I’ve known this about myself for almost 10 years. Well, I always knew there was something different about me and how things affected me, but I didn’t always know that it’s a real thing and not just me being weird.
Any more of you out there? I’d love to learn how this affects you and how you deal.
I don’t know if I qualify (I LOVE scary/violent movies, food that sets my mouth on fire, and rollercoasters and stuff) but I do get easily overstimulated. For instance, I don’t like going to concerts anymore because its just too much noise, smoke, and people for too long. I’m also really skittish- I get startled REALLY easily.
I used to really let things get to me, and I would get wound up/explode over the most mundane of issues. This obviously didn’t help my social life, and made me fodder for bullies and such in school. I eventually became aware of my faults, and I have been working them out. Of course, if my pit thread history is any indication, I still get pissed off over things that shouldn’t really matter…like I said, I’m working on it! 
The world wasn’t built in a day, it took 4.5 billion years and counting 
I got a high score there. 23. I’ve been called sensitive since I was a kid.
I just keep things simple, really. My whole life is set up so that I can control my environment most of the time. I’m not one to take off for a 3 day camping trip with people I don’t know or anything like that. I have really worked on not letting other people’s moods affect me. That has been a big challenge in my life!
One other thing is that I have a harder and harder time at the movies. It’s really loud and the screens are so big and you are too close to them! I get dizzy, which makes me feel a bit pathetic. I didn’t used to have that problem.
When I was a kid, everything made me cry. It all started when I was about 9 and I realized that every single day, everything you know and love is changing, and disappearing. Even though something new always comes along, the old things die and never come back. So at that time I started to cry almost every day over almost every little thing. I’m still the same way. Everything is always poignant to me. It’s all a big tragedy. But, you know, it is! And frankly, the fact that a lot of people can’t even see that just scares me. But, what can you do? I think it’s better to be sensitive and to be dealing with reality. It makes you appreciate peace, kindness, love and beauty more deeply.
Oh, pokey, you sound so much like me. I, too, have learned to structure my life so that I’m comfortable at all times. Some people don’t get me, the ability I have to dramatize everything and my vivid imagination, but I love this about myself. I notice everything, every nuance about life. I’m very into the moment and I just feel life. I wouldn’t give it up for anything.
A big challenge for me also is feeling other people’s feelings and moods. I have to be extremely careful who I hang out with and work can be tricky. Another challenge is that things that feel good i.e. food, sex, and drugs, really feel good to me. I’ve been known to use sex like I’d use a good cry- to discharge my central nervous system build-up and be able to relax. It’s hard for me not to overdose on sex and food, but I’ve been alot better at that lately.
I scored “borderline” but I’m curious to know whether those who are identified as sensitive have been told they were colicy babies.
I was. My parents told me I cried all the time.
:o
This is sooo embarrassing.
My score was a big goose egg.
I scored six. I think that works out to “wallflower, but would shoot a man in Reno just to watch him die.”
My score was below the “Highly Sensitive” 14 I got 10.
I think I am sensitive in some ways but never let on, I cried in a sad movie once but when it was over I told the girl I was with that the movie made me fall asleep and that’s why my eyes were red.
I scored 21. It told me I’m not HS, just an asshole.
And I never cried as a baby. My parents thought there was something wrong with me. Maybe there is? I never made any noise. To this day I avoid talking at all costs.
Would it be wrong of me to share my impression that this is another crock of sh*t, designed to part people from their money?
[sub]“Just what the world needs,” thought Earthworm Jim. “Another 'disorder and a new collection of books in the Self-Help section.”[/sub]
Are You A Highly Sensitive Person?
Yes, yes I am and thank you so much for bringing it up.
:sobs:
I tend to be more empathetic than anything else but I can’t decide if it’s because I’m a nurse or the reason I’m a nurse. I don’t mind violent movies but I don’t want to see anything suffer. Curiously dead people don’t bother me at all. I figure they feel nothing now so there’s nothing else I can do for them. I can not stomach bodies piled up like cord wood though or anything along that vein.
I love music but I enjoy silence too. Sometimes I won’t even turn on the TV or music if I am alone.
I consider myself pretty stoic when it comes to pain and feel I work well under pressure. I guess I can tolerate high levels of internal pressure but will do what I can to reduce external stimuli.
I was often labeled shy as a child until I figured out that I just hate people.
I agree. I noticed that all the references at the foot of the page are by the author. She also sells four separate books.
I know that people have varying social attitudes and that it’s good to get advice.
However I don’t see why this person is qualified to take your money.
Eh. I got 25, but I’ve taken the test before- my Mum has the book. Half of my family falls under the HSP label. Parts of the book are fluffy but it was sort of nice to know that it’s (this sounds stupid) okay to need down time and to be sensitive to emotional enviroments.
I scored a 22. I used to be labelled shy, but I rejected that label. I’m quiet, not shy, and there’s a big difference. I speak when I have something to say, and listen when I don’t. I’m working on not letting other people’s emotions affect me so much, though.
I also think this book is kind of a self-serving crock of crap. One good point that could be made here, though, is that if you have a sensitive child, it doesn’t work to try to “toughen” them up. It just makes them unhappy and insecure.
For the most part, you sound exactly like me! I also thought this when I was reading your post in this thread.
I scored 18 on this self-test, just reaffirming what I already know about myself.
I also tend to be more empathetic than anything else and I have a tendency to put other people’s feelings and moods before my own. My friends & family tell me this a quality, but I have made some bad decisions in my life based solely on how other people feel. Although, I have gotten much better about this as I’m in a really good place in my life right now.
I scored a 7 which really surprised me. I figured it’d be lower. I’m not a HSP, though, and according to the other test my daughter isn’t either. My mom is one, though, which is weird because she’s very outgoing.
I know HS kids can’t help it but I had 'em in the church nursery and they drove me bonkers. They couldn’t deal with change so they would attach themselves to the wall and scream until we gave up and found their parents. We had some that adjusted after a few weeks but some never did make the connection that church=nursery=toys and fun. I’d be exhausted if my kid was like that.
The only major criteria I match is overstimulating easily. I’m not afraid of crowds, but if I go shopping, after a while I have got to GO HOME. Being around all those people, all of whom are IN MY WAY just makes me nuts and I start getting crabby. Same with family reunions: I love them dearly, but after a while I have to get a book and go to the basement for a while and be alone.
And I hate violent movies and TV shows. I already know that we live in a dangerous world and evil exists, why would I want to be reminded of it in my entertainment? I thought the idea of entertainment was getting AWAY from the world.
I definitely am, but I don’t really like the happy-fluffy-feel-GOOD-about-your-fucked-up-ness that that woman wants me to have. It’s hard when sitting in class trying to take a test and being completely unable to focus because people are talking or someone across the room is chewing gum or their pencil squeaks to say to myself, “Well, it’s just because I’m special.” It might be related some way in my brain to my creativity or talent or whatever, but that doesn’t mean I should be… oh, wow.
Yes, I am unique, just like 15-20% of everyone. :rolleyes:
Anyway, I usually just say I have “sensory issues” or something like that that doesn’t make it sound like something I should like having. I don’t need validation; I need everyone to shut up.
How do I deal? Well, I try not to be disruptive about it, but sometimes I just have to say “STFU!” to the world.
I’m going to call crock-of-shit on this one, too. The questions on that self-test were so vague – of course everyone’s going to consider themselves artistic and that they have “rich, complex inner lives”. According to this test, if you feel pain you’re highly sensitive. If everyone’s highly sensitive, then what’s low-sensitive?
The symptoms also don’t seem to be terribly negative – it’s like saying, “You’re so SPECIAL and MUSICAL and ARTISTIC and BRILLIANT, other people don’t understand you, boo-hoo-hoo, you must nurture your UNIQUENESS.” Unlike, say, autism, which genuinely impacts people’s day-to-day life, this high-sensitivity stuff looks to me to be catering to normal, healthy people’s feelings that other people don’t understand them. I’m wary of any disorder that is so easily self-diagnosed. It smells like those “Aspie” self-tests, where everyone and their great-aunt Myrtle had the epiphany they were Asperger’s.
For what it’s worth, I’ve often been told I’m too emotional and sensitive. But I don’t think I’m a Capital Letter Highly Sensitive Person, I think I’m just annoyed by humans.
I scored 21 - I own one of her books, The Highly Sensitive Person in Love, but haven’t read much of it. I bought it after seeing her on a morning talk show a few years ago.
To me it doesn’t seem like any kind of “scam”, a lot of what she said really struck a chord with me. I have a nephew who I would say is HSP and I don’t think there’s anything wrong with hoping that his parents read her book about HS Children in order to help them understand him a bit better.