New information is coming out about the Highly Sensitive Person-HSP . Based on the book by Elaine Aron, PhD called The Highly Sensitive Person,her book and the article below outline the traits that are often understood by people who carry these qualities. The Highly Sensitive Person (or HSP) has traits of deep processing, overstimulation, emotional reactivity, great empathy and sensing the subtle. An article by Jessie Sholl from the January/February 2019 issue of Experience Life Magazine is an excellent summary of the traits and how to manage them.
D: Depth of processing “HSPs simply process everything more, relating and comparing what they notice to their past experiences,” Aron explains. “When we decide without knowing how we came to that decision, we call this intuition, and HSPs have a good — but not infallible! — intuition.”
O: Overstimulation “What’s overstimulating to each person is different,” says Bevin Niemann, who coaches HSPs and self-identifies as highly sensitive. “It could be noise, bright lights, crowds, emotional situations — the scratchy tags in the back of a shirt might be intolerable.”
E: Emotional reactivity and empathy “We connect deeply with art, music, theater, nature, animals, stories, and books,” Niemann says. Studies have found HSPs to be especially empathetic to others, sometimes to the point of being overgiving.
S: Sensing the subtle Highly sensitive people are attuned to signals that others might miss, Aron asserts. “Our awareness of subtleties is useful in a number of ways, from simple pleasure in life to strategizing our responses based on others’ nonverbal cues.”
See also the books written by Dr. Aron on the topic. Her website has great insights and tips on the HSP in love and parents of HSP children. This a new understanding into those who are hard wired with these traits, how HSP’s can care for them selves and non-HSPs can treat them lovingly.
