What is a highly sensitive person (HSP)?
Have you ever been told you take things too personally? You're just overthinking? Or perhaps you're easily overwhelmed? If so, you may be a Highly Sensitive Person (HSP)- an individual who exhibits a heightened response to sensory, social, and emotional cues. Highly Sensitive People (HSP) make up approximately 15-20% of the population- too many to be a disorder, but not enough to be understood by most. HSPs are creative, intuitive, and have complex inner emotional experiences. On the other hand, they can become easily overwhelmed by emotions, conflict, and sensory stimuli.
HSPs are characterized by their reactive nervous system- to put it simply, they notice and feel things more intensely. They are easily influenced by their moods and the moods of those around them. Bright Lights, loud noises, and generally chaotic environments can be especially disconcerting. They overanalyze information & experiences- which often manifests in worrying about the past, present, or future. They find it unpleasant to have a lot going on at once and give high priority to arranging life in a way to avoid upsetting or overwhelming situations.
Signs of a highly sensitive person
- Experiencing intense emotions- both positive and negative
- Feeling overwhelmed by too much stimulation (i.e. bright lighting, loud noises, big crowds)
- Appreciating sensory experiences (i.e. nature, hands-on activities, the arts)
- Paying close attention to social and emotional cues (tone of voice, body language, facial expressions)
- Internalizing other people's feelings
- Avoiding films with gore or violence
- Feeling a need to withdraw when your external world becomes too much
- Avoiding conflict
- Overthinking/ overanalyzing situations
- Sensitivity to criticism
- Being able to "read a room"
- Noticing things that others typically don't
Traits and Behaviors Connected to High Sensitivity:
Highly sensitive people, as a result of their heightened perception, are likely to exhibt one or more of the following personality traits:
Sensitivity (high)
- Heightened response to internal and external stimuli
- Heightened emotional reactivity
- overthinking/ overanalyzing situations
- Day dreaming/ distractibility
- Avoiding criticism
Perfectionism (high)
- Detail oriented
- Noticing errors
- Making lists alleviate stress
- High standards for oneself (and sometimes others)
- Excessive planning
- Feeling disconcerted when things don't go according to plan
Nervousness (high)
- Persistent sense of uneasiness
- Anxiety/ Panic
- Avoiding unfamiliar people, places, and ecperiences
- Avoiding responsibilities
- Noticing threats in their environment
- Noticing threatening behavior
Confidence (low)
- doubts one's own abilities and capacities
- anticipate negative evaluation from others
- repeated negative thoughts about oneself
- fearful of making a mistake and tendency to avoid situations which can show their lack of capability
- do not try to fulfill their goals/desires as it may show their incapability
- tendency to compare oneself with others
- tendency to focus on their negatives rather than positives
- are unable to weigh between their positives and negatives to determine their overall identity
Care and Suggestions for the HSP
Unfortunately, most HSP therapy focuses on arranging life in a way to avoid overwhelming situations rather than focusing on improvement by facing situations that you would normally avoid. Wouldn't it be nice to save all of the strengths that come with sensitivity while excising the dysfunctional aspects? That's why we've developed an 8-week program for HSP's. We recognize that it's not a disorder, but there are maladaptive behaviors that can be reconfigured through the right course of action.