HSP...there is a name for some of us!

luckycharms

Well-known member
HSP stands for Highly Sensitive People and it looks like a lot of us people with social anxiety may just be, well, highly sensitive. Fifteen to twenty percent of the population carry this trait. It affects males and females equally. Even some dogs, cats, and other animals carry this trait. HSP is often confused with shyness, social phobia, and introversion.

Do you need to "recover" from social situations?

Are you told you are too sensitive?

Are you more aware of subtleties then the typical person.

Are you easily overstimulated?

Low tolerance to noise?

Do you protect yourself by just staying alone?

Do you force yourself to be social and then become over-stressed as a consequence?

Do your childhood wounds bother you more then the typical person?

Do you sometimes need to get away to a quiet spot in social situations?

It's not your fault and you can't change it, you can only change how you handle it. It is believed that highly sensitive people process sensory data much more deeply and thoroughly due to a biological difference in their nervous systems. There are positives to being a HSP.

Here is some more info on the subject:
Highly sensitive person - Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia
Are You Too Sensitive?

or just google Highly Sensitive Person
 
B

Beatrice

Guest
Is this real? Not to sound rude, but this almost sounds.... bogus. I mean, I feel like I would fit this exactly, but I thought I simply had depression, anxiety, social phobia, and ADD...... could it be that all of these are really just this one disorder?

Wow. I wonder.
 

luckycharms

Well-known member
I don't know...it seems to fit me to a T. There is a ton of info about it, I just discovered it so I still have to study it more, I was just interested to find out that it's biological. There were a lot more symptoms I just didn't post them all.
 

MsBuzzkillington

Well-known member
It's actually not bogus, unless you want to call something like social phobia bogus, or any other disorder for that matter.

I mean it makes sense, the world effects us differently. If you body is easily over stimulated with lots of outside stimulation, then it's going to be overwhelming and you are going to need to get out of there. A friend of mine once told me something that he read studies showing that people who are socially anxious or quiet or whatever have more active brains than those people who are really outgoing.

It's like sometimes some noises drive me absolutely insane that other people don't seem to notice at all. Like a fan blowing, depending on the situation I can't even concentrate on anything except that sound. Or even the A/C, which causes a lot of turning it on and off constantly. Same thing with the washing machine and the dishwasher. Ever since I was really young, the dishwasher has bothered me A LOT. My mom eventually had to start using it when I wasn't around or she'd have to ask if she could run it. That sounds really mean but it's just how it effected me. Same thing with the A/C or heater noise in a car... really loud tv's, really loud music... really loud anything anywhere.

Too many people talking or walking around, too might light... it's all constantly going on. The only time I can feel really comfortable is when things are relatively quiet. It's like some people don't seem to notice that the clock is ticking, the lights are humming, the person is texting on their phone, someone else is breathing really loud, the pens are writing on the paper...

And when I am out with a lot of people, I DEFINITELY need time to decompress. It's not even so much anxiety sometimes, I just need to be alone because I am exhausted from all the stimulation.

Not to talk in circles, but it could definitely all be related. Maybe we are anxious in those situations because of all the stimulation and feelings we get from being in them. Maybe we avoid them because we want to avoid feeling that way.

Depression could stem from never being able to connect, or fully enjoy things, or whatever comes from avoiding people and social gatherings.

ADD could be stemming from the constant stimulation you are experiencing, your highly sensitiveness to the world around you.

Also just because you "have something else" doesn't mean you are defective. It doesn't mean there is something wrong with you. There are extroverts and introverts, people who are aggressive and people who aren't, the world works because of the differences people have.
 
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MollyBeGood

Well-known member
Aye Thank you MsBuzz! Great post.
You know this all too well. I love how you can relate. I am HSP about 95%

We should start a group on here, maybe? I do believe this is the only label of my personality I have ever been thinking for me fits me almost perfectly.

"Decompress" you say, that is the best word for what I need after overstimulation which happens all too easy for me. Which makes me retreat which makes me sad, leads to depression.

life is beautiful but for me can just be overwhelming. I am actually *weird* thing soothed by constant noise but I don't do well with sudden noises like a gun. I used to love to go to rock concerts, but now I have gotten to where the idea of al lthe lights and people would be far to over stimulationg for me to enjoy. I wish I was not like that. I feel like I miss out on tons of things because of this.

cheers :)
 
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