An Overload of Problems
Let us introduce the concept of overload by some common examples. Driving into a strange town, we ask directions for getting to a given hotel. Our informant, who knows the area by heart, tells us, "Go three blocks, turn right until you come to Forbes Street, and then take a left until you come to the Museum. Here you go etc., etc." He has given us too much information to process, so we probably say, in effect, "Point me in the right direction, and I'll take it from there." Many studies confirm the generalization that the human brain can remember and process just so much information in a limited amount 0f time. And there is quite a difference in processing the familiar and the un· familiar. No doubt, you have had the experience of trying to follow your friend's car to his home for the first time. You had difficulty in keeping up with your friend, who felt he was proceeding at a painfully slow pace. Why? The answer involves the programming of perception, judgments, and decisions for the leader who knows the way. His sensory inputs, information processing, and physical movements have become virtuallyautomatic. He has learned the route well, thus reducing the demand put on him. For you, almost everything was new; whereas he made decisions automatically, you had to make conscious choices.
Even under the best of circumstances, where there may not be a disturbing emotional involvement, it is easy to overload our problemsolving mechanisms. But what about personal problems that entail conflict, frustration, and all those depressive feelings involved? And often it happens that before we get one problem solved, we are hit with another, and still another. It is here that our system becomes overloaded. If we have a background of understanding the nature and complexity of adjustment processes, we can learn effective ways of coping. If, on the other hand, we are ignorant of these processes, we may be overcome by the avalanche of problems we face. Most problems, even the apparently common ones, are in reality quite complex.
