Everything HSP
Whether you are new to the term Highly Sensitive person or not, you can find out a bit more about what HSP is, answer the question ‘could you be Highly Sensitive?’ and learn how it may be showing up in your life.
Wondering if you could be Highly Sensitive Person?
It was only a few years ago that a lightbulb went on for me when I first heard the term Highly Sensitive Person (HSP), or Sensory-Processing Sensitivity (SPS) to use the traits scientific term.
It helped me to make sense of my relationship with my emotions and my overall wellbeing in my life so I thought I would share what I learnt as I discovered I was not alone in how I felt!
Studies in to many species, as well as humans, have found that around 20- 30% of the population carry the traits of a HSP.
’Based on the Highly Sensitive Child scale, a reliable self-report measure of SPS or environmental sensitivity, there appear to be three distinct groups of unique levels of environmental sensitivity: low, medium and high, with high sensitivity making up about 20–35% of a UK sample ranging in age from 8–19 years [8].
The three levels of environmental sensitivity are maintained across childhood, adolescence and adulthood, and appear to be comprised of the same neurophysiological and psychological factors but are manifested in varying degrees within individuals, appearing as ‘high sensitivity’ in roughly 30% of adults [9]. ‘’
-Acevedo, Aron, Pospos and Jesson
The extract above is taken from a study that the pioneer of research in to HSP, Elaine Aron did. She began researching high sensitivity in 1991 and has written a book on the subject. Since then, further scientific research has been done and a greater understanding of HSP, what it is and why some have it has been done.
Her findings showed that having a high sensitivity is infact due to a form of neural diversity and has genetic factors. In science speak, a specific variation of a genome has been identified in people that display SPS.
It is worth noting at this point that Sensory-Processing Sensitivity (SPS) is not the same as Sensory Processing Disorder, which is a neurological condition, which is often seen in autism but is recognised as a disorder in its own right. If you would like to understand the differences more deeply, Elaine Arron covers this here.
What are the common traits seen in HSP?
Being able to pick up discrepancies or changes in the environment more readily than others.
Have stronger emotional responses (both negative and positive)
Get overwhelmed by emotions, sensations and the environment more quickly or easily than others
Sensitive to picking up energies and climate/ atmospheric changes
HSP have the ability to process information more deeply.
HSP has a more active insula, the part of the brain which is responsible for awareness.
Both of awareness of self; emotions, bodily sensations and perceptions in the present moment. It is also the ability to have heightened awareness of others emotions, energy and responses.
Due to perceiving and taking on more information and more deeply, you can become overwhelmed or drained more quickly. Resulting in the need to recharge alone after being with others.
Brain scans show that HSP have more active mirror neurons.
As a social species our mirror neurons are key to us being able to maintain our social connections with others. They are responsible for our ability to feel empathy for others. They are key in our Theory of Mind, in being able to put ourselves in someone else’s shoes.
Are highly empathic.
Mirriam Webster gives this definition of empathy:
1: the action of understanding, being aware of, being sensitive to, and vicariously experiencing the feelings, thoughts, and experience of another of either the past or present without having the feelings, thoughts, and experience fully communicated in an objectively explicit manner also : the capacity for this
2: the imaginative projection of a subjective state into an object so that the object appears to be infused with it
So, HSP are highly attuned and influenced by other people’s emotions and energy.
This can both be a gift and a burden when you are influenced deeply by those around you and their state. It can lead to feelings of being drained and overwhelmed when with others and needing to retreat to be alone and recharge. Having good awareness and knowing the most beneficial ways to enhance self-care are critical for HSP and their wellbeing.
What is the advantage to our evolution, that 20% of our population have these traits?
In a research study by Acevedo, Aron, Pospos and Jesson, they suggested that:
‘’adaptive SPS strategies involving empathy, awareness, calmness and physiological and cognitive self-control may serve a species by facilitating deep integration and memory for environmental and social information, which may ultimately foster survival, well-being and cooperation.’’
Being able to feel more is a positive in a healthy, social and nurturing environment.
HSP’s gifts mean they become the canaries in the coal mine.
Alerting us to what is hazardous to our survival as well as the glue which keep our societies together.
Modern life and the impacts of a HSP
Stress and burnout became a common feature in many peoples lives in the 21st Century. The drive to achieve more, and be more dictating our self worth along with our value as a person. The advent of technology that allows us to be switched on, available 24-7, and have the ability to speak to anyone, anywhere in the world at any time on-line has meant our senses are assaulted more than ever.
When you sense and feel more than others, it isn’t a leap to see how all this can lead to an overload and eventually overwhelm.
Impacts of low Emotional Intelligence and emotional disconnect
As time has moved on, not all cultures recognise the positive traits and the gift being Highly Sensitive hold. The stiff British lip culture of feelings being a sign of weakness and the war years of ‘Carry On’ have left a legacy that often means showing and talking about our feelings is not encouraged.
And it is true to say our parents can only show us what they themselves were taught. That we do the best we can with what we have at the time.
If you grew up feeling like you didn’t quite fit in or meet with the expectations of those around you, it can add challenges and difficulties to those, who do indeed feel more, when surrounded by people who do not understand their experiences.
In a supportive, understanding, and nurturing environment, a child will be bestowed with the benefits of these traits in having greater emotional awareness of others, with a great capacity to attune and respond to others. This can blossom into high emotional intelligence which benefits all around them.
If as a child you were raised in an adverse environment, such as caregivers being mis-attuned to your emotions and needs. Or if there is a lack support or empathy for how you experience the world, Sensory-Processing Sensitivity has been shown to predispose individuals to toxic stress; resulting in poor health, emotional wellbeing and susceptible to experiencing trauma.
As HSP do indeed feel more intensely, learning the meaning of emotions, and how to process them in a healthy and productive way becomes key.
If these skills have not been acquired, I view this purely as a skill gap.
If we have not learnt how to read or play and instrument, we do not label people as having something wrong with them. We understand that they only need to learn these skills and then, with practice, you can become a musician!
The same is true of any gaps in learning around emotional processing, boundaries and looking after your own needs as well as others.
As part of my own healing journey, understanding Sensory-Processing Sensitivity and HSP in to account is helpful in recognising how to ensure I can best care and support myself day to day to avoid overwhelm and balance my nervous system.
If you would like to find out more about how I support women who feel their emotions deeply to build resilience and become an emotional athlete, I offer a free, confidential 1:1 call for anyone who would like to find out more and how I can help you… before you book a session.
Click on the button below to book a slot and let’s a have chat over Zoom.
Wondering if all Highly Sensitives are Introverts?
Whilst many of the traits are indeed similar to people that are introverted, they are not synonymous.
Of the one in five people are thought to be Highly Sensitive, of those, 70% of HSP identify with being introverts and 30% of HSP are extroverts.
Which means if you are a HSP (found in 20-30% of the population) and also are extrovert; preferring to be around people, then you equate to roughly 6% of the population.
You can read more about Extroverted HSPs (or HSP-e) in a blog I wrote last year here.