Highly sensitive people are people with a particular level of emotionality and a high degree of sensory stimulation. They live intensely each of their experiences, both positive and negative, which is incomprehensible in most cases for the rest of the people. It is for this reason that they suffer a lot for feeling and living the way they do.
In this Psychology-Online article we are going to describe in a little more detail What characterizes hypersensitive people and how to treat them.
What are highly sensitive people?
Highly sensitive people are people, as their name suggests, who have a high degree of general sensitivity. In the words of Karina Zegers from Beijlthese are people with a “finer, more developed nervous system than most people”. From 15 to 20% of the population can be diagnosed as a highly sensitive person.
Elaine Aron coined, in the mid-90s, the term PAS to refer to this group of people who present a greater sensitivity than normal. The term has also recently been coined NAS to refer to children who present these characteristics.
Characteristics of hypersensitive people
According to Elaine Aron, highly sensitive people (PAS) They simultaneously present the following four characteristics, summarized in the acronym DOES:
- Depth in information processing (Dept of processing): These are very thoughtful people who delve into every detail of the stimuli received.
- Great emotionality and empathy (Emotional Reactivity and Empathy): They present high levels of empathy and experience their emotions very intensely.
- Sensitivity towards subtleties (Sensing the Subtle): they have a special ability to perceive details in everything they perceive
- Over stimulation or saturation (Overstimulation): precisely because of the three previous characteristics, they tend to feel overstimulated by reacting in such a constant, intense and profound way in each of the interactions that occur in their lives.
In addition to these four basic requirements or symptoms of highly sensitive people, the PAS They may also have some of these characteristics:
- They may be shy or introverted.
- They present aHigh sensitivity towards art and natureareas in which they are able to perceive and create in great detail aspects of great beauty and depth.
- Their sensitivity and empathy leads them to worry and be interested in issues of humanitarian significance And social
- Like clearly perceive the beautythey have a great radar for detecting the subtleties and inconsistencies of the world.
- They experience emotions very deep and intense.
- They look very affected by stimulation excessive (bright lights, loud noises and strong smells).
- They present difficulties perceiving their limits personal, to self-manage emotionally and be assertive.
They are people who can enjoy, at levels incomprehensible to the rest of the world, aspects of this world related to beauty, perfection of nature, etc. However, on the other hand, they suffer greatly from continually feeling overstimulated and as a result of perceiving details that are apparently imperceptible to others. For example, they can become ecstatic and excited when contemplating some natural landscape and, on the other hand, they can become blocked in a hostile situation, in front of a large number of people, in front of a place with sounds, smells or intense and loud music. ..
There are currently several tests to diagnose this trait in people. There are versions for adults and children. They can be easily accessed on the internet. Some of the pages where you can find some of them is on the website of Passespana and on the website Karina Zegers from Beijl, among other. In this article, we help you.
Highly sensitive people and love
It is said that highly sensitive people they tend to fall in love easily. It could be interpreted as that, due to their ability to perceive subtleties, quickly and continuously, they capture the most beautiful aspects of people. Likewise, they usually experience disappointments intensely who suffer in their relationships, since their experiences present such significance that they are invaded by them with great difficulty to overcome like the rest of the people.
At the same time, just as they perceive the depth of beauty, they are sensitive to the negative aspects of people so that, once they perceive these details, they can feel overwhelmed by them without being able to soberly attribute their relative importance. with respect to the whole person.
How to treat hypersensitive people
After seeing the characteristics of hypersensitive people, we will see how to treat hypersensitive people, offering advice for highly sensitive people and broadly explaining therapy for highly sensitive people.
Comprehension
To help hypersensitive people the most important thing is understand and accept how they are and the different way they process the information around them. One of the biggest obstacles that this group of people encounter is the incomprehension they receive from the rest of the world when they are considered “strange” due to the peculiarities of their speeches and behaviors.
Protection
It is a disease, not a disease that needs to be cured. Therefore, and although it may pose great obstacles for many affected people in many of their daily situations, it is essential to integrate and accept these characteristics as part of oneself, protect yourself in those factors of greater susceptibility and enrich all those other aspects that can provide beautiful personal experiences and dedication to others.
Change of perspective
On a personal note and speaking directly to people who present this personality trait, I would tell them not to perceive themselves according to the parameters established in this world, but according to the virginity of their essence, which preserves the archetypal and inherent characteristics of the human being practically intact. . What if the PAS Were they people who actually perceive the world as it is and it happens that the rest of the world has lost these capacities, adapting and correctly integrating everything established in our world? Maybe for this very reason Highly sensitive people react positively to all the real beauty in this world and their souls suffer when they perceive situations or stimulation that are artificial and totally foreign to the essence of the human being. Maybe, just maybe, it’s like that…
This article is merely informative, at Psychology-Online we do not have the power to make a diagnosis or recommend a treatment. We invite you to go to a psychologist to treat your particular case.
If you want to read more articles similar to Hypersensitive people: what they are like and how to treat themwe recommend that you enter our category.
Bibliography
- Zegers de Beijl, K. (2013). The high sensitivity. Live from the heart.