Personality Type or Mental Illness?

LittleMissMuffet

Well-known member
I found this good article, and although it expresses fairly simple and self-evident information -it is nonetheless a valuable point of view and I think would concern everyone here.

...is a large part of our problem to do with the fact that we perceive ourselves to have a 'problem' -ie: we don't really value and accept our sensitivity and also are still learning how to manage the stress and overstimulation that come with being very sensitive; that in trying to change our high sensitivity, we make ourselves even more sensitive and worried etc and in general blow things out of proportion -giving us a 'mental illness'. And if we could accept our high sensitivity, instead of trying to squelch it etc -if we learnt how to not be so controlling of it and instead much more unconditionally accepting, then we could finally actually adapt ourselves better to those around us, and our anxieties about relationships and about our emotionality/emotions would disappear...?


Well, read this. It is encouraging and good to think about.


Emotional

Emotional: Emotional Sensitivity

Emotional Sensitivity

Empathic people do have observable traits that are easily identified. Interestingly, the traits are a set of characteristics that have always had their own air of mystery. I'm referring to a set of psychological traits that has never been adequately explained before. These characteristics are commonly referred to as emotional sensitivity.



Spiritual Inspiration, Spiritual, Spirituality, Mental, Spiritual Inspiration, Personal Development, Spiritual Growth, Body Mind Soul, Body, Mind Spirit, Body and Mind, Body Mind, Mind and Body, Body Mind and Soul, Body Mind and Spirit, Positive Thinking, Positive Thought, Success Consciousness, Wealth Consciousness, Prosperity Consciousness, Power of Thought, Consciousness, Creation Techniques, Sensitive, Highly Sensitive Person, Sensitive Person, Highly Sensitive People, Sensitive People



Highly Sensitive People: Emotional Sensitivity
By Kyra





Emotional Sensitivity

Empathic people do have observable traits that are easily identified. Interestingly, the traits are a set of characteristics that have always had their own air of mystery. I'm referring to a set of psychological traits that has never been adequately explained before. These characteristics are commonly referred to as emotional sensitivity.


Sensitivity is a set of character traits that has just begun receiving attention from the psychological community within the past few years. This is strange, because it has always been fairly prevalent among the population. Nevertheless, it has not even been officially recognized as a personality type. I want to make sure that you understand what I mean when I use the term sensitivity. Following is a list that describes the attributes of emotionally sensitive people.


1. Emotionally sensitive people feel emotions often and deeply. They feel as if they "wear their emotions on their sleeves."


2. They are keenly aware of the emotions of people around them.


3. Sensitive people are easily hurt or upset. An insult or unkind remark will affect them deeply.


4. In a similar vein, sensitive people strive to avoid conflicts. They dread arguments and other types of confrontations because the negativity affects them so much.


5. Sensitive people are not able to shake off emotions easily. Once they are saddened or upset by something, they cannot just switch gears and forget it.


6. Sensitive people are greatly affected by emotions they witness. They feel deeply for others' suffering. Many sensitive people avoid sad movies or watching the news because they cannot bear the weighty emotions that would drive to their core and stick with them afterwards.


7. Sensitive people are prone to suffer from recurrent depression, anxiety or other psychological disorders.


8. One the positive side, sensitive people are also keenly aware of and affected by beauty in art, music and nature. They are the world's greatest artists and art appreciators.


9. Sensitive people are prone to stimulus overload. That is, they can't stand large crowds, loud noise, or hectic environments. They feel overwhelmed and depleted by too much stimuli.


10. Sensitive people are born that way. They were sensitive children.


There are a couple different responses kids have to their sensitivity. One type of sensitive child is the stereotypical kid who gets picked on by bullies, and is a well-behaved, good student because she cannot stand the thought of getting into trouble. The other type of sensitive child more often experiences the stimulus overload mentioned in the previous paragraph. These children are thus over stimulated and have difficulty focusing, which causes them problems in school.


Sensitive people typically exhibit all or nearly all of the above descriptors.


One of the sure signs of a truly sensitive person is that he feels animosity toward his sensitive nature. Most sensitive people whole-heartedly wish they were tougher and more thick-skinned. They feel like their sensitivity is a weakness. They wish things didn't bother them so much. They wish their emotions weren't so obvious to other people. They wish they could let things go and not worry so much. They aren't comfortable with their sensitivity, and wish they could do something to get rid of it (or at least get rid of the negative aspects of it). Therefore some sensitive adults have learned how to hide their sensitivity from others.


About Dr. Mesich

Kyra Mesich earned her doctoral degree in clinical psychology from the Florida Institute of Technology APA-approved program in Melbourne, FL. In the years since her training, Dr. Mesich has studied extensively in the field of alternative health. By studying such practices as herbalism, flower essence therapy, energy healing, and meditation, Dr. Mesich seeks to uncover the true meaning and underlying source of the emotional suffering so many of us endure. Dr. Mesich is the author of the award-winning book, The Sensitive Person's Survival Guide. She works and resides in Minneapolis, MN. Please visit her at: http://www.kyramesich.com/
 

LittleMissMuffet

Well-known member
And I just checked out the website.
Read this that I cut and pasted from it!........

“People suffer in countless ways from their sensitivity, depression being the most common, and most are never properly diagnosed, only medicated. Reading The Sensitive Person’s Survival Guide gave me a ray of hope that the day is coming when the maladies of empathic people will be taken seriously and treated in a more realistic way.” — Echo Bodine, author of Echoes of the Soul

"The Sensitive Person's Survival Guide is an outstanding contribution to body-mind healing. Dr. Mesich explains the relationship between emotional sensitivity and psychic awareness in clear, accessible language, showing that such abilities should not be discredited but rather developed as genuine gifts. Her Guide has our highest recommendation." — Patricia Kaminski, Executive Director of The Flower Essence Society

The Sensitive Person’s Survival Guide presents a radically new way of looking at emotional sensitivity and chronic depression and anxiety. Through her own experiences and courageous research, Dr. Mesich (a traditionally trained psychologist) has found that psychic sensitivity is the underlying key to understanding emotional sensitivity.

Dr. Mesich’s book focuses on empathic ability, the ability to literally feel other people’s emotional experiences, also known as psychic feeling. This misunderstood ability often results in recurrent depression, anxiety, and the painful aspects of emotional sensitivity due to our society’s denial and repression of the existence of psychic phenomena. With simple, down to earth language and case examples, Dr. Mesich demystifies empathic ability, and explains the relationship between emotional sensitivity and psychic sensitivity.

Readers also learn specific alternative health remedies and practices they can immediately implement in their own lives to rebalance their sensitivity and reconnect with their empathic ability. Armed with this knowledge, readers will experience relief from mysterious lifelong emotional suffering, and turn their sensitivity into a strength and a joy.

Contains glossary, appendix, and recommended references.


:D :!:
 

okkamsrazor

Well-known member
Excellent Topic LilMissMuffet, and an interesting read. Thanx! :D

Allow me to share my 2 cents on what I’ve found out. We (humans) are part of the planet and right now the planet is experiencing massive geopathic stress - caused by depletion of natural environment, increased human habitation, increased population (natural and unnatural), increased pollution, increased electromagnetic interference, increased unnatural energy waves (micro-waves, TV booster & communication arrays etc), increased gamma radiation, increased background radiation (man, I best stop right there, I can feel myself getting super militant!) but you get the gist that these are just a proportion of what the planet (and us) are absorbing every second of every day of our lives.

IMO I believe all people are ‘sensitive’, as we become affected / influenced by factors stemming from our environment like those listed above. Normally we’re born to cope with a certain level of stress but a personal massive traumatic experience in life can shift or distort a person’s energy field to become overly sensitive to an ‘unnatural’ level.

IMO Sensitivity can be classed by receptiveness: at the lower end a natural sensitive may experience say a migraine, headache before a storm front. On the flip side an unbalanced sensitive may feel full-on distortions either from the environment to just being in a room where your energy field (a field of electromagnetic energy which surrounds everything. Shown by ‘Kirlian Photography’ for example) interacts with other peoples fields.
Maybe you’ve had a similar experience, where the wind feels as though it’s been knocked out from you followed by a tingling in the centre of your torso (classed as the ‘Assemblage Point’ see diagram).

blaen61f.jpg


Usually it could be the case where the human energy field can readjust to the situation, but sometimes it needs help. This is where medication and therapy comes in. Ancient teachings tell us the mind and the body exist as one – affecting one will no doubt affect the other but more so if the minds balance has been disturbed. My own studies have shown me that I need to bring a sense of calm to my mind firstly, as all the mind needs is ‘Calm’ so the ‘whole self’ can begin to repair its sensitivity to outside stressful influences (wherever the mind goes the body follows).
;)
The problem lies in the fact that doctors in the west have only just begun to see the mind and body’s’ health being of symbiotic in nature and have yet to see the benefits of energy healing used in complementing treatment. The plus side is this doesn’t stop an individual in seeking alternative treatment themselves, as it’s readily available.
It’s also important to note that alternative therapies are there to complement your existing treatment, not replace it. As I found to my dismay when I spent a small fortune on various alternative treatments thinking they would help get me back to my old self. They worked for a short while but then a relapse occurred and set me back a few steps.
Now im using natural methods which seem to be working well and as soon as I rustle up the cash im gonna begin alternative therapies preferably shiatsu and acupuncture :)
 

LittleMissMuffet

Well-known member
Hi,

That's pretty interesting.
It would be cool to get a copy of 'The Sensitive Person's Guide to Survival'
just to see what she has to say about psychic abilities.
I don't focus much on such aspects in my self, but I have nonetheless observed some form of ESP -whether it is more basic, common animal instincts (with some perceptual distortion due to my anxiety and lack of centredness) or whether it is actual experiences of heightened emotional sensitivity whereby I do pick-up on things that most people miss or do not notice.

I am essentially referring to instances in which I've experiences 'thought transfer' ...ok: don't freak out too much!! (I can understand if you did and I did for a while there). -I prefer to assess such 'phonomena' of my experience as being some as-yet undetermined mixture of some perceptual distortion and some genuine unusual sensitivity. And it makes sense to include both of these- because, yes I have an anxiety disorder, but I am also a highly sensitive person. ...It annoys me that when I have told therapists of such experiences that they jump to conclusions, judging what is real and what is not real for ME based on the very little knowledge our society currently has about such abilities of the mind-one actually said she believed me only to change her mind upon the next visit; whilst the other seemed to become scared that I might be delusional and stubbornly refused to give me the benefit of the doubt -that is, to consider that there may be some substance to my interpretation of what was happenning- and of course, she somehow managed to forget that in our first few meetings she had opened-up telling me of how she can "sense people's" emotions or their 'aura' or something and "knows when they are lying".

....It's always the hypocrit that jumps to conclusions about someone else who has similar experiences to them.

I am also artistically gifted and I pick-up on 'the feel' of an object and not merely how it looks and this goes into my paintings and drawings. -My 9th grade art teacher commented on one of my pictures, saying that I had an amazing sensitivity.

Well, I welcome this woman's opinion.

I prefer to see my sensitivity in terms of being a 'gift' with, however, drawbacks like nervousness round crowds and the like.
I also intuitively believe that by accepting everything about my self that only then can I actually adapt my personality effectively, in the first place.
So this is why viewing the positives of "my disorder" -seeing my self interms of having an unusual personality or high sensitivity- is much more constructive. And I also believe, it is much more accurate.

The only other thing to mention is that this 'acceptance' I notice, for me at elast, seems to go beyond words -and using words or thoughts doesn't seem to give me acceptance. ...I could say to accept being highly sensitive but all the while not really believe it.
And I think that believing in it truly would take care of all of one's problems -and even, for that matter, clear the way in terms of 'how something works and what 'rules' to follow -that is, the thinking part I believe would follow naturally. But thinking about accepting sensitivity or saying such things to my self, is no substitute for the actual feeling that such is the case and the belief that comes with it.

I wish I knew more of such things -of the difference between thinking something and believing in it. I would say that the latter is based on emotions (and perhaps has to do with the unconscious). -I am reading buddhist books and meditating to learn about such things.
 

Starry

Well-known member
LittleMissMuffet said:
1. Emotionally sensitive people feel emotions often and deeply. They feel as if they "wear their emotions on their sleeves."


2. They are keenly aware of the emotions of people around them.


3. Sensitive people are easily hurt or upset. An insult or unkind remark will affect them deeply.


4. In a similar vein, sensitive people strive to avoid conflicts. They dread arguments and other types of confrontations because the negativity affects them so much.


5. Sensitive people are not able to shake off emotions easily. Once they are saddened or upset by something, they cannot just switch gears and forget it.


6. Sensitive people are greatly affected by emotions they witness. They feel deeply for others' suffering. Many sensitive people avoid sad movies or watching the news because they cannot bear the weighty emotions that would drive to their core and stick with them afterwards.


7. Sensitive people are prone to suffer from recurrent depression, anxiety or other psychological disorders.


8. One the positive side, sensitive people are also keenly aware of and affected by beauty in art, music and nature. They are the world's greatest artists and art appreciators.


9. Sensitive people are prone to stimulus overload. That is, they can't stand large crowds, loud noise, or hectic environments. They feel overwhelmed and depleted by too much stimuli.


10. Sensitive people are born that way. They were sensitive children.


There are a couple different responses kids have to their sensitivity. One type of sensitive child is the stereotypical kid who gets picked on by bullies, and is a well-behaved, good student because she cannot stand the thought of getting into trouble.

That's me, completely me, and the emboldened bit still causes problems for me now... I hate the thought of doing anything "wrong." And feel tremendous guilt over stupid things that I know aren't wrong but feel wrong for some reason I'm not aware of... Oh well, I'm going off topic somewhat there..

But yes, that's me...
 

blue

Well-known member
Hello!

I found this post really interesting and i can very much believe that social anxiety orriginates from highly sensitive personalities.

I am also a very creative person and use painting and sketching as my way of escape. I love the ocean aswell i paint the sea alot.

Some people believe that social phobia is infact just that. A phobia and nothing more, if you think about it you can have a phobia of something mundane that stops you doing certain things yet it would never be described as a mental illness.

I dont believe social phobia is a mental illness because it derives surely from negetive thoughts as far as im aware negetivity is not a mental illness we all have it!

I think we are all sensitive souls that heve a greater awareness of the human emotions and the pain that it can cause.

Then again i have my first appointment with a councillor ( excuse spelling!) on friday so will probably come away feeling like a total nutcase! :D [/quote]
 
Top