Empathy: Highly sensitive people tend to be more sensitive to others' emotions and moods. This may offer them more insight into other people. It can also help them detect others' motives and inclinations, potentially making them good managers, negotiators, and leaders.
Highly sensitive people tend to feel deeply moved by the beauty they see around them. They may cry while watching particularly heartwarming videos. You may have close relationships with others. HSPs care deeply about their friends and tend to form deep bonds with people.
In addition to being great listeners, highly sensitive people also have excellent memories. They remember all the details, especially those they believe are important to their companions and to their relationships. HSPs are the type who will remember all anniversaries and special observances.
The good news is that highly sensitive people aren't more or less emotionally intelligent than others. They just use emotional intelligence differently.
"Many individuals who are high in neuroticism become hypersensitive to situations that trigger strong emotions, such as sadness," he adds. In other words, those who have high neuroticism feel emotions very deeply, resulting in them crying more often.
Sleep is crucial for HSPs, so make sure its highly quality and your night-time sleep is long. Most HSPs need at least 8 hours, and many sleep over the average -- 9 or 10 hours nightly. If you're not getting enough sleep you WILL burn out and edge towards depression, anxiety and become less capable of functioning.
Close, meaningful relationships
HSPs crave deep connections with others. In fact, according to Aron, they may get bored or restless in relationships that lack meaningful interaction.
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.
As children, HSPs also have a rich, complex inner life, and are often seen as shy by adults. A very important thing to know about highly sensitive people is that they are born this way.
There's good news if you are a highly sensitive parent – you usually make very good parents. You might be more sensitive to things 4. But it also means that you recognize what makes your child special and unique. You can sense your child's needs and respond quickly.
It is believed that HSPs are not rare, and that about 15-20% of the population are thought to be an HSP. There are also thought to be no significant differences in sex, with equal numbers of males and females being an HSP. Being an HSP is an innate trait, with biologists finding high sensitivity in over 100 species.
HSP isn't a disorder or a condition, but rather a personality trait that's also known as sensory-processing sensitivity (SPS).
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.
Alone Time Helps HSPs Process Life
And nearly 30 percent of the population is highly sensitive, so it's not as uncommon as people think. When you're highly in tune with everything (and everyone) around you, it's natural to become overstimulated — and easily overwhelmed.
They have a hard time with conflict and tend to avoid confrontation. This can be challenging in the workplace or at home. They also feel responsible for others' expectations, which makes it harder to let people down. HSPS can overcome many of these downsides through therapy and learning to be more assertive.
They connect and interact with their environments in a way that is stronger than most. HSPs are uniquely attuned to their environments and stimuli. So while they may not have superpowers in the normal sense of the word, they do have some phenomenal gifts that set them apart from the rest.
While there is certainly a major overlap in sensory processing experiences of both autistic and highly sensitive individuals, specifically sensitivity to sensory information, this does not mean they are the same thing.
That depth of processing makes highly sensitive brains are capable of a unique levels of creativity or insight. Now in a new study, researchers have found that it is when people with sensory processing sensitivity rest that their brains engage in deep levels of thought processing.
HS kids can be very inflexible. They come up with rigid rules to organize a world that can feel very overwhelming. HS kids are amazing and also exhausting. Their outsized reactions can be very triggering and hard for parents to understand and manage.
HSPs have a variant of the serotonin transporter encoding gene, known as 5-HTTLPR. The 5-HTTLPR gene variant decreases serotonin in the brain and increases sensitivity to surroundings. The HS brain may have less mood-stabilizing serotonin than the non-HS brain, but it has an enhanced ability to learn from experience.
Many HSPs are happy, confident people who have managed to use their sensitive qualities to their advantage. But there are also HSPs who struggle with how they feel about themselves, not as a result of their high sensitivity, but as a consequence of living in a less than sensitive world.