I know I am and at least one of my Ts and I wouldn't be surprised if both. My T gets it when I call something "energetically loud" or other stuff that some people just don't get what I mean. I'm super intuitive and it helps at work, creativity, reading people etc.

I wouldn't be surprised if there are a lot of highly sensitive people here but I'm not fortunate enough to know many in the flesh. And I agree with Draggers that in person you can spot another sensitive person a mile away.

Oh yes, I am definitely one. I imagine most people on this forum are, as well as a disproportionate percentage of T's. It's nice to know there's a name for what we are, and that we aren't just "freaks of nature."

I actually loved it when my T recognized that I'm more sensitive than some of her other clients. I found it validating. I used to get labeled as being "melodramatic" or blowing things out of proportion, but that's not the same as actually being sensitive.

Oh my gosh, thank you for sharing that. It makes so much sense for me and probably at least a few of my siblings. Almost everything that makes me say I'm an introvert has to do with this. T has told me before he thinks I am really sensitive and hide it well with dissociation (and is one of the factors in my dissociation).

I'm very intuitive over others needs and seem to read people without meaning to. I am always the only one who can hear a baby crying in another room in a busy/noisy home. I can't have too much audio stimulus or I get very overwhelmed. Strong smells like incense give me migraines. If somebody is talking rapidly or with intense attention/emotion and I have to look at them while they're talking, I will literally get dizzy and feel ill and have to look away and start dissociating to manage it. I'm pretty sure at least two of my siblings are like this and probably my mom. For me, it was always perceived as bad, because she seemed to intuit any negative feelings toward her, so I pretty much had to not be aware of my own feelings to be safe from being attacked about them. Anyway, from what I've observed to T, he thinks I was intuiting and taking care of mom's needs (or rather aware of her fragility) from a very young age on instinct and never allowed needing/attaching to her as a result. I guess any baby might be sensitive to that though.

Anyway, thanks for sharing the article and the quiz. It made a lot of sense.

Oh my gosh, electrical stuff, yes. Got too embarrassed to leave up the details. Lots of static electricity and interference issues.

Oh, and I am usually shutdown to my own emotions, but can cry over a movie, a TV show, a commercial, anybody else who I can tell is really moved or in pain. Somebody in church starts talking about something that makes them start tearing up and I am choking away sobs.

Thanks for posting this! It's interesting, I think about the third or fourth session with my T she mentioned highly sensitive individuals and that she suspected that I may be one. I looked it up when I got home and was amazed at how much I recognized myself in the traits and how it explained why even ordinary noises and stimuli make me so anxious. I'm not surprised that many of the people here have these traits.

((((((MMM)))))))

Great article! Thanks for sharing. I was one of the ones who was always told they were "too" sensitive and it was definitely a stigma as oppposed to a gift. I like seeing it as a gift better.

I really don't know, though, if I was very sensitive as a child or if there just wasn't enough love, enough positive stuff to counteract all the negative stuff. kwim? I know I'm very sensitive now but that's because of all the hurt I've stored up. My kids are all sensitive in one way or another but as long as I make sure they know they are loved and important and appreciated, not one of them seems "TOO" sensitive or even highly sensitive.

I am so glad to meet all of you as fellow HSP's!

Hurray for the sensitive (I'm trying that out, as opposed to "It sucks to be so sensitive!)!

Have you all watched the Ted Talk on Introverts? Not all HSP's are Introverts, but 70% of us are.

This is my issue. When I was younger I had things happen. I always loved people and was kind to everyone. I started going to random places like grocery store and I would see an area in two different ways. I couldn't verbally describe it but I could mentally change it to whichever way I wanted to see it with my emotion toward it and my mind. I also kept seeing things in my room like black clouds that would wake me up and forms of light walking in straight lines in front of me. I also had a very good memory I could remember back when I was three yrs old. I also had very strange thoughts like I wonder if the person in front of me can hear my thoughts and as I'm walking down the sidewalk I woulda say okay your gonna cross over this crack and when you do you will never walk over it at this minute or day or second ever again. I had a troubled childhood and I stopped going through this but I've never forgot. I love deeply and I feel deeply for my friends who are hurting. I'm now an adult and I've been craving things outside this realm. It goes deeper but I'm not ready to say. What do I have?

Well crap...I knew I was sensitive, but not THAT sensitive ...hmm explains a lot though

Funny that you posted this now as I am half way through the book. Like many of you, I'm seeing so much of my own experiences in that book. It's really cool!

For me reading the book validates my need to rest after being somewhere crowded or doing something high stimulation. I have felt like I was weak or wimpy for not being able to keep up the same pace of life as other people I know. I am the only person I know who is so exhausted after 30 minutes in the grocery store that I need to sleep for a few minutes. And I sometimes think I must seem dramatic to other people - requesting that people not wear any scents, not enjoying things like parades, needing quiet and clutter free space or I can't focus, etc. So reading about how so many other people are similar to me reminds me that there's nothing wrong me with me.

Even though I fail sometimes, I do try to think of being sensitive as a gift. I love being able to read other people's emotions so easily. And I love how much I appreciate the little details in nature that others usually miss. I can pick out different bird calls so easily and detect the slightest movement in trees to spot beautiful birds. But sometimes it is awkward to be so sensitive... like when the ads before movies make me cry because of the intensity of the music! I don't go to many movies for that reason.

Anyways, I am glad to see how many HSPs are here. As I was reading the book I figured a lot of folks who post here are probably HSPs. Awesome!

orbit

Yes. The book is kept on my shelf.
Also loved the TED talk on introverts.
I'm both.