Though these symptoms are typical of ADHD, they can become heightened during periods of stress or mental health difficulty. People with the condition may find it harder to regulate their emotions and may avoid tasks that feel overwhelming. They may also experience decision fatigue as part of their cognitive overload because making many small decisions is more draining for them.[9]
If you have ADHD and you feel cognitively overloaded, it’s likely to feel like an intensification of your usual symptoms.
AMFM is here to help you or your loved one take the next steps towards an improved mental well-being.
Frequent cognitive overload usually has unmanaged stress or a mental health condition behind it, so getting proper treatment is important. People with ADHD need ADHD-specific treatment, which adjusts support to fit the condition. The right approach depends on what’s driving the overload, and a full assessment is needed to help work that out.
Here are three therapeutic approaches that can help reduce cognitive overwhelm:
Cognitive behavioral therapy (CBT) is a highly practical form of therapy. It treats particular thought patterns and habits as drivers of mental distress.
Your CBT therapist will work with you so you can:
This can help you manage and reduce stress, so more of your energy is free for processing information.[10] Between sessions, you’ll practice everything you learn in real situations.
You may be encouraged to do less, or say no to things you can’t take on. CBT can also help you relax and enjoy daily life more, because improving your well-being eases the causes of cognitive overload.
Dialectical behavior therapy (DBT) is a type of CBT for people who have intense emotional lives. If you’re frequently overwhelmed, frustrated, or sad and these feelings are becoming unmanageable, DBT can be helpful with cognitive overload.[11]
DBT helps you understand and mindfully accept difficult emotions, and teaches the skills that enable you to cope. There’s usually an emphasis on making positive changes in your life as well. Together, these help you regulate your emotions and improve well-being, which indirectly reduces cognitive overload.[11]
DBT particularly suits people using unhealthy coping mechanisms to deal with stress and overwhelm, such as self-harm or substance use. DBT teaches that emotions are useful, and that they can be managed in healthy ways.[11]
If you’re frequently becoming cognitively overwhelmed but you don’t know why, somatic therapy may be a useful option. Some people who experience mental health difficulties know that they’re stressed but aren’t quite sure where it’s coming from. Somatic therapy works on the idea that stress and adverse experiences are stored in the body, and that they come out as physical or cognitive symptoms.[12]
For example, you may not feel sad, but you might be struggling with concentration, processing information, or sleeping. If that sounds like you, somatic therapy may help you make sense of what’s happening underneath.[12]
Somatic therapists combine talk therapy with breathwork and movement to make sense of what’s happening emotionally. From there, you can release tension or overwhelm, and learn to regulate your emotions.
A Mission For Michael (AMFM) provides treatment for adults experiencing various conditions. Depression support is a phone call away – call 866-478-4383 to learn about our current treatment options.
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If you’re experiencing cognitive overload frequently and it’s getting in the way of normal life, treatment is available. At AMFM Mental Health Treatment (A Mission for Michael), we offer a range of proven, evidence-based therapies, which are incorporated into individualized care plans.
We offer an intimate, focused mental health treatment experience for adults in home-like settings that are carefully maintained to be peaceful, comfortable spaces. In addition to residential treatment, AMFM Mental Health Treatment also offers multiple levels of outpatient treatment.
Our locations in California, Minnesota, Virginia, and Washington accept insurance and are in-network with most major providers. To check your insurance coverage for mental health care, simply complete our confidential online verification form.
Call us at 866-478-4383 if you would like to start the admissions process or learn more about how we can support your mental well-being. Our compassionate team is available 24/7 to answer your questions and provide guidance with no obligation.
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At AMFM, we strive to provide the most up-to-date and accurate medical information based on current best practices, evolving information, and our team’s approach to care. Our aim is that our readers can make informed decisions about their healthcare.
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