For a more thorough or official identification, the Arons developed a personality questionnaire to help people identify themselves as HSPs. Sensory processing sensitivity is also sometimes confused with a condition called sensory processing disorder, although the two are believed to be distinct.
It is less common to be a highly sensitive person, and society tends to be built around people who notice a little less and are affected a little less deeply. Highly sensitive people may benefit from finding ways to cope with the stresses they often face. This is true for those who recognize themselves as highly sensitive as well as those who have a loved one who is more sensitive than the average person.
Being an HSP comes with both advantages and challenges. It is possible to be too easily offended by people who mean no harm or who are trying their best to be kind. It is also possible to overreact to daily stressors or relationship issues, particularly if you become emotionally aggressive as a response. It is more that you perceive them more easily. Or, you may be affected more deeply by negative experiences, which is not necessarily a weakness.
Some of the ways that being an HSP might impact your life include:. If you know how to manage the unique features of being an HSP, you can make it more of a strength and less of a challenge in your life.
Not surprisingly, highly sensitive people tend to get more stressed when faced with difficult situations. Social stress is perceived as more taxing to most people than other types of stress. This kind of stress can be particularly difficult for someone who can perceive many different ways that things could go wrong in a conflict, for example, or can perceive hostility or tension where others may not notice it.
Specific things that can be significantly stressful for the highly sensitive include:. Not everyone loves being too busy, but some people thrive on the excitement and exhilaration of a busy life. HPSs, on the other hand, feel overwhelmed and rattled when they have a lot to do in a short amount of time, even if they technically have enough time to get everything done if they rush. The need to juggle the uncertainty of maybe not being able to make it all work and the pressure of such situations feels overwhelmingly stressful.
Highly sensitive people tend to pick up on the needs and feelings of others. They hate letting people down. Highly sensitive people tend to be their own worst critics. They feel responsible for the happiness of others, or at least acutely aware of it when there are negative emotions floating around.
HSPs may be more prone to being stressed by conflict. This can also lead to misinterpreting unrelated signals as signs of conflict or anger. Highly sensitive people can be prone to the stress of social comparison as well. They may feel the negative feelings of the other person as well as their own feelings, and they may experience them more strongly and deeply than others.
They may be more aware of the possibility of improvement and upset when potentially good outcomes give way to more negative outcomes through the course of a deteriorating conflict. They may also be more upset when they realize that a relationship is over, feeling that things could have been resolved, whereas someone else may feel there is nothing that could be done and walks away. The highly sensitive may feel the loss of a relationship more acutely as well and engage in rumination.
Highly sensitive people are more easily startled by surprises. I tend to find the information I need easily. When I do research, I typically already know the answer and what questions to ask. Or in my writing, I often intuitively know what people want to read or want to know. We don't process anything we don't care about. Wilding : What tools and practices have helped you the most with managing your sensitivity?
For HSPs, environment is so important, so how do you function best when you are working from home? Aron : My home is surrounded by nature and I spend a lot of time outside. I love taking walks to listen to the birds and my husband and I hike three times a week.
But by far the most important practice for me has been transcendental meditation TM. I never miss a day. I take one week off a month for a TM retreat. I believe that if you're rested and calm inside, you can do better work in less time. Often I get good ideas during or after meditating. I also think self-employment is good for highly sensitive people. HSPs can thrive in an office environment, but only if they have a really, really supportive team. Wilding : Yes, I completely understand that and see that in my work, too.
Personally, as an HSP, I beat myself up for a long time because I felt out of place in the workplace. HSPs need to see that their reactions are normal for them and to see the positive sides [of the trait] so you can start to make use of it. Wilding : How do you see high sensitivity typically show up for people at work? What are common challenges?
She can't take any criticism. The research is very clear about our capabilities, including empathy. High functioning HSPs are usually only recognized because they love their solitude.
HSPs in particular need a low stimulation environment and feedback delivered in a specific way. If businesses paid more attention to HSPs and their needs, they'd keep their best employees probably.
Wilding : What advantages do you believe highly sensitive people bring to the workplace, specifically in leadership roles? Aron : John Hughes wrote an article on LinkedIn and he describes the three specific abilities that he believed HSPs to be you lead making them uniquely effective leaders. The first is Subtleties. HSPs live in a world of constant sensory bombardment.
Non-verbal cues. It all gets taken in. Although we can easily become overwhelmed at times and feel forced to withdraw to the background or even leave a situation, taking in environmental subtleties is an invaluable leadership ability.
Despite being commonly associated with introversion, a person with high sensitivity may be an introvert, but also an extrovert or something in between. According to research, the brain of sensitive people is not same as the brain of the less sensitive ones and there are both positive and negatives sides.
Elaine Aron emphasizes that 15 to 20 percent of the world population has this personality trait. In order to increase the awareness about highly sensitive people and to help understand what it means to posses this trait, the focus of this article is to present the major characteristics of high sensitivity and the positive and negative aspects of it.
However, for people with high sensitivity, almost all of their emotional and physical experiences are processed deeply. Unfortunately, these people, due to being too aware of their surroundings in most of the time, have a higher chance of experiencing anxiousness and depression. Nonetheless, though being a highly-sensitive person has its lows, it is not necessarily a bad thing and these individuals do have a lot of things to be grateful for and can live a happy and healthy life.
After we learn more about the benefits of being a highly-sensitive person, we will present useful tips on how can highly-sensitive individuals cope with the stress they often go through.
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