This reminds me a bit of the way telepathy was presented on the TV show "Babylon 5". Untrained telepaths found themselves awash in a sea of confusing, poorly o

This reminds me a bit of the way telepathy was presented on the TV show "Babylon 5". Untrained telepaths found themselves awash in a sea of confusing, poorly organized thoughts that they couldn't control (the "broadcast" thoughts of others.) With training, they could block out others' thoughts, or focus and read specific thoughts from specific people. Star Trek:TNG showed a similar contrast in the episode "Tin Man", between normal Betazoids and Tam Elbrun, who couldn't shut off his mind-reading ability and therefore found being near people excessively stressful. The same ability could be either a curse or a blessing, depending on how well it was organized and controlled.