Top 5 characteristics of highly sensitive people

In Psychology there are a whole series of concepts that serve to describe behavior patterns and predispositions when thinking and feeling.

A clear example of this is in the personality traits proposed in models such as the Big Five, in which five dimensions are proposed through the which explain in general terms how people behave: some have a tendency to neuroticism, others are open to new experiences, etc.

However, the concepts formulated by Psychology do not have to be limited to translating into words the broader aspects of human behavior and the way in which people adopt a lifestyle or other.

There are also some that serve, specifically, to understand how some people process the information that comes to them from outside, their way of experiencing stimuli. This is the case of the concept of "highly sensitive people", associated with Sensitivity to Sensory Processing.

In this article you will find a summary about the characteristics of highly sensitive people.

• Related article: "The 5 great personality traits: sociability, responsibility, openness, kindness and neuroticism"

What is sensitivity in Psychology?

The nervous system is, above all, a set of organs that have evolved to help us adapt to changing situations and new challenges. That is why the only life forms that have a nervous system have the ability to move, while those that do not move because they tend to remain fixed in one place, such as plants or fungi, do not.

Now, having a nervous system implies having the ability to react relatively quickly to certain events that occur around us. In this way, in this type of body structure, neurons serve, among other things, to associate the capture of certain signals with the emission of certain behaviors. Thus, the nervous system develops sensitivity thresholds: if a stimulus is strong enough, it will activate a certain reaction, and if it is not, it will not.

These kinds of mechanisms are actually more complex than this simple explanatory scheme, but they generally hold true for all living beings with a nervous system, including humans. Yes; as much as we possibly have the most complex brain in the animal kingdom and have the ability to voluntarily repress certain impulses, it is still true that when a stimulus exceeds our sensitivity threshold, our nervous system starts to work in a different way for a few moments, even if that is barely reflected in our externally observable behavior.

Thus, the phenomenon of sensitivity has a facet related to thoughts and emotions, that is, related to psychology: it is not a mechanism that is studied only by the sciences of Neurology or Physiology.

Taking that into account, it is easier to understand that there are what are known as highly sensitive people. These are individuals with an extraordinarily low sensitivity threshold, that is, with a great predisposition to enter a different physiological and psychological state from a stimulus that in other people would not cause any reaction.

Almost all psychological traits have a normal distribution in the population, with cases of people in whom they are highly developed and others in which they are very poorly developed, and the majority of individuals with a degree of development of this trait that is close to the half. It is part of the functioning of genetics and biological evolution, which does not imply that person from the ends of that Gaussian bell are going to have mental health problems necessarily. This also happens with sensitivity to stimuli.

What are the characteristics of highly sensitive people?

As we have seen, highly sensitive people are characterized by their predisposition to feel with an intensity meaningful those experiences linked to sensory stimuli that other people would find very subtle or barely noteworthy.

However, its sensitivity is not limited only to the purely sensory (sounds, images, tactile sensations ...) but it goes something further and also includes relatively complex thoughts. For example, those that have to do with empathy: the fact of imagining very vividly the emotional state of another person, to the point of feeling something very similar to him.

Thus, the characteristics of highly sensitive people are as follows.

1. Predisposition to feel emotionally saturated

One of the characteristics of highly sensitive people that most affects their day to day is their tendency to feel their emotions overwhelm them, needing a moment to compose themselves.

This occurs, for example, when working under pressure or managing complex personal relationships.

2. Predisposition to empathy

As we have seen, empathy plays an important role in the lives of highly sensitive people: are "infected" by sadness, joy, anxiety and other emotional states more easily and intensity, regardless of your will. That is why they are generally more willing to help and collaborate.

3. They experience moments of marked introspection

Highly sensitive people generally have a tendency toward moments of introspection, in the sense that they They focus on their thoughts, diverting their attention from the world around them, to try to organize and manage their feelings.

However, this does not imply that they are introverts in general; They can be extroverted, but with moments of a marked need to focus on your thoughts and nothing else, alone.

• You may be interested in: "Introverts: 4 characteristics that define them"

4. Tendency to creativity

Like highly sensitive people they capture many nuances in what they see around themThey have a lot of "raw material" with which to be creative, even spontaneously and without intending it.

Do they require psychological treatment?

It is perfectly possible to be a highly sensitive person and have good mental health and a satisfying life..

However, it is true that they are more exposed to certain risks and emotional problems than the rest of the population. For example: emotional instability in the face of a crisis, complicated grief after the death of a family member, post-traumatic stress ...

These are psychological alterations that arise when personal predispositions are combined with certain life events. In such cases, it is important to seek professional help in therapy.

Do you want to have professional psychotherapeutic support?

If you are considering improving your emotional well-being by attending psychological therapy, we invite you to get in touch with our team of professionals.

On Cepsim Psychological Center We have more than two decades of experience working in the field of mental health, and we can help you with problems such as mismanagement emotions, trauma, anxiety disorders, depression, and other forms of psychological disturbances that wear down the quality of lifetime. You can find us in Madrid, and we also offer online therapy.