Help Highly Sensitive People Thrive | HSPs

Foreign. Hey there everybody, and I hope you are having a wonderful day. Welcome to another live presentation. As usual, we're going to start with a little brief presentation while everybody joins in the chat room and then I will take questions. So today we're going to be talking about highly sensitive people. People. What are highly sensitive people? Well, it's self. Pretty self explanatory. Highly sensitive people make up roughly 20% of the general population. So that's one in five. That's actually a lot of people. So what do we need to know about people who are highly sensitive? Highly sensitive people tend to have what we call sensory gating difficulties, which means it's often hard for them to filter out stimuli and give different weight to it. So stimuli, whether it is sights, sounds, smells, whatever, can be very overwhelming. And the environment, a very active, stimulating environment, can be exhausting. But because the person who is highly sensitive perceives those things more intensely, highly sensitive people tend to have sensory processing sensitivity and are easily overwhelmed, flooded, startled by what's going on. And part of a sensory gating difficulty is being sensitive to things that are in the environment. But sensory gating is often noticing things as they are. Sensory processing sensitivity often means that people are experiencing, experiencing things more intensely. I've shared with you guys before that my daughter tends to be highly sensitive and smells are one of her things. And she can smell bleach. I swear, if I even think about using it. But, but even if she's up in her room with the door shut, she can smell the bleach as soon as I start to spray it in, in the kitchen sink when I'm cleaning it after I've done dishes. So obviously I can't use bleach when she's in the house right now. And it's important to recognize that if you are highly sensitive, being aware of the fact that you are tend to be impacted more intensely by things. Now some people, their sensitivities increase based on hormone levels, for example. And so during certain times, especially if estrogen is higher, people may be more sensitive to smells and lights and have more difficulty with headaches. People who are highly sensitive have an increased empathic experiencing. Now you may think, hey, that sounds great, you know, that means they are able to, you know, really connect with other people. And yeah, theoretically it sounds great, but it can be exhausting. People who are highly sensitive tend to have an increased number of what we call mirror neurons. These are the parts of the brain that help us empathize with others. So people who are highly sensitive tend to Actually have more activity in those areas of the brain that promote empathy. And they often are exhausted emotionally from absorbing others feelings and what in our house we commonly call extroverting. And it's not that people who are highly sensitive to don't like people, they love people, but people and environments can be exhausting being in, you know, even in their own house if there's a lot of stuff going on that can just continually bombard them and be overwhelming. So it's important to recognize that people who are highly sensitive may need breaks from highly interactive or highly intense activities as they perceive it. People who are highly sensitive have an increased depth of experiencing. They don't just experience it a little bit like if they're watching a television show, they don't just watch it and it's like, oh, okay, that's sad. I mean it's devastating. It cuts. And people who are highly sensitive, they are often the ones that are crying at different television shows and other people in the room are watching it going, yeah, that was sad. But crying, well, yeah, crying, they are experiencing it that much more intensely. People who are highly sensitive have difficulty with things like, you know, watching those edges ASPCA commercials, they see the big eyes of the doggies and, or the, you know, the little matted kitten and it's just devastating. And it cuts them to the core where other people, yes, it impacts them, but it's not as literally emotionally painful. People with who are highly sensitive may have difficulty with time pressure. When they are under deadline. They get very, very anxious because they perceive other people's reactions to what they do or fail to do so much more intensely that they don't want to disappoint other people. And so they start getting anxious that if I don't get this done or if I don't do it right, I'm going to disappoint this person. And that is again core cutting. People who are highly sensitive tend to have intense feelings and be more emotionally reactive to their own feelings as well as to other people's feelings. They tend to be the type who falls in love head over heels. They get in relationships and it's intense and it's different from the intensity you see in some other types of issues. But it is intense. They just feel this deep connection. They often have a tendency to over personalize the reactions of others and this can be problematic. And this is one of the things that people who are highly sensitive often work on because the empathy can be perceived and embraced as a gift, especially once the person is able to more effectively process what's going on. So if I remember when my daughter was little, all we had to do is look at her cross eyed and these big alligator tears would start streaming down her face. Now, it didn't necessarily mean that we were angry with her. We could have just looked at her cross eyed, you know, with our heads in the clouds thinking about something else but that personalization. So she had to work on not over personalizing things. People who are highly sensitive also tend to be sensitive to, you know, not only, you know, lights and sounds and smells, but also to foods. So certain food colorings, certain additives, certain gluten for example, they may be more sensitive to that than other people medications. They may be more sensitive. You know, neither my daughter nor I have a high tolerance for medication. We take, you know, the bare minimum dose or even the child's dose and that's plenty. Whereas other people take the adult dose and they don't, you know, it doesn't phase them biochemistry. They also may be more sensitive to when there are changes in their hormone levels, whether it's gonadal hormones or thyroid hormones or cortisol levels or changes in their blood sugar. Any biochemical changes can also be perceived more acutely by someone who is highly sensitive. They are just hyper aware. And I'm not saying that in a negative connotation, I'm just saying that they are more sensitive. And so it's important to recognize if you are highly sensitive, if you, you're somebody that you care about is highly sensitive, recognizing what may impact them and trying to be sensitive to that. So some journaling prompts I have for highly sensitive people think about how can I adapt my environments and routines to fit my personal needs. People who are highly sensitive, even though they don't like time pressure, often have a lot of routines because the predictability makes it less stressful to go through the day. Now it may not be a super rigid routine, but they often have routines. So thinking about what is it that I can do that would help me feel safer and less overwhelmed in my environment, in my routines, in my daily life? Second question. How can I create safety in my relationships with others and with the world so that again, we go back to creating safety? When highly sensitive people interact with others, they often, you know, as we talked about, perceive, feel, absorb. Some places use the word absorb other people's feelings, and that can be exhausting. So how, how can the person who is highly sensitive set effective boundaries and be able to take a break? It's great to be able to be intense and empathetic. But at what point, you know, recognizing at what point they need a break, they need to get some distance for a second to catch their breath can be really important. And the same thing is true with the world. You know, going to the mall, going out in traffic, going anywhere, watching the news media, whatever it is. Interacting within the world, in the environment can be very overwhelming. There can be a lot of input. So what does that person need to do in order to get a break? Some people who are highly sensitive will wear blue blocking glasses or even sunglasses when they take their breaks. They may have calming music, white noise machines, something, so they are more in control of their environment and there's less bombarding, if you will. And finally, encouraging people who are highly sensitive instead of seeing it as something wrong with them, embracing their sensitivities, recognizing in what ways it gives them an advantage, or recognizing, you know, what adjustments do I need to make? For example, you know, if you've got sensitivities to foods, you know, maybe you are highly sensitive to caffeine. Okay, well, the good thing is that means you don't need as much and making those alterations so the world fits better for you instead of trying to change you to fit better in the world. So let me take some questions here. Highly sensitive person is not a DSM clinical diagnosis. No. However, there is a lot of information about it on the Internet and a lot of it is, you know, quite useful. And there. Well, let me say there is a lot of information on it. There are a fair number of books on highly sensitive people. And I think the reason it's not a diagnosis is because people who are highly sensitive, they're not broken, they don't have a disorder. They are just wired differently. They are different than maybe you or I. So it's not a pathology. And it's important for people who are highly sensitive to recognize that. Mirror neurons are identified as places in the brain. I'm not sure if they can be tested with like an FMRI or not. And in response to fryer, there is highly sensitive. Now, a trauma history can make people hyper vigilant, so they are taking in all of those feelings as well. So there's a lot of things that can contribute to high levels of sensitivity. Challenge. I don't know what word I want to use here is figuring out what it looks like for you, in what ways it enhances your life. Because, you know, like, being empathetic can be great and what you need to do in order to help yourself feel safer in A neurotypical world, so to speak. So whether if it's a result of trauma, you know, you still are going to do very similar things. Recognizing that, okay, the world or these environments are really overwhelming for me. So what can I do in order to help myself? Developing distress tolerance skills definitely can be helpful, but you're going to need to tailor them to you. So if you are highly sensitive to negativity, maybe if you walk into your workplace and it just like hits you like a wall of negativity when you walk in there and you're like, oh, dude, how do you deal with that? How do you cope with that in a way that's meaningful to you so it doesn't feel oppressive all day long? What can you do? And that is all about self care, all about recognizing what you can and cannot control. I tend to be, and my husband may say I am highly sensitive, but I tend to be relatively sensitive. And I'm one of those who boohoo cries at television shows. That's kind of a running bet in my house, I think, between the boys is, you know, is mommy gonna cry during the show or not? Whenever there's a sad part, I don't cry at every show. But even when my daughter was little, watching Disney movies, I remember her running over to me during certain movies where, you know, at the beginning, the something bad happens at the beginning of the movie and her covering my eyes and saying, mommy, don't watch this. So she was very intuitive even from a, you know, toddler age, young age, that things could be intense. And I guess even if I wasn't overtly expressing those emotions, she was so perceptive that she preempted what was going on and said, no, this is going to upset you. Which, you know, was very adult. I guess it shows, shows the level of her empathy even, even as a young child. So recognizing, again, recognizing that. In terms of histamines, I mean your histamines are often an immune response. And when people are bombarded, when they are perceiving things as highly intense, that'll trigger, that often triggers the stress response, that often triggers the HPA axis and the release of chemicals in order to protect you, prepare you to fight or flee. And those sorts of things. Can post acute withdrawal syndrome, exacerbate highly sensitive personalities or even create highly sensitive symptoms. I would think so. I don't know that it's ever been researched. But for example, people who are detoxing from opioids tend to feel pain more acutely, like physical pain more acutely, because their Natural, their endogenous opioids are not working in the same way yet. They haven't rebooted, so to speak. Their endocannabinoid system can be out of whack. All of that can throw other neurotransmitters out of whack. So the person may perceive more pain and feel more easily overwhelmed. But I mean, just without even putting labels on it, going back to when you don't feel, feel well, when you're, when you're sick, you don't feel well, you're in pain, whatever. A lot of people when they're in that state, that HPA axis is activated, so they tend to be more hypervigilant. It tends to be easier to get overwhelmed. I know for me, when I get sick I am, you know, I tend to be a lot less patient and may overreact a little bit more. Could be because of the sickness, could be because of the decongestants, but either way, but it is important to recognize again without. I struggle with the fact that in our society we put labels on so many things. I want to step back and look at what's causing this. In what ways is it functional, in what ways is it helpful and in what ways is it causing problems and how can we mitigate those problems? Some people, the 20% who are highly sensitive personalities may have been born that way. But then as I said, there are others maybe who are, you know, going through pause, I wouldn't rule that out. Who are experiencing anxiety, who have, who have experienced trauma for a variety of reasons. They are hypervigilant, they are more aware of all the stimuli that are going on around them. They get overwhelmed more easily. They're dealing with so much more that it's kind of like a pressure cooker. And they're already at that state where the pressure, that pressure is at its max. So they can't take much more. So you really want to examine when did this start? What makes it worse and you know, maybe what's its function? I don't know your answer about the amygdala, Mike. A lot of your people who are counselors, social workers, you know, in the behavioral health arena tend to be highly sensitive people, I would guess. And I have not seen any research, so I am just, you know, 20 years of clinical practice. It feels to me like there is a significant proportion of people who are in recovery or from addiction who actually were self medicating that high sensitivity with, with substances. And a lot of them ended up becoming addicted to like depressant type Substances, things that would dull the pain, dull the sensations, because the world was just too intense. And, you know, I've worked with some people who have reported that, that they do recognize their self, medication. So again, I wonder, you know, chicken, egg, cause effect, were they high sensitive before? Are they high sensitive as a result of detox? You know, what's going on? But ultimately, we want to recognize that people who are highly sensitive, likely because of the intensity of their experience, likely are at more risk of anxiety, depression, and addictive disorders. So just bearing that in mind and examining, you know, again, what function does addiction serve for them? Well, in many cases, it's kind of helping them, you know, get a breath because everything is just piling in so much, so long. They need time, they need to be able to, you know, get out of it for a second. And highly sensitive people can have a lot of characteristics with generalized anxiety. And again, we're back to labels and diagnoses, which it's important to remember that diagnosis, especially in the behavioral health realm, is a huge part art and a small part science, because there are so many symptoms that overlap, but also recognizing that there are a lot of symptoms of physiological conditions that overlap that can contribute, like people who have hyperthyroid tend to also experience some of these highly sensitive characteristics. They also may present as more anxious. So, you know, it's really important to consider the whole person, the whole environment in context and identify what, in my mind, identify what their current presenting problems are. What do they identify as keeping them from having their definition of a rich and meaningful life and what needs to happen to help them mitigate those problems. And Fryer, I would agree with you that we may be, and I like your term, micropathologizing. One of the things we see, and you know, it used to be a joke for people who went through medical school, but we also see it in people who go through graduate school for counseling or social work or psychology, that when people go through that diagnosis class, they start finding themselves having like every diagnosis in the book. And the important thing to remember with diagnoses is that the situation, the syndrome, the collection of symptoms that the person has is causing clinically significant distress in one or more life areas and often for an ongoing period of time. If we start pathologizing every time somebody feels grief or has a week where they feel depressed because they lost something very important to them, that's pathologizing, a normative reaction to a bad situation. So. So I do agree with you to a certain extent that at a certain point we need to Broaden our idea of, and I hate the word normal and be more inclusive and embracing people. You know, the highly sensitive people, there's nothing wrong with them, they're just wired a little bit differently. You know, a lot of people who are neuro atypical are very high functioning, happy people. You know, why are we trying to pathologize something that they don't see as an issue? But that's, that's my little soapbox. Thank you, Grayson. I appreciate the contribution as well as the kind words. Environmental stressors like pollution, foods, radiation tend to be perceived more intensely by people who are highly sensitive. Whether it's a risk factor or not, I don't know because again a lot of research, you know, comparatively speaking hasn't been done on the highly sensitive person because it's not. My estimation is, or thought is that it hasn't been done because it's not a diagnosis, it's not in the DSM and therefore it's a lot harder to get funding for. But take that with a grain of salt. In terms of anything that you would take orally, like supplements, nootropics, those sorts of things. I always refer people back to their physician because there are so many interactions that. And they're. Because a lot of nootropics are not regulated by the fda. Quality and consistency in manufacturing can be a problem. There can be adulterants in it and there can again, it can negatively interact with other medications and have unforeseen side effects. So I really encourage anybody, if they're thinking about taking a supplement or nootropic or even changing their radically changing their diet, to consult. Doctors of osteopathy are really helpful. They are very holistic in their approach and many are very open to, to nutritional and holistic interventions. Thank you, lucas. Are there other questions? I appreciate all the interaction on the highly sensitive person and when I went disclaimer, whatever you want to call it, when I went into PubMed to do research on the highly sensitive person. Yeah, there was like nothing there. So a lot of the information that I gleaned comes from reading articles that have been written by therapists, people who are highly sensitive and you know, just living the life. But you know, there's, like I said, there's a lot of information on the Internet but not a whole lot of research, which is unfortunate. I'd like to see that happen more. I am glad that you found our channel, Julia and I look forward to having you with us more often. For those of you who are new to the channel, please Remember that the Community tab, when you go to all CEU's education and you know you see all the videos on the Community tab, you can click on that and you can submit suggestions for future videos that that you want me to do, future things that you want me to talk about in in the Live Thursday presentations. I am going to continue doing the Live Thursday presentations for a while as long as we've got people attending. And we have a really huge group today. And I am just so blessed that you have all have joined me. Oh, and I do. I know a lot of you had commented on the Just for Today meditations and we had posted the PNG version of it, but I also have a video coming out on that specifically focused on the Loving Kindness meditation. That's one of my favorites. And that one is going to come out on Tuesday. I have it scheduled to release on Tuesday, I believe, at 10am so keep your eyes open for that. If you like meditations, if you like activities that can encourage your clients, your children, your co workers, your teammates, your subordinates, whatever, to get grounded and focused. Let's see. Being an SA HSP is very exhausting. And I get that. And recognizing that is important because again, it doesn't mean you're broken. It means that you perceive things so much more intensely. Which also means, in a way, if you want to, you know, try to find the bright side, you are experiencing life so much more richly than other people may experience. But yeah, it can be overwhelming sometimes because people don't understand that the intensity with which you're perceiving things and that you're not overreacting to a situation. You are just you're feeling and you're allowing yourself to feel. And yes, we are still doing the fall retreat. It is going to be in Cumberland Mountain State Park. So if you want to learn more about that, go to all ceus.comwellness we will be doing that retreat. It is four days, Wednesday evening, afternoon, Thursday, Friday and Saturday. And then I left Sunday open so people could travel home and get rested and all that stuff for the work week if they have to go straight back to work. High stress levels are not necessarily linked to highly sensitive people because some highly sensitive people developed very effective methods for coping with their abilities. However, the majority of people find being highly sensitive to be, at the very least, exhausting at times and sometimes very stressful. If they've got a supportive environment, supportive people around them, and they know tips and tools to cope with life on life's terms, then it may not be as stressful for them. So, yeah, I mean, it's it really depends on the person. I have done a video just recently on getting over a breakup. I'm not sure if that's what you're referring to, Lucas, but that is available. I can I will add to the to the list. Doing a video maybe on broken heart syndrome or something. Have several videos on grief. So depending on what you're looking at, there are a variety of videos on that. In terms of learned helplessness. I have talked about it in other videos, but I will add that to the shorts and I will do a short video specifically on learned helplessness and and interventions to address it. Alrighty, everybody. Well, thank you so much for being with me today, and I look forward to seeing you next Thursday.