Sensitive People in an Insensitive World

http://www.newsfinder.org/site/more/sensitive_in_an_insensitive_world/

I thought this was a nice run-down of traits that empathic people have.

Thank-you. :)

thanks for the article.

It's a good summary. I think it is quite useful for explaining the condition to others, though it doesn't really go much into coping strategies for the person in question - there is a book on this: 'The Highly Sensitive Person' by Elaine N. Aron

Nomad said:

here is a book on this: 'The Highly Sensitive Person' by Elaine N. Aron

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Thanks for that reference Nomad, I'll definitely look into that one :)

Wow. I had never heard of this designation before, but it seems to fit me to a "T"
Thank you!! :P

Thanks for the article.

Gandalf said:

Thanks for the article.

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Yeah, thanks Nomad :)

Nomad said:

thanks for the article.

It's a good summary. I think it is quite useful for explaining the condition to others, though it doesn't really go much into coping strategies for the person in question - there is a book on this: 'The Highly Sensitive Person' by Elaine N. Aron

Click to expand...

thank you nomad . here is the self test from the same book
http://www.hsperson.com/pages/test.htm. greater than 14 is Highly sensitive person. and I got 23

Interesting, 23 for me too.

Thanks for the article, WhiteBear. I've read Elaine Aaron's book a couple of times, but I don't remember coming across this very accurate point in her work:

One of the sure signs of a truly sensitive person is that he feels animosity toward his sensitive nature. Most sensitive people whole-heartedly wish they were tougher and more thick-skinned. They feel like their sensitivity is a weakness. They wish things didn’t bother them so much. They wish their emotions weren’t so obvious to other people. They wish they could let things go and not worry so much. They aren’t comfortable with their sensitivity, and wish they could do something to get rid of it (or at least get rid of the negative aspects of it). Therefore some sensitive adults have learned how to hide their sensitivity from others.

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I got 25 on the sensitivity self-test

Nice article, thanks for sharing.

Endymion said:

Thanks for the article, WhiteBear. I've read Elaine Aaron's book a couple of times, but I don't remember coming across this very accurate point in her work:

One of the sure signs of a truly sensitive person is that he feels animosity toward his sensitive nature. Most sensitive people whole-heartedly wish they were tougher and more thick-skinned. They feel like their sensitivity is a weakness. They wish things didn’t bother them so much. They wish their emotions weren’t so obvious to other people. They wish they could let things go and not worry so much. They aren’t comfortable with their sensitivity, and wish they could do something to get rid of it (or at least get rid of the negative aspects of it). Therefore some sensitive adults have learned how to hide their sensitivity from others.

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I got 25 on the sensitivity self-test

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That is an important point. I've observed that I do a lot to hide my feelings (which spills over into 'hiding' in general) because of this.

This level of emotional response has caused me to, over the course of my life, build a shell around me to hide and not express it, or at least not in a conscious, measured and mature way. In times of personal stress I have judgement problems with expressing myself - I either express what I (acutely) feel and so become a drama queen, OR I suppress it, thinking that I am trying to externally consider, but actually I am being secretive and insincere.

An awareness of how the the 'machine' works like this, is a good first step for trying to 'debug' or take back control of the automatic behaviours that result, and then finding that middle road to conscious and externally considerate expression.

Thanks for the questionnaire, seek10. I got a 26.

Nomad said:

This level of emotional response has caused me to, over the course of my life, build a shell around me to hide and not express it, or at least not in a conscious, measured and mature way. In times of personal stress I have judgement problems with expressing myself - I either express what I (acutely) feel and so become a drama queen, OR I suppress it, thinking that I am trying to externally consider, but actually I am being secretive and insincere.

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Stop describing me I can't stand it !! ;)

I scored 21 on the test but I think I still want to believe that I am thougher than I am...meh

23 for me too, and I was holding back a little.

Tigersoap said:

[Stop describing me I can't stand it !! ;)

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There are things you can do that help.

It's interesting, I've been reading Cleckley's 'Caricature of Love' and there's a certain amount of crossover of subjects here. It describes how people, in their narcissism and inability to find true fulfilment, turn to the arts as their means of expression (and so the arts are full of narcissism!). I think this can even be useful at times - I've been learning the piano, which I find a good way to 'release' and express myself in some kind of way that also engages the brain with a certain level of awareness.

Also, working off those times of over saturation or 'overwhelmement' (is that a word?), can be done using knowledge of the machine, for example concentrating on the other centers, doing physical work, something that requires you to focus elsewhere than the source of the overload. This allows your machine to recoup the right kind of energy to regain equillibrium (as I've found - I've been experimenting)

Here's a great description of what can happen to the frontal lobes when overload occurs. It's mainly about bipolar disorder, but there is some useful info in there for all over-sensitives: http://bipolarlight.com/index2.html