What Does It Mean to Be Highly Sensitive?
A highly sensitive person (HSP) has high sensitivity to sight, sounds, emotional cues, touch, smell and other stimuli around oneself. And that’s a healthy trait. It is not a disorder!
Between 15-20% of the world’s population is born with this trait, a neurological disposition resulting in experiencing acute mental, physical and emotional responses to stimuli. Stimuli can be internal (your own thoughts and emotions) or external (your surroundings and the people you are with), or even both.
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Being highly sensitive is a normal trait.
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High sensitivity is a real, research-based characteristic.
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Being highly sensitive comes with both advantages and drawbacks.
Being highly sensitive comes with a variety of strengths and advantages. It can also lead to overstimulation and exhaustion. Most often, HSPs need help understanding their functioning to manage their coping mechanisms and live in a very stimulating world.
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Strengths that HSPs tend to build on are, for example, being intuitive, very much aware of the needs of others, empathetic and artistically creative. Many thrive in careers allowing them to express their sensitivity (such as therapists, counselors, artists, musicians and writers to name only a few).
But HSPs also deal with
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overwhelm
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exhaustion (physical and moral)
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anxiety and stress
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burnout and depression
This mainly comes from “absorbing” or sensing all the emotional cues of the people around them.
HSPs are often confused with shy, introverted, anxious or depressed people. The truth is that anyone can be highly sensitive, whether introverted, extroverted, or anywhere in between.
To learn more about the research and litterature on the subject please consult this link.
A questionnaire is also available to help you determine if this trait applies to you.
I’d be glad to explore this trait with you and help you live with it fully and harmoniously.