Sights, sounds, smells, and other forms of sensory input may cause a heightened experience for HSPs. A sound that is barely perceptible to most people may be very noticeable, and possibly even painful, to an HSP. There's more to being a highly sensitive person than just being sensitive to stimuli.
Highly sensitive people may be more affected by certain situations such as tension, violence, and conflict, which may lead them to avoid things that make them feel uncomfortable. You might be highly touched by beauty or emotionality. Highly sensitive people tend to feel deeply moved by the beauty they see around them.
You avoid uncomfortable or overwhelming situations.
Because HSPs are prone to anxiety, it's common to struggle with and avoid uncomfortable or overwhelming situations. There is nothing wrong with choosing to opt-out of a party because being in a crowd of people is not exactly your idea of a good time.
If someone's levels are high, overwhelm will occur much more quickly. If someone is unable to self-regulate or decrease the overwhelm, then a meltdown can occur.
Highly sensitive children are wired to process and react to their experiences in the world more deeply than other children. A highly sensitive child is very attuned to their environment, experiences, relationships, and expectations. A child's high sensitivity is about their temperament.
Created with Sketch. High sensitivity is thought to have genetic roots, and some specific gene variants have been associated with the trait. But early childhood environments may play a role as well; evidence suggests that early experiences may have an epigenetic effect on the genes associated with sensitivity.
It can develop as a result of physical or sexual abuse in childhood; but it can also stem from emotional neglect, which is more insidious and harder to understand and acknowledge. Emotional neglect can be not getting much, or any, physical affection, emotional support, positive attention or a sense that one is loved.
Autism and high sensitivity are often incorrectly thought to be the same thing. The prevalence of autism is currently estimated at around 2 percent of the population, while about 30 percent are highly sensitive.
Someone who externalizes their anger may act violently or harshly at others, with little ability or potential to self-reflect on what they have done. A highly sensitive person who tends to externalise their anger may be irritable all the time, easily annoyed and triggered.
While highly sensitive individuals tend to experience hyper-reactivity to sensory information, autistic individuals may have either a hyper- or hypo-reactivity to sensory information, a combination of both, or neither.
HSPs cannot always be about accommodating the needs of others, being kind, thoughtful, and unselfish. Sometimes we need to be selfish, and sometimes that can be confounding to others, and some might say, ugly. Most HSPs know the side of which I am speaking.
Being a highly sensitive person and an empath are not mutually exclusive: One can be both, and many highly sensitive people are also empaths.
HSPs' emotions are extra vivid due to a part of the brain called the ventromedial prefrontal cortex (vmPFC). The vmPFC is involved in emotion regulation, especially the vividness of emotions. The emotional vividness is not of a social nature (unlike mirror neurons).
The three subtypes of highly sensitive people include Aesthetic Sensitivity (AES), Low Sensory Threshold (LST), and Ease of Excitation (EOE). Before we explain what each of these means, it's important to note that HSPs can fit into more than one subtype, each subtype has its own characteristics.
Being highly sensitive to the world does not necessarily indicate narcissism, but those who perceive themselves as especially fragile due to their personality paired with an attitude that discomfort must be avoided at all times can be prone to show aspects of hypersensitive narcissism and a sense of entitlement to ...
HSPs are typically highly intelligent, and seek out opportunities to do deep work. Many HSPs are academics, artists, researchers, scientists and technicians with high level proficiency.
Saying no to social gatherings is nothing personal; time alone to recharge is as essential to a HSP as sleep and food. Acceptance and understanding may well be the most important key of them all to a HSP's happiness.
And it's important to know that being a highly sensitive person isn't considered a mental health disorder — and that there's no official way to diagnose someone as HSP and there's no official highly sensitive person test (though there's this quiz from the doctor who coined the term “highly sensitive person.”)
In her work with more than 6,500 gifted children, she has found that there is a correlation between giftedness and sensitivity, with highly gifted individuals often exhibiting the traits of a sensitive person.
Cognitive Signs of Unhealed Trauma
You may experience nightmares or flashbacks that take you back to the traumatic event. Furthermore, you may struggle with mood swings, as well as disorientation and confusion, which can make it challenging to perform daily tasks.
While a highly sensitive person (HSP) is no more likely to experience distressing events than a non-HSP, they may be more likely to develop Post Traumatic Stress Disorder (PTSD) as a result. The term “highly sensitive person” was coined in 1991 by psychologist Elaine Aron.
It is an attribute common in people with ADHD. Symptoms of hypersensitivity include being highly sensitive to physical (via sound, sight, touch, or smell) and or emotional stimuli and the tendency to be easily overwhelmed by too much information.