Keys to know if you are a person with high sensitivity

Keys to know if you are a person with high sensitivity

People with high sensitivity cannot learn to “feel less”, but they can learn to better manage their emotions and relativize things to accept themselves as they are.

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Today, we are increasingly familiar with hearing about people with high sensitivity. However, this is a term that we have not been using for a long time.

In 1996, Dr. Elaine Aron defined people with high sensitivity (PAS) as those who perceive emotions and sensations in a very intense way, whether positive or negative. Being a PAS can be considered a personality trait, as it is something that is in the person since childhood.

High sensitivity is a double-edged sword. Since childhood, PAS has the ability to detect in others and in the environment small changes that other people do not identify. And as they live certain situations with great enthusiasm and curiosity, these children also experience feelings of anguish, confusion, etc., who still do not know very well how to handle, since there has been no time to learn the necessary tools for it.

Therefore, just as they can enjoy a lot of things, they can also be more vulnerable to pain. This is one of the aspects that can lead a PAS to go to a psychologist's office since sometimes he does not know what can be the most effective way to protect and manage emotions in a healthy way, especially negative ones.

Dr. Elaine Aron explains in her work The gift of sensitivity that being highly sensitive is a gift that allows small things to be lived intensely. This is something very positive because, in general, what is considered “is usually valued more. extraordinary ”or that does not happen every day, which impoverishes the emotional world.

How to identify a person with high sensitivity?

Next, we will expose the characteristics of people with high sensitivity to help you know if you feel identified with them:

They have great intuition to detect what happens around them and the moods of those around them. They capture the emotions of others much better; therefore, they are also people with a great capacity for empathy.

They have a greater capacity for introspection, so they can better analyze their own thoughts to find solutions.

They are more sensitive to perceiving the subtle. Those details that other people define as subtle, being very difficult to perceive, people with high sensitivity detect them very easily. For example, they are better able to "read between the lines", more effective in capturing the nonverbal behavior of others. In short, they have a hypersensitivity to small things.

Live sensations intensely. It is as if they had an emotional amplifier that allows them to experience their emotions in a big way, in an extraordinary and very intense way. They also live and express their emotions intensely.

They have a tendency to overstimulation. Due to their great capacity for intuition, to perceive the subtle, to experience intense emotions, etc., PAS can sometimes feel overwhelmed and with too much stimulus. This can generate stress and significant discomfort, causing the need to be in quieter places without excessive noise, hustle, and bustle, people.

They know how to live loneliness better and enjoy it. Being alone is not unpleasant because they connect very well with themselves, they usually have a great inner world that satisfies them.

Because of their capacity for empathy, highly sensitive people make others feel supported, listened to and helped. They tend to care for others because they are able to raise awareness with them and if they have good emotional management, they can be people of great help in difficult moments.

Now, people with high sensitivity who do not have proper handling of their emotions can experience a series of difficulties that interfere with their daily lives:

Suffering from stress or anxiety due to overstimulation, some of the day-to-day situations, such as work, academics, family, etc. They can generate more stress on these people. Not managing it well could cause chronic stress or anxiety disorder.

The tendency to isolation at the social level. The PAS may have the feeling of looking different from others and believe that it does not fit into social circles. Sometimes, social interaction, due to its high sensitivity, can be overwhelming or even painful.

They may have low self-esteem because they feel different and experience fear of rejection as a consequence. This fear can cause two situations: "I isolate myself to avoid that possible rejection, or I tend to please others to make sure they have a good opinion of me." Both negative and incorrect options, because the only thing they generate is that the problem becomes bigger and more difficult to handle.

They experience a feeling of awkwardness feeling governed by their emotions. They tend to believe that they do not know how to develop well, which can cause greater isolation together with the above.

They tend to feel deeply hurt by criticism. They find it difficult to see a constructive or positive criticism because they take it to the personal ground, to their own idea of ​​inferiority.

They take everything very seriously, even the most inconsequential details, with the suffering that this brings.

They do not need to "feel less", but learn to manage

In order for a person with high sensitivity to manage their emotions effectively, it is important that they accept themselves as they are. They cannot pretend to learn to “feel less,” since it would not be a realistic or achievable goal.

Instead, what you can do is modulate those emotions, learn to relativize certain things, know how to set limits on those situations that require you to protect yourself, even with some people as well.

It is important that it is not isolated or separated from others and that it uses objectivity in social situations so as not to draw erroneous and negative conclusions about itself.

The PAS that does not know how to manage their emotions tends to filter the information in such a way that it remains with what it perceives as negative. Therefore, it would be convenient to record all the situation data to assess them together and avoid selecting what has to do with negativity.

Being a person with high sensitivity can be a good and positive thing if emotions are handled properly, which is possible. It is worth remembering that a PAS can love and be loved very deeply and intensely, and that is something that not everyone is able to experience.