Unfortunately, many HSPs become more stressed and are more prone to anxiety disorders. They have a hard time with conflict and tend to avoid confrontation. This can be challenging in the workplace or at home. They also feel responsible for others' expectations, which makes it harder to let people down.
Living With Anyone Is Challenging, but More So When You Are an HSP. Okay, living with people is hard, regardless of if you're an HSP or not. You and the person you're living with may have different opinions, lifestyles, and habits, and it may take some time to adjust and make it work.
Some of the ways that being an HSP might impact your life include: You might avoid situations that leave you feeling overwhelmed. 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.
HSPs often struggle with overthinking, feeling like an imposter, and feeling like they are always doing something wrong.
Highly sensitive people (HSPs) tend to get overwhelmed or over-stimulated because they “process more information from their environment and from within than others do,” said Jean Fitzpatrick, LP, a psychotherapist who specializes in working with HSPs.
Overstimulation, or sensory overload, is when your senses are just completely overloaded with information, making it difficult (or sometimes near impossible) to fully process the information you are receiving. This type of overstimulation is often seen in what we often call highly sensitive people (or HSP for short).
Trauma is our mind and body's response to any distressing event or events that overwhelm our ability to cope. 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.
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.
Being a highly sensitive person and an empath are not mutually exclusive: One can be both, and many highly sensitive people are also empaths.
One of the main reasons that HSPs might feel lonely is that their interactions and relationships are lacking substance — and our constant sense of being an “outsider” only makes this worse. Unless we can stop withdrawing and get the meaningful interactions we crave.
Do highly sensitive people have higher emotional intelligence than other people? Not necessarily. HSPs tend to have very strong emotions, which is a challenge when learning how to manage our emotions rather than being overwhelmed by them.
Stress & Sensitivity Can Worsen With Age for HSPs. Here's How to Prevent That. If you are a highly sensitive person (HSP) you might be growing larger stress centers in your brain without even knowing it, and if you don't do anything about it, they will become even bigger.
A common struggle for Highly Sensitive People (HSPs) is overthinking. “My brain won't stop,” or, “I can't turn it off!” or “I'm overanalyzing again” are common refrains. While I know it can be incredibly frustrating and overwhelming at times, all this thinking actually makes a lot of sense for sensitive folks.
Inflammatory changes associated with HSP can also develop in the joints, kidneys, digestive system, and, in rare cases, the brain and spinal cord (central nervous system).
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.
Not only are HSPs extra sensitive to environmental stimulation, they're also sensitive emotionally. According to Dr. Elaine Aaron, author of The Highly Sensitive Person, sensitive people tend to cry more easily than others.
According to Aron, 15 to 20 percent of the population is born with a high level of sensitivity. “When you know that you are highly sensitive, it reframes your life,” says Aron. Knowing that you have this trait will enable you to make better decisions.
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 ...
Someone who externalises 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.
In the emotionally neglectful family, the HSP learns they are overly emotional. They don't know that their emotions are personal expressions of who they are. Instead, they learn that they are different, damaged, weak, and wrong.