WonderfullyWhimsicalWorld: HSP - The Highly Sensitive Person

HSP - The Highly Sensitive Person

Now I will share with you some information and thoughts on what it is to be an HSP and where you can find more information about it. I need to emphasize that what I write here is a translation of my own notes, from searching for information on the net. So if you find some shortcomings or errors here be free to correct me. And I will give you some links to other websites where I have found some of my information, also some norwegian sites.

I think it was in late march, early april that I stumbled upon the term HSP. I was searching for a book on line and suddenly this other book popped up with an intriguing description of it. It was Elaine N. Aron Ph.D.'s book The Highly Sensitive Person. Something about it caught my attention and this was how I discovered the personality trait that is HSP. Another piece of my life fell into place.

Like I wrote, HSP is a personality trait. It is not a diagnosis. And it is fairly common. 15-20 % of the worlds population has this personality trait. I don't want to use it as a label. I don't like wearing labels, but it works as a kind of explanation to some of who and what I am, and it gives me some very valuable tools to help cope with life. And better yet, it helps me to treat my kid with a new understanding as he is an HSC, an Highly Sensitive Child. Instead of repeating the errors, lifestyle and expectations "forced" upon me when I was growing up, I can teach him to cope in a more beneficiary way, and better protect him from a world that doesn't understand, yet. And I can better advocate for him in school settings. Thus help him blossom and thrive, I hope.

You too know someone, several I believe, that is an HSP, eighter you, or they, know it yet or not ;)

Like everything else, no HSP is exactly the same, but we have a lot of traits in common. These are some of them:

More sensitive to bright light, loud and sudden noises and new or uncomfortable odours
Needs more sleep than the average Joe
Having a rich and complex inner life
Is easily affected by other peoples mood
Gets annoyd with seams, labels and coarse fabrics in clothes
Very conscientious and thourough
More sensitive to pain
Strong intuition
Gets easily overstimulated
Has a feeling of being different
Processes information on a much deeper level
Deeply moved by music, art or pictures
Startles easily
Does not performe well under stress or pressure
Gets very distracted by being very hungry or warm/cold
Are easily hurt (being told to toughen up..)
Creative
Considers risks before trying something new
Percieved as a sensitive and shy child
Very emotional
Seems to read between the lines, tunes into other peoples mood and intentions
Needs time alone to calm down and regain them selves, to sort experienses and impressions
More exposed to depression and anxiety
Are often more exposed to migraine, irritable bowel syndrome, cronic exhaustion, allergies and fibromyalgia
Easily excited and miserable

"Author and Ph.D., Elaine Aron, defines a distinct personality trait that affects as many as one out of every five people. According to Dr. Aron's definition, the Highly Sensitive Person (HSP) has a sensitive nervous system, is aware of subtleties in his/her surroundings, and is more easily overwhelmed when in a highly stimulating environment. Additionally, she says, the success of The Highly Sensitive Person is cause for celebration: "We've done it ourselves. And not surprisingly, since we are 15 to 20 percent of the population - that's fifty million in the United States. Highly sensitive people are real, we exist, and we've proven it. That alone is something to celebrate." ..."#1

This is some of what is worth celebrating and value about HSP:

We are creative
We are curious
We are industrious
We are extremely conscientious and compationate
We are empathic
We have huge respect for nature, music and art
We are very intuitiv
We notice things, subtilties, that others can't see, hear or feel

The HSP is a person with heart and a sense of beauty, very much in touch with her feeling (note that this personality trait is equily divided between men and women). She's a good listener, she processes and reflects on a deeper level and by doing so she is often able to make good and concidered desicions. She is loyal and conscientious. Intuitive, creative and concerned with quality. Values such as charity and justice are essential. HSP's often follows principles of humility, compation and gratitude, principles common for most religions.

"The highly sensitive takes in the whole world at times. They can easily fall on the outside of our emotionally cold society, but they have qualities that every workplace is in need of, that the world is in need of."

Also, and this is useful to know, when HSPs gets overwhelmed, overstimulated and exhausted, they tend to switch into the worst edition of them selves. Short tempered, irritated, angry, dismissive, stubburn, headstrong, rejecting, pessimistic... Then a decent time-out and a good nights sleep might be the only "cure" ;)

"Elaine Aron has a doctoral degree in clinical psychology and a thriving psychotherapy practice. She is the first therapist to tell HSPs how to identify their trait and make the most of it in everyday situations. Highly Sensitive People have an uncommonly sensitive nervous system - a normal occurrence, according to Aron. "About 15 to 20 percent of the population have this trait. It means you are aware of subtleties in your surroundings, a great advantage in many situations. It also means you are more easily overwhelmed when you have been out in a highly stimulating environment for too long, bombarded by sights and sounds until you are exhausted." An HSP herself, Aron reassures other Highly Sensitives that they are quite normal. Their trait is not a flaw or a syndrome, nor is it a reason to brag. It is an asset they can learn to use and protect."#1

The HSP has a more sensitive nervous system, it is proven that the right side of an HSP's brain has more activity and bloodsupply than the average person. You can think of it as a filter. Everyone has that filter, to sort out all that redundant information that we don't need or don't think of as useful. But for the HSP the filter has bigger stitches in the filter so that more information and impressions flows through. Then it is not so strange that we need some more time and quiet to proccess all that information. And that it can be quite overwhelming when we are bombarded with impressions that we haven't chose our selves and can not shut out.

Elaine Aron is the pioneer in this field. And thanks to her this personality trait is now being acknowledged and facts and information about is being spread, all over the world. In Norway we have a road ahead of us to get this information out where it needs to be; the health system and schools. But it is coming along thanks to the norwegian association for HSP and volunteer work, courses and seminars.

For me the most important place to get this information out to is the educational system! It has to start there. HSC being told they are too sensitive, too withdrawn, cautious and not endurable enough. That is breaking their spirits and are preventing them from reaching their potential. They come to think that there must be something wrong with them, and taht they are not good enough. I know this feeling, and now I know where it came from. But the world just did not know about HSP, BUT,.. and for me this is a big "but",.. The educational system has for a long time been developing into a narrowminded and excluding institution. Every decade it has lost more and more focus on the diversity that is the human kind, and lost tolerance for individuals. All are to be molded into the exact same shape, are to learn the exact same attributes, are surpose to master the exact same skills. But we are not all built with the same kind of brick and don't have the same shapes, the same personalities or interests, nor do we learn in the same ways or even have the same tought-proccesses.

Negative respons and judgement in our surroundings may cause HSCs and HSPs to become extra criticall towards them selves and give a negative self image.

For me there was no doubt that I have a highly sensitive personality. When I read about it, it was dead on. And it was a clarifying moment in my life. Suddenly I understood the ways of my being. It explained the overwhelming feelings I harbour. The "not fitting in" to some degree (meaning there is more to me than "just" HSP as well, but this fit in with the rest of my truths about myself). And it made sence conserning my son as well. And now I had found actuall tools to work with! Wich I had been seeking and wanting for many years in the health system without success. Can you imagine the relief and excitement? This information needs to get out to more people, and this is my contribution =)