# HSP - Highly Sensitive Person?



## d_arnold (Feb 1, 2011)

I've done this Highly Sensitive Person test couple of months ago http://www.hsperson.com/pages/test.htm , and I remember getting 24 out of 27, so that definitely makes me one. Lately I've became much more interested about it and I borrowed a Finnish book about it (Outolintu - Manninen Sylvi-Salli), but it kinda didn't go enough deep with the subject and that kinda annoyed me. However, that book was great and I recommend anyone Finnish to read it.

I've tried to think more about this subject and go deeper, but many Finnish sources are very insufficient and reading English sources with walls of text just makes me tired. Maybe some day I'll go through those English sources.

Ok, here's some things how I've experienced and how I see this sensitivity:

- The first thing I make sure to people is that it means the person is highly sensitive to sensory input, which includes loud voices, smells, bright lights and etc.

- Having a lot of sensory input requires time to process the data. I assume that brain collects every single thing happening around me, without the "filter" that non-HSPs has, using all the "buffer" brain's has for processing and saving that info for further usage, and when I gain too much sensory input, my "buffer" gets overloaded and it blocks every sensory processing. I kinda became "blind" for everything happening around me because my brain cannot process the information enough fast. I can see what is happening, but I just can't translate it to understandable thoughts / info.

- I have always been different than others, sometimes it's very hard to see other people relating to my behaviour. I think I've been suppressing my HSPness a lot. I've tried to control my emotions with a lot of energy. It's just because people has "told" me with their reactions that if show them, I've be seen as a weak person and I won't acceptable to this "society." This has hurt me numerious ways and it's very hard to show my HSPness to anyone. Lately I've tried to encourage being a HSP by expressing myself in creative ways, like drawing.

- I usually hate when there is a lot of shit going around me like which increases my sensory input dramatically, while people are giving me details about some tasks or subjects, or questions. Although I hear what the other person is saying, I just can't understand it, so I have to ask him/her to repeat it like 2 - 3 times and I hate it.

- I am sometimes highly sensitive to caffeine because if I drink too much coffee I became hyperactive or if I drink it after 6pm I can't sleep properly at night.

- If you're angry or in any mood, please don't yell at me front of my face, it fucks up my senses and in worst cases I may panic or cry.

- In elementary school when I was kinda bullied in the classroom when we had recess I took it quite badly and felt like everyone was against me. I very often translate it if you're not helping me while someone is hurting me then you're against me ("...it's so clear that the other person is hurting me, why you are not helping me!?"). This is something I tried to reason to myself that they who didn't help have nothing to do with this, but that didn't work at all, everything still felt hurting me...

- Please don't force me to do anything I don't want to do, or don't make promises for me (like saying that "Ari comes there and does that work") becase it feels like you're trying to control me and tear apart my privacy and independence, and this shit really causes me anxiety!! If you like me to do something, just ask me, appreciate my help and let me have enough time to prepare.

- I hate clubs where they play music *LOUD*. Usually my first thought is to punch that DJ into face and yell "turn that shitty music down, I AM NOT DEAF!!" This is why prefer pubs where they play music in a reasonable volume

- When I become hungry and I be that way too long, it makes me feel dizzy and it fucks up my concentration and makes me moody. I have created an energy policy theory related to HSPs about this. I assume that processing every sensory information requires a lot of energy. When I became hungry, it indicates that my energy supply reserved for sensory info processes is depleting and it makes my brain turn into battery saving mode. Other option I think is that the brain starts to use energy supply reserved for other body functions making me also feel slightly cold. Well, if this is the case then I would say that I don't have metabolism on steroids that keeps me stay fit and slim no matter how much I eat, it's my brain that uses shitloads of energy. I can continue this theory some other day if anyone is interested about.

- This is just an assumption: being an HSP makes me access sensory information that helps me to see or hear or notice something that non-HSPs doesn't see/hear, and it also makes me very intuivite.


I also think I am a High Sensation Seeker because that would explain me why repeating some things makes me bored as hell, but I try to think more about it later.


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## abster (Feb 9, 2011)

interesting. You could try reading Elaine Aron's book on The Highly Sensitive Person: How to Thrivw When the World Overwhlems You. New york broadway books if you get a hold of one. I dont if itll help but its not a bad read.


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## lucy4587 (Sep 24, 2011)

"- When I become hungry and I be that way too long, it makes me feel dizzy and it fucks up my concentration and makes me moody. I have created an energy policy theory related to HSPs about this. I assume that processing every sensory information requires a lot of energy. When I became hungry, it indicates that my energy supply reserved for sensory info processes is depleting and it makes my brain turn into battery saving mode. Other option I think is that the brain starts to use energy supply reserved for other body functions making me also feel slightly cold. Well, if this is the case then I would say that I don't have metabolism on steroids that keeps me stay fit and slim no matter how much I eat, it's my brain that uses shitloads of energy. "

mmm.. quite interesting thoughts. so , what others things you may say about this ?


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## Beyond_B (Feb 2, 2011)

I got 20.I don't know but it sounds like it makes it more difficult to get things done when you are HSP.


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## owlbird (Feb 27, 2011)

Hey you're an HSP too!  And I've been researching deeply about HSPs as soon as I found out I was an HSP. It was very helpful in getting to know how I function. And I agree that there are more English resources than non-English resources on HSPs. Have you read the comfort zone newsletter on Elaine's website? I've read stuff about being HSP and a HSS(high sensation seeker) which was good to read too. 
On being hungry, one term I found that I liked was that HSPs get "hangry" if they are not fed. Hangry = hungry + angry. So if HSPs are hungry they need to eat before they do anything.


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## kateykinz (Nov 19, 2009)

Interesting. The stuff you wrote on your struggle to process sensory input is what I experience when I am high. The only way I've been able to describe it to anyone before is that I get kind of autistic (the processing rather than emotional problems). All my senses feel like they are in overdrive and I can't process anything quickly enough to react - it's like all my usual filters and shortcuts have been wiped out and I'm left trying to process each moment like it is a brand new experience. It's exhilirating and terrifying at the same time (especially the bodily sensations that go with it - like burning sensation on my skin, and feel my heart is going to explode and like my body is being puppeted by an unseen force - I have to do repetitive movements to calm myself). Which is one reason I don't smoke anymore. I don't envy you at all having to live day in day out like that and not having a choice. But I can see there are definite benefits as well, so long as you are in a not-too-stimulating environment.


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## d_arnold (Feb 1, 2011)

owlbird;bt24736 said:


> Hey you're an HSP too!  And I've been researching deeply about HSPs as soon as I found out I was an HSP. It was very helpful in getting to know how I function. And I agree that there are more English resources than non-English resources on HSPs. Have you read the comfort zone newsletter on Elaine's website? I've read stuff about being HSP and a HSS(high sensation seeker) which was good to read too.
> On being hungry, one term I found that I liked was that HSPs get "hangry" if they are not fed. Hangry = hungry + angry. So if HSPs are hungry they need to eat before they do anything.


Yeah, I have read few of them, and perhaps I should read more of them, but I'm just too busy lately, heh, school stuff. And that "hangry" word sounds cool.


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## Nephilibata (Jan 21, 2015)

Thanks for writing this (I hope you don't mind me commenting years after you posted)! I'm fairly sure at this point that I'm a HSP. I didn't really know what it was until a little while ago, but reading information about it and also your post, I can definitely relate to a lot of it. Thank goodness I haven't experienced sensory overload to the extreme very often so far, but I've been getting it more recently and being a HSP certainly explains just why and what is going on. Thanks again for sharing.


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