The ‘Highly Sensitive Person’
Are you told by others that you are ‘too sensitive’?
Do you tend to find situations more overwhelming than others seem to?
Do you have a rich, complex inner life?
Do other people’s moods affect you deeply?
Do you tend to notice subtleties other people don’t seem to?
Are you sensitive to drugs/lighting/environment/food?
If this makes sense to you then I’d really like to share something with you; your depth and sensitivity (when valued) is a great strength…
So what is high sensitivity? A ‘highly sensitive person’ is a term used to refer to a person who has the innate trait of Sensory-Processing Sensitivity. This means that those who are highly sensitive take in more information than most in ‘ordinary’ situations and reflect on this information at a deep level, are emotionally deep, aware of subtleties (such as lighting, changes, colour, tastes, smells, others’ emotions). Because of taking so much information in they can also find it easy to feel overstimulated leading to the experience of feeling overwhelmed.
Highly Sensitive people are estimated to be 15-20% people of the population, and may experience difficulties because they may respond differently to situations to most others. Often we will have been told that we ‘think too much’ or ‘shouldn’t be so sensitive’; however this trait is innate and whilst it has its challenges also brings with it enormous strength and wisdom. The highly sensitive will often notice things which others have failed to, be aware of things and be able to reflect deeply. It’s this very skill, to reflect deeply which can cause the world to be overwhelming at times.
I am a highly sensitive person, and discovering this trait really helped me to value my difference, trust my needs and value the way I see the world. I really hope in learning about this part of you, it will help you to see yourself in a more compassionate and accepting way.
I will work with you to cherish your depth and sensitivity and help you to understand and find a way to nourish and value yourself, as you are. Please do
get in contact and
come and meet me to get a feel for how counselling can help you to accept, understand yourself more and reduce the time you spend overwhelmed.
I’ve put some links here for you to explore the trait of high sensitivity, but
if this does make sense to you and you feel you’d like some support in
understanding: yourself, what overwhelms you and y
our relationships, please do
get in contact, sometimes it can be too hard to do it alone; and
I’d like to meet you to see if I could be of help.
Links
The term was originated by Dr. Elaine Aron and there are all sort of fab information on
her website, including a wee
test and details of the numerous academic studies. She also wrote a
book all about it.
Here’s an article about the
highly sensitive man, and the unique pressures social expectations of masculinity.
