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Do you identify as a Highly Sensitive Person? Or, not at all? What do you think of the term?

Psychologist and author Elaine Aron coined the term HSP or Highly Sensitive Person. According to her bio she began researching high sensitivity in 1991 and still researches it... now, also calling it Sensory-Processing Sensitivity (SPS, the trait’s scientific term). [hsperson.com]

The website describes HSP this way:

Is this you?
-Are you easily overwhelmed by such things as bright lights, strong smells, coarse fabrics, or sirens nearby?
-Do you get rattled when you have a lot to do in a short amount of time?
-Do you make a point of avoiding violent movies and TV shows?
-Do you need to withdraw during busy days, into bed or a darkened room or some other place where you can have privacy and relief from the situation?
-Do you make it a high priority to arrange your life to avoid upsetting or overwhelming situations?
-Do you notice or enjoy delicate or fine scents, tastes, sounds, or works of art?
-Do you have a rich and complex inner life?
-When you were a child, did your parents or teachers see you as sensitive or shy?

Do you or do you not identify with this?

According to the website about 20% of people do.

And...I'm still digging into this... but was wondering if anyone here has thoughts on it. Right now, I am still skeptical about this. I wonder if it's written in a way that many people would identify with it? And, as it's a newer term, I'm not yet sold that it's a real thing.

I'm wondering if 20% of the people here identify with it! πŸ˜‰

Thoughts?

silvereyes 8 Feb 4
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39 comments

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9

I'm sensitive in my feelings. You could say I'm a people pleaser. I hate it though. I tip-toe around people a lot and apologize for everything. Once I said sorry for saying sorry too much. I don't like it when people are upset with me. I never do things with bad intentions. Mostly I get used for being nice. I have an inferiority complex too. People used to ask me to pay for them to go out to eat with them. Basically, I don't go out with people anymore. I have to pay for everything they want to do with me. The movie, going out to eat, to want someone to get coffee with, etc... This is why I don't get out much or don't have many friends. If I want to be around with people I like, I just go to work. People at my place like to ask me to buy them this or that or borrow money from me. I don't lend, borrow or steal. They all know I'm employed and that I have more money than them. I learned to say, No to borrowers. My few true friends with higher paying jobs, pay for themselves. They are so busy mostly, I never see them. Sometimes I feel like I need to apologize for my existence.

I can relate to what you said, and I know it can be hard to live with. I'm always trying to be nice or good, and I tend to be too apologetic. I often dislike getting other people mad or upset with me, and I worry about offending other people or making them feel bad. A counselor friend of mine told me I have a co-dependent personality -- I tend to feel a need or urge to take care of other people. I tend to be a soft touch, and I've had a few friends who have manipulated and taken advantage of me.

5

πŸ˜€ sorry, but i have to larrrrv! yes, i cover my ears when an ambulance is screaming past, but no, i do not have to retreat on particularly busy days, because i am retreated most of the time. & who on earth would not rather smell a pink frangipani blossom than freshly produced dog poo? i find this attempt at creating a new psycho-label ridiculous, as i find most labelings of human individuals bullshit. it's very much like saying: oh, you're an aquarius! that explains everything! πŸ˜› & i'm not even saying that i am not shy, or not sensitive, or not aquarius; it's just ... you won't fit all this into one drawer, not on your life L πŸ˜€ L

πŸ˜€ @Purple_Dragon πŸ˜€ πŸ˜€ πŸ˜€ so much for larrrrving πŸ˜€

@Purple_Dragon, bruddlegicks aggoyack.

5

Sirens and bright lights, yes. Rough fabrics, no.

4

Violent movies annoy me (prefer subtle movies like "American Beauty" ). Movies that rely on wanna-be porn, car chases, and guns...are a waste of film.

4

I seriously doubt this applies to me. I am very skeptical about HSP.

4

I think I am now due to traumatic events

4

Sometimes, some of those things apply. Other times, not so much.
Although, I am finding, as I get older, I have to work harder at not allowing certain things
to overwhelm me. Hence, my "I really don't give a flying rat's ass" attitude about a lot of things.
If I let myself, I will overthink everything to the point of being paralyzed by indecision. I will curl up in a little ball in the corner if I don't fight back when people are trying to diminish me.
This is precisely what I mean when I say that I use anger as a motivator. If I didn't, I'd be completely useless most of the time.

3

I work in a clinic with occupational and physical therapists. I’ve discovered that I have a multitude of sensory issues. I should have received therapy as a child but am fairly certain my parents had no clue that such a thing even existed.

3

Sounds like a way of stating if you identify on the Autism Spectrum.

@silvereyes except that the spectrum ranges much closer to a median line where you have folks with traits without enough to make them the diagnosis, which accounts for that descriptor.

3

I think anyone with functional sensory mechanisms will relate to the first pin point made under the "is this you" category.

3

Yes, that is me

3

Sounds related to sensory defensiveness.

3

I am not sensitive at all based on these, haha. The lights and noises only bother me when I try to sleep. I do know someone, whose child has a hypersensitivity to stimuli; anything sets him off: tags on clothes, noises, food textures, smells...you name it. It's a real disorder, but I forgot the name of it.

Sounds like Asperger's Syndrome, which is on the autism spectrum. Two of my
nephews have been diagnosed with it. Both are now in their teens, and have grown out of a lot of sensory issues they had as younger children. It really sucks for them in a lot of ways. Especially when people who don't understand the condition make false judgments about them. They're both extremely intelligent kids.

@KKGator It could be that. I know it's just a small symptom on the array of others. It makes me hopeful that some kids grow out of that, I can't even imagine how challenging it is to parent children like this. I've met my friend's kid, and he is sweet and intelligent, and funny as hell. But people are generally stupid when it comes to things they don't understand.

@Blizzard You're right, people generally ARE stupid when it comes to things they don't understand. Both their mothers learned how to become advocates for their kids. They networked with other parents, and went up against their respective school districts, which were woefully unprepared and unequipped to deal with kids on the spectrum. I educated myself, just so I would understand what they were dealing with, and pitch in where needed. It was absolutely heartbreaking so many times when they would come home in tears because people were being mean, and not just the kids. Some of the adults really showed their asses by demonstrating their ignorance and insensitivity. Both boys are now in high school, and doing fairly well. They're both so smart, and so damned funny, and sweet. It would make me so damned angry sometimes. I guess that's my "aunt-bear" coming out.

@KKGator those kids are incredibly lucky to have you as their bear-aunt!!! Schools not being unequipped for children like this is a whole another headache. This is certainly a very challenging situation. I am glad that they are doing well now. I wish they only continue improving!

@Blizzard Thank you very much. I'll tell you though, I feel like I'm the lucky one for having them for nephews. It's amazing what you can learn from kids, if you're paying attention.

@KKGator agree

3

I can Identify with some of it.
What I saw it as was a description of anxiety and depression.

3

Only one out of eight on the list applies to me.

3

Nope. Not this guy, even though I do like to avoid too much noise, but that's because of having been around too much gunfire with ears unprotected in my younger years. My tinnitus goes off the charts when exposed to excessive noise now.

3

Why yes, some of my friends are HSP. Very nice they are, too.

2

I feel that this is unnecessary; sensitivity to senses is a common thing associated with many different illnesses. This sounds like pseudoscience

It's not pseudoscience, it's been documented by years of psychological research. It's a matter of temperment.

2

I must be a slug I only got 7.

2

I can relate to most of what you said. I am not familiar with the term but I have always had issues with noises like dogs barking or crying babies. The kind of movies I have problems with are the physical comedies. Where they have to make fool of themselves for a laugh. I can not even stay in the room if I see it comming. As far as human interaction I have never been able to have any real friends and if I do, only one at a time. I have lost many jobs because the moment I feel like some one does not like me, my anxiety shoots through the roof and it is fight or flight. I think that like many free thinkers who have delt with depression, I think too much. There is always some scenario of a conversation or actions that are bothering me rattling around in my head. It is a very exhausting existence that has had some very dark days.

1

I am a highly sensitive, deeply broken, cynical optimist with realistically pessimistic expectations

1

I do in a way as a lot of this list does apply to me, but I think what made me this way out was my upbringing which was pretty strange with a bi polar mother and an abusive father, no rules of any kind no solidity etc.etc.

1

On the MyersBriggs scale I'm an INFJ. Supposedly only 1% of the population is this.
I have a few of these traits but not to the extent that is described.
No loud noises. Don't like to be rushed or feeling rushed. Bright lights and strong scents bother me. I hate cigarette smoke and smelling it on people. I don't like confrontation, it gets me upset and I will avoid it at almost any cost. I'm kind and certain types of people tend to mistake my kindness for weakness and then I have to set them straight, sometimes it gets ugly.
I just recently heard about this HSP thing and a fellow INFJ I know believes she is also HSP. I don't know enough about it personally to state an opinion as to if it's real or not but it sounds like it's real to the people who think it is. If it helps them find perspective that helps them in their lives who am i to judge?

1

Absolutely. I've been involved in HSP online communities for some time now, and have made some nice connections through them. When I had first found out about the trait it helped to clear up a lot of confusion for me.

There's some good groups on Facebook. Also look up Ted Zeff and Jacquelyn Strickland; as well as Elaine Aron, they've done some very good work and research on the trait.

1

Oh, I'm sensitive... in all the right places, baby.

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