Highly Sensitive People neurological variation and abilites

A percentage of the population of both humans and animals have a neurological variation. In humans the term for this is Highly Sensitive Person. Someone who is this extracts more information from all environmental input, from sensory, chemical, energy, etc; usually more than 10 times the amount of someone with a more standard neurological wiring.

This article is a good primer on more about it: http://www.psychologytoday.com/artic...nd-sensitivity

The person who coined the phrase and is an expert on this has a site with a simple test you can take to see if you are HSP.

http://www.hsperson.com/index.html

On her site, she states that:

If you find you are a highly sensitive person, or your child is, then you need to be aware of the following points:

This trait is normal--it is inherited by 15 to 20% of the population, and indeed the same percentage seems to be present in all higher animals.

Being an HSP means your nervous system is more sensitive to subtleties. Your sight, hearing, and sense of smell are not necessarily keener (although they may be). But your brain processes information and reflects on it more deeply.

Being an HSP also means, necessarily, that you are more easily overstimulated, stressed out, overwhelmed.

This trait is not something new I discovered--it has been mislabeled as shyness (not an inherited trait), introversion (30% of HSPs are actually extraverts), inhibitedness, fearfulness, and the like. HSPs can be these, but none of these are the fundamental trait they have inherited.

The reason for these negative misnomers and general lack of research on the subject is that in this culture being tough and outgoing is the preferred or ideal personality--not high sensitivity. (Therefore in the past the research focus has been on sensitivity's potential negative impact on sociability and boldness, not the phenomenon itself or its purpose.) This cultural bias affects HSPs as much as their trait affects them, as I am sure you realize. Even those who loved you probably told you, "don't be so sensitive," making you feel abnormal when in fact you could do nothing about it and it is not abnormal at all.

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.

In defining the Highly Sensitive Person, Dr. Aron provides examples of characteristic behaviors, and these are reflected in the questions she typically asks patients or interview subjects:

Are you easily overwhelmed by such things as bright lights, strong smells, coarse fabrics, or sirens nearby?

Do you get rattled when you have a lot to do in a short amount of time?

Do you make a point of avoiding violent movies and TV shows?

Do you need to withdraw during busy days, into bed or a darkened room or some other place where you can have privacy and relief from the situation?

Do you make it a high priority to arrange your life to avoid upsetting or overwhelming situations?

Do you notice or enjoy delicate or fine scents, tastes, sounds, or works of art?

Do you have a rich and complex inner life?

When you were a child, did your parents or teachers see you as sensitive or shy?

Dr. Aron explains that in the past HSPs have been called "shy," "timid," "inhibited," or "introverted," but these labels completely miss the nature of the trait. Thirty percent of HSPs are actually extraverts. HSPs only appear inhibited because they are so aware of all the possibilities in a situation. They pause before acting, reflecting on their past experiences. If these were mostly bad experiences, then yes, they will be truly shy. But in a culture that prefers confident, "bold" extraverts, it is harmful as well as mistaken to stigmatize all HSPs as shy when many are not. InThe Highly Sensitive Person, Dr. Aron reframes these stereotyping words and their common application to the HSP in a more positive light and helps HSPs use and view these aspects of their personality as strengths rather than weaknesses.

Sensitivity is anything but a flaw. Many HSPs are often unusually creative and productive workers, attentive and thoughtful partners, and intellectually gifted individuals. According to Dr. Aron, HSPs could contribute much more to society if they received the right kind of attention.

From what I understand, what is tested for is coping mechanisms for how to deal with how our brains process information; it is how our brains work that make us HSP's. How we actually cope with so much information is as individual as we are.

Many HSP who are also sensitives and/or empathic/telepathic assumed that all HSP are. However I have found this isn't true; many HSP are not open in this way.

That said, I've yet to meet another who is open in abilities who is not HSP as well. Nor have any other aware HSP I've spoken to.

So I am asking you to take the HSP test and please post if you are HSP and if you are empathic or a sensitive; what abilities you have open. I'd like to find if this is a subset of HSP ability or not.

If you are HSP, knowing what it is can help reframe your entire life too; so that a lot of things make far more sense.

[Triner]

Hiya skeptical,

I'm an empath but not an HSP. There were some things on her test that I checked, but many I did not. Put it this way, I'm an empath who likes to go to the Mall on Christmas Eve. It's like a beautiful, emotion concert when I'm there.

Originally Posted by Triner

Hiya skeptical,

I'm an empath but not an HSP. There were some things on her test that I checked, but many I did not. Put it this way, I'm an empath who likes to go to the Mall on Christmas Eve. It's like a beautiful, emotion concert when I'm there.

Triner, what was your score? I do know some HSP who like crowds and loud music too; we are all individuals. You do not need to check them all off.

[Triner]

Originally Posted by skeptical

Triner, what was your score? I do know some HSP who like crowds and loud music too; we are all individuals. You do not need to check them all off.

I was an eight.

Basically, when answering those questions, I am sensitive to those people and things around me. But those energies don't "penetrate" my being. So the questions about being overwhelmed by things don't apply.

Maybe here's an analogy. It seems that many HSP are like pebbles on the beach. They're tossed all around by the surf of emotions in the world. They're overwhelmed by all of the emotional "motion". For me, I feel like a large stone on that beach. I can see and feel the emotions flowing around me, but I'm not tossed about with it.

[Sarian]

I'm ashamed to admit that I took the test. I already knew I was overly sensitive. I always thought I needed a thicker skin, and I took this test and I could check every single thing on it on a bad day. some days I can tolerate things better, but I'm waaay too troubled by crowds, noise and depending on where I am. I won't get into all that though. I'm empathic to the point that other's pain pulls me down and I don't know how to release it.

I've been known to have dreams of events that will happen in lives of others I know and am extremely close to. I get 'words' and 'visions'.

I sound like a nutjob, don't I? lol

So what's up with it all. I despise labels.

Originally Posted by Sarian

I'm ashamed to admit that I took the test. I already knew I was overly sensitive. I always thought I needed a thicker skin, and I took this test and I could check every single thing on it on a bad day. some days I can tolerate things better, but I'm waaay too troubled by crowds, noise and depending on where I am. I won't get into all that though. I'm empathic to the point that other's pain pulls me down and I don't know how to release it.

I've been known to have dreams of events that will happen in lives of others I know and am extremely close to. I get 'words' and 'visions'.

I sound like a nutjob, don't I? lol

So what's up with it all. I despise labels.

Please don't be ashamed Shriner, it's a gift in truth. You don't sound like a nut job at all, just someone who is fighting yourself.

I'd heard the term before, but never seen a test... Yeah I scored 22 and aren't too surprised...
I don't mind a crowd at concerts, or places where folks are in a good mood... but never go to movies unless theater is nearly empty.

Loud music, loud people , are nerve wracking.

And I truly don't understand why folks love horror movies....
or enjoy being frightened, as entertainment.

Originally Posted by Henri77

I'd heard the term before, but never seen a test... Yeah I scored 22 and aren't too surprised...
I don't mind a crowd at concerts, or places where folks are in a good mood... but never go to movies unless theater is nearly empty.

Loud music, loud people , are nerve wracking.

And I truly don't understand why folks love horror movies....
or enjoy being frightened, as entertainment.

I'm with you on that one Henri...but I know quite a few HSP who do enjoy horror movies and loud music. That rather surprised me but it shows how individual we are.

One thing that can help in a crowd that is in less than a good mood; feel warmth and friendship. Send it out into the crowd. It tends to synchronise to it.

Being at a concert where all are joined in the music is a wonderful feeling. And one night at an outdoor concert, I watched everyone's aura merge into one during such a time, not too long ago. It felt rather magical.

[QuietStorm]

I scored a 20. I have no empathic or other spiritual abilities that I am aware of, but I would like to develop some.

[froebellian]

My score was 15, I am an empath, sensitive.. ( other sensitives say I am very sensitive) but my personality is I am very direct/blunt and unemotional, which I why I cope with everything except negativity which counteracts my energies.

I guess this helps when I am intuitive, so I can separate what is real from what is improbable.

This is just how I have always been and I have just accepted it as a way of life.