How do I know if I am a highly sensitive person?

Highly sensitive people have a series of characteristics that lead them to live day to day in a qualitatively different way from the rest. That is why understanding what happens to them is key to not feeling bad about everyday situations, given that in most cases, human societies have been designed keeping in mind a model of the average citizen who does not show that level of sensitivity.

To better understand what this predisposition to live intensely the elements of daily life consists of, here we will explain what they are the keys to know if you are a highly sensitive person.

• Related article: "The Major Theories of Personality"

What is sensory processing sensitivity?

The concept of sensory processing sensitivity was coined by researchers Elaine and Arthur Aron in the mid-1990s, and was described as a type of personality that reflects patterns of neuropsychological organization in the way of processing stimuli, emotions and thoughts. That is, sensory processing sensitivity shows us a way to experience both psychological processes and perceptive, such as the way in which certain groups of neurons interact with each other, giving rise to this class of experiences.

Specifically, this characteristic is reflected in a high level of sensitivity towards stimuli and towards the mental contents arising through the processing of information. received or stored in memory, and from it, Elaine Aron and Arthur Aron referred to individuals who present this trait as “highly sensitive people”. personality.

But… What exactly does it mean to have sensory processing sensitivity on a day-to-day basis? This is clearly seen in the fact that the people who react with unusually high emotional intensity to events that affect others much less compared to the average human being, but it doesn't stop there. For example, there are certain experiences that do not have a visible and very evident change in highly sensitive people, but they do lead them to find in these situations a series of nuances that go unnoticed by other people and that are stimulating, causing them to direct their attention towards those experiences, objects or places and remain psychologically "soaking" in they.

Considering the above, these are the main key ideas to consider to understand what and how highly sensitive people are.

• Sensory processing sensitivity can cause a person to feel discomfort in places designed for the average person.
• Sensitivity to stimuli is partly contextual in all people (some situations make us more or less sensitive), but highly sensitive people show in advance a greater predisposition to feel plus.
• Sensitivity to stimuli can have advantages or disadvantages depending on the situation
• Sensory processing sensitivity is a sufficiently marked trait to make a qualitative difference with respect to the rest of the people, and not only quantitatively (for example, it leads them to carry out actions that the rest do not even would consider).
• In highly sensitive people, this trait is stable and manifests itself in all kinds of situations.
• Sensory processing sensitivity has implications in the field of psychotherapy and education.
• Sensory processing sensitivity is not a pathology nor is it in itself a reason to seek therapy.

• You may be interested: "17 curiosities about human perception"

How do I know if I am a highly sensitive person?

The only way to consistently identify whether a person exhibits sensory processing sensitivity is go to psychological professionals, since in this way it is possible to study each individual case separately.

However, guidelines like the ones we will see below help to have an approximate vision of the extent to which someone can be a highly sensitive person. Now, just because we identify with one or two of these characteristics doesn't mean we have sensory processing sensitivity. or they are even compatible with other neurological or psychological phenomena (for example, many people with autism are very sensitive to stimuli).

1. Compared to other people, it happens to me a lot that daily situations overwhelm me emotionally

Many stressful situations affect highly sensitive people so much that they find they need to give themselves a few minutes to recover or rest, and this happens much more frequently than with other people. In addition, the experiences that produce this can be much more subtle or brief than those that generate this reaction in the person. average (for example, a brief dispute with someone who has not directly criticized us, but who has adopted an attitude passive-aggressive).

• Related article: "Neurosis (neuroticism): causes, symptoms and characteristics"

2. I show a marked predisposition to empathy

This type of sensitivity is also reflected in the person's ability to automatically and involuntarily “connect” with the emotional states of others, both for the good and for the bad.

• You may be interested: "Empathy, much more than putting yourself in the place of the other"

3. It is common for an image or object to remain in my mind for several minutes, "kidnapping" my attention

Because highly sensitive people automatically detect many nuances in their surroundings, their consciousness is easily "hooked" on all kinds of objects, places or interactions, which makes them feel compelled to think about it and even relive the experience in their memory immediately after it happens.

• Related article: "The 15 types of attention and what are their characteristics"

4. Very intense or sudden stimuli upset me more than most

Phenomena such as thunder, lightning or the reflection of sunlight from a window often visibly alter highly sensitive people. However, this is not always a problem nor does it entail an emotional or psychological change that lasts beyond a few seconds.

• You may be interested: "The 8 types of emotions (classification and description)"

5. I have many times when extreme introversion and extreme extraversion quickly take turns

These people seem to lurch from introversion to extraversion. On the one hand, they are highly stimulated by many elements of their physically accessible environment; on the other, these experiences remain more in their consciousness, and it makes them easily become self-absorbed.

6. Creative spaces and objects call my attention a lot

When creative intentionality is added to the wealth of stimuli, as occurs with works of art and many museums, this causes the sensitivity of sensory processing to be fully deployed and greatly affects the mental state of the person, which almost involuntarily he begins to fully open his consciousness to those kinds of places and objects.

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