Highly Sensitive People
More Introverted, Socially Aware and Responsive
Characteristics of highly sensitive people are similar to introverted personality types. Like introverts, highly sensitive people are quickly drained and need time alone.
If people commonly describe you as "oversensitive", a "scaredy-cat" or "inhibited" you may be a highly sensitive person. If you startle easily, make it a point to avoid violent movies or tv shows, and tend to be extremely sensitive to pain you may be a highly sensitive person. If other people's moods affect you and you're shaken by upsetting or overwhelming situations, then maybe you're a highly sensitive person.
Being highly sensitive isn't bad, good, unhealthy, or healthy: it's just one way of being in the world. And the more you know about highly sensitive people, the better you'll adjust to the people and situations around you.
The Highly Sensitive Person
In The Highly Sensitive Person: How to Thrive When the World Overwhelms You, Dr. Elaine Aron describes the characteristics of highly sensitive people. Whether you work with someone who is supersensitive or you think you yourself are highly sensitive or "oversensitive", knowing about those personality traits can provide insight into daily life and interactions. Knowing a little about highly sensitive people can help you deal with them better because you understand how they feel.
Dr. Aron clearly points out that highly sensitive people aren't to be confused with introverted, inhibited, or shy people (though similarities exist). Highly sensitive people have a more sensitive nervous system – it's a physiological as well as a psychological condition. Basically, highly sensitive people are more susceptible to external stimulation from sights, sounds, and even vibrations. Introverts may not be as sensitive.
Most highly sensitive people are:
- Able to process information deeply.
- Able to concentrate deeply.
- Good at tasks requiring accuracy, speed, and detail.
- Highly conscientious.
Physical characteristics of highly sensitive people:
- Good at fine motor movements.
- More affected by caffeine.
- Good at staying still.
- More "right-brained": less linear, more creative.
- Slower to recover from intense stimuli.
Highly sensitive people are deeply affected by lights, strange odors, clutter, and loud noises. They startle easily and take longer to "come down" from long days, conflicts with friends or family, or stressful days at work. Highly sensitive people can't tolerate as much as other people can. These personality traits are different than the characteristics of introverts.
Personality traits of highly sensitive people
Highly sensitive people are able read the moods of their friends and family quicker than "regular people." According to Dr Elaine Aron in The Highly Sensitive Person they can even sense the personality of the person who's arranged the flowers!
Highly sensitive people are better at spotting errors – and better at avoiding them, too.
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