Emotional Resilience

Overwhelm Decomposer

When everything feels like too much, it is hard to know where to start. This tool breaks down undifferentiated overwhelm into five distinct components so you can see what is actually driving your distress and which intervention will help most.

Mental Load + Emotional Load + Task Load + Uncertainty + Physical State

Answer the questions about your current state. You will receive a profile showing which load type is highest and specific actions matched to your situation.

Note: This tool helps organize your experience. It is not a diagnostic tool and does not replace professional mental health support. If you are in crisis, please contact a crisis helpline.

What Brought You Here

What prompted you to check in right now? (1-2 sentences)

This anchors your assessment in your immediate experience and helps you track patterns over time.

Rate Your Current Load

For each dimension, select the option that best describes your current state. Be honest rather than hopeful.

Mental Load

The cognitive burden of tracking, remembering, planning, and deciding. When mental load is high, you feel like your brain is full and making any decision requires extra effort.

How much of this mental load is within your control to change?

Emotional Load

The weight of feelings being processed, suppressed, or avoided. High emotional load means strong feelings are consuming background energy even when you are not actively thinking about them.

How much of what is causing these emotions is within your control?

Task Load

The volume and urgency of things that need doing. This is the most visible dimension but not always the primary driver of overwhelm.

How much of this task load can you reduce, delegate, or postpone?

Uncertainty

Ambiguity about outcomes, waiting for information, lack of clarity about what will happen. The brain treats uncertainty as threat, consuming attention even when there is no action to take.

How much can you do to reduce this uncertainty?

Physical Symptoms

Body-level signals of stress or depletion. Physical state affects cognitive capacity and emotional regulation. Symptoms may be causes or consequences of overwhelm.

How much can you address these physical symptoms directly?

Research and Further Reading

This tool draws on research in stress psychology, cognitive load theory, and coping processes. These sources provide deeper context if you want to explore further:

Cohen, S., Kamarck, T., & Mermelstein, R. (1983). A global measure of perceived stress . Journal of Health and Social Behavior, 24(4), 385-396.
Lazarus, R. S., & Folkman, S. (1984). Stress, Appraisal, and Coping . Springer Publishing Company.
Folkman, S. (1984). Personal control and stress and coping processes: A theoretical analysis . Journal of Personality and Social Psychology, 46(4), 839-852.
Baumeister, R. F., Bratslavsky, E., Muraven, M., & Tice, D. M. (1998). Ego depletion: Is the active self a limited resource? Journal of Personality and Social Psychology, 74(5), 1252-1265.
McEwen, B. S. (2008). Central effects of stress hormones in health and disease . European Journal of Pharmacology, 583(2-3), 174-185.
Dugas, M. J., & Robichaud, M. (2007). Cognitive-Behavioral Treatment for Generalized Anxiety Disorder . Routledge.