Am I Highly Sensitive? {HSP}

Dec 14

Journaling in beautiful, quiet & secluded environments is GLORIOUS for this HSP.

I remember thinking this to myself years ago after hearing about this catchy three-letter acronym … HSP.

I thought, “What the heck is an HSP and why do I keep hearing about it?”

Highly Sensitive Person. That’s what it stands for.

And while this is not something you will find in the DSM (Diagnostic and Statistical Manual of Mental Disorders) it is a lovely one-stop-shop to house all the ways a person can experience being Highly Sensitive.

According to a quick google search,

A highly sensitive person (HSP) is a neurodivergent individual who is thought to have an increased or deeper central nervous system sensitivity to physical, emotional, or social stimuli.1

Some refer to this as having sensory processing sensitivity, or SPS for short.

The term highly sensitive person was first coined by psychologists Elaine Aron and Arthur Aron in the mid-1990s.

Here’s this quick little quiz you can take over on Elaine Aaron’s website to see if you resonate with HSP experiences:

AM I AN HSP?

After reading through the questions on this quiz it was SUPER clear that, YEP I am highly sensitive.

And it explained so many of my experiences through out my life.

There are so many ways in which my sensitivities have made themselves knowns to me over the years.

While I used to LOVE going to concerts (and I mean LOVE - I went to punk shows every weekend I could in high school and college), the thought of getting into a large crowd of people, even to see my most fave band, definitely gets my anxiety spiking.

Now, it would be interesting to see studies on whether people identify more with HSP traits as we enter our 3rd year of a global pandemic or not - but as an HSP, I can say my experience with fear around contracting a virus from crowds FEELS very different from an activated nervous system due to being an HSP.

I will share more on my personal HSP journey in future posts.