Love relationships: When a person with BPD or HSP falls in love, they give their entire self over to the other person. The difference is a person with HSP tends to be selfish at the beginning of the relationship, withholding large parts of themselves until they feel safe.
From a clinical personality perspective, high sensitivity could be considered to have substantial overlaps with hypersensitive narcissism, or generally vulnerable narcissism.
A highly sensitive person, having solid beliefs and morals, will sometimes try to impose these beliefs on their family or friends. Most of the time, this manipulation isn't done out of malice, but rather, the highly sensitive person feels responsible for the well being of the ones they love.
Most HSPs are either INFJs or INFPs — the ones that don't tend to be ENFJs or ENFPs. Whether you're one or both, it's important to know what stresses you, what overstimulates you and what makes you feel calm, relaxed and happy.
Highly sensitive people are not the same as emotionally needy, whiny, complainers. They aren't victims, and they're not making up problems just to get attention. We all know people like that, but there are key differences: Victims are focused on themselves, while HSPs are often focused on others.
Someone who knows how to have an authentic connection — they like deep conversations about feelings, emotions, and aspirations. Superficial relationships made up of small talk hold no value to highly sensitive people.
Dr. Aron estimates that about 70 percent of sensitive people are introverts, so it makes sense that these HSPs would love their alone time. However, even extroverted HSPs need plenty of downtime, and they may decline social invitations, too. It's not because they don't love their friends (they do, madly!).
Most highly sensitive people display rare strengths in key areas of emotional intelligence, also known as emotional quotient (EQ) — the ability to recognize and understand emotions in themselves and others. These strengths including self-awareness and social-awareness.
What Is a Highly Sensitive Person (HSP)? Those who are highly sensitive "are really kind, caring, compassionate, empathetic, genuine people who want to help others and the world," said sensitivity expert and psychotherapist Julie Bjelland, LMFT. High sensitivity is an innate trait you can't develop or change.
Aron, the trait of high sensitivity, found in 20-30% of the population is likely to have nothing to do with a child/person on the autistic spectrum. In the DSM sensory processing sensitivity (the formal name for HSP) it is not associated with autism at all.
Being highly sensitive does NOT mean you're easily insulted or “full of drama.” We always tell people who get offended easily to not be “so sensitive,” but high sensitivity has nothing to do with overreacting, getting offended, or creating drama for people.
Someone who externalizes their anger may act violently or harshly at others, with little ability or potential to self-reflect on what they have done. A highly sensitive person who tends to externalise their anger may be irritable all the time, easily annoyed and triggered.
Last but certainly not the least, it's well worth noting that HSPs can hate just as passionately as they can love. Although it's not something they like to do, Highly Sensitive People can hold grudges like nobody's business because they're so used to taking everything to heart.
Sensitive people often feel “something is wrong” with them because they have been shamed for their sensitivity. They are called “too sensitive,” inhibited, or fearful. Sensitive people have a higher likelihood of having low self-esteem.
Experts say although HSP doesn't cause bipolar disorder or other mental health conditions, it is more common in affective disorders. As a result, dealing with super sensitivity—feeling distressed by “normal” experiences—or during high-stress times, can often trigger a mood episode and visa versa.
They often take things personally, agitate over “how dare they say/do this to me”, and have difficulty letting go. Two other common traits of the highly sensitive narcissist are narcissistic brooding (cutting resentment and simmering hostility), and narcissistic rage (intense angry outbursts).
Highly sensitive people may be more affected by certain situations such as tension, violence, and conflict, which may lead them to avoid things that make them feel uncomfortable. You might be highly touched by beauty or emotionality. Highly sensitive people tend to feel deeply moved by the beauty they see around them.
HSPs are known to be highly observant, intuitive, thoughtful, compassionate, empathetic, conscientious, loyal, and creative.
Are Highly Sensitive People More Susceptible to Trauma? In a word, yes. As highly sensitive people, our nervous systems are more finely tuned than those of non-HSPs. This means we respond to all stimuli in a stronger way, including traumatic experiences.
While the personality trait doesn't have an official diagnosis, there are certain ways a person can determine whether or not they are an HSP. For example, a highly sensitive person may be prone to feeling overwhelmed in stressful situations and, therefore, may avoid conflict. “HSPs are reflective, deep thinkers.”
Overall, sensitivity is a heightened “ability to perceive, process, and respond deeply to one's environment,” which means sensitive people absorb more sensory information (often unconsciously), think more deeply, and find more interconnections among disparate things than less sensitive people typically do.
Despite these challenges, many people are very attracted to the sensitivity of HSPs. They love our empathy and compassion and our concern for their feelings. They love our desire for deep, meaningful relationships and our distaste for the superficial.
Highly sensitive people (HSPs) are introspective, can become overstimulated if their surroundings are too busy, and feel drained by small talk. In other words, parties are your worst nightmare. Because of this, making new friends as a highly sensitive person can be exhausting, anxiety-inducing, and unappealing.
1. Jealousy. The dictionary defines jealousy as "feelings of worry over the potential loss of something valuable." In business, experiencing jealousy is fairly common, but those feelings are amplified if you're a highly sensitive person.
HSPs often struggle with overthinking, feeling like an imposter, and feeling like they are always doing something wrong.