bluegreen17 (![[personal profile]](https://www.dreamwidth.org/img/silk/identity/user.png)
bluegreen17) wrote2003-02-21 12:50 pm
bluegreen17) wrote2003-02-21 12:50 pm
high sensitivity
i'm busily being self-absorbed (surprise!) and trying to diagnose myself or something so i have a better chance than a snowball in hell of getting my life on some sort of track and not being doomed to be miserable the rest of my godforsaken life.
i dont fit in with the a.d.d.s,though i definitely have some of that and it's gotten worse...i can rarely sustain attention on an entire book (unless i really really like the writer's style of writing,which is strangely more important than the subject matter. i once read a book about airplanes by richard bach and i enjoyed it even though i'm not particularly interested in airplanes,because i like the way he writes.)
i probably share a lot of traits with depressed people,but i think my depression (and perhaps many other folks') is partly a reaction to other things rather than JUST being my brain chemistry (though i think that's a factor,since taking wellbutrin helped me for awhile,and probably still helps somewhat,though it's definitely seemed less effective lately as i've been pretty depressed for a couple of weeks...unmotivated and apathetic in some instances.
i'm just trying to get a handle on helping myself,so that's why i'm trying to 'diagnose' myself.
anyway,this morning i had a very simple insight that is pretty obvious,but i've not always kept on the forefront of my mind. and that is,that my depression is a defensive measure because of being overwhelmed. and that is where the highly sensitive stuff comes in. elaine aron wrote 'the highly sensitive person' which is a great book. one thing i really liked is that it's not considered a disorder (i personally don't think the way a.d.d. people think should be called a disorder either...more likely,it's society that's disordered!)
anyway,i went to her website and she has a quiz. of course i took it even though i'm 99.99% certain that i'm highly sensitive.(hey,i'm the princess from the princess in the pea!). as it was i think there were only two items that i didn't think i really exemplified very often,and yet could at some times.
here they are if anyone is interested...i was going to put it behind an lj cut,but lj wouldn't let me copy and paste them in here...it's that utf or whatever thingie that i dont seem to be able to get around sometimes.oy. so i put it on my open diary and linked to that entry.
more from elaine aron:
This trait is normal--it is inherited by 15 to 20% of the population, and indeed the same percentage seems to be present in all higher animals.
Being an HSP means your nervous system is more sensitive to subtleties. Your sight, hearing, and sense of smell are not necessarily keener (although they may be). But your brain processes information and reflects on it more deeply.
Being an HSP also means, necessarily, that you are more easily overstimulated, stressed out, overwhelmed.
This trait is not something new I discovered--it has been mislabeled as shyness (not an inherited trait), introversion (30% of HSPs are actually extraverts), inhibitedness, fearfulness, and the like. HSPs can be these, but none of these are the fundamental trait they have inherited.
For a scientific paper on the subject, see Elaine N. Aron and Arthur Aron, "Sensory-Processing Sensitivity and Its Relation to Introversion and Emotionality," Journal of Personality and Social Psychology, 1997, Vol. 73, No. 2, 345-368.
The reason for these negative misnomers and general lack of research on the subject is that in this culture being tough and outgoing is the preferred or ideal personality--not high sensitivity. (Therefore in the past the research focus has been on sensitivity's potential negative impact on sociability and boldness, not the phenomenon itself or its purpose.) This cultural bias affects HSPs as much as their trait affects them, as I am sure you realize. Even those who loved you probably told you, "don't be so sensitive," making you feel abnormal when in fact you could do nothing about it and it is not abnormal at all.
today's wake-up music: crystal/60 miles an hour/turn my way/run wild from new order's 'get ready'
i dont fit in with the a.d.d.s,though i definitely have some of that and it's gotten worse...i can rarely sustain attention on an entire book (unless i really really like the writer's style of writing,which is strangely more important than the subject matter. i once read a book about airplanes by richard bach and i enjoyed it even though i'm not particularly interested in airplanes,because i like the way he writes.)
i probably share a lot of traits with depressed people,but i think my depression (and perhaps many other folks') is partly a reaction to other things rather than JUST being my brain chemistry (though i think that's a factor,since taking wellbutrin helped me for awhile,and probably still helps somewhat,though it's definitely seemed less effective lately as i've been pretty depressed for a couple of weeks...unmotivated and apathetic in some instances.
i'm just trying to get a handle on helping myself,so that's why i'm trying to 'diagnose' myself.
anyway,this morning i had a very simple insight that is pretty obvious,but i've not always kept on the forefront of my mind. and that is,that my depression is a defensive measure because of being overwhelmed. and that is where the highly sensitive stuff comes in. elaine aron wrote 'the highly sensitive person' which is a great book. one thing i really liked is that it's not considered a disorder (i personally don't think the way a.d.d. people think should be called a disorder either...more likely,it's society that's disordered!)
anyway,i went to her website and she has a quiz. of course i took it even though i'm 99.99% certain that i'm highly sensitive.(hey,i'm the princess from the princess in the pea!). as it was i think there were only two items that i didn't think i really exemplified very often,and yet could at some times.
here they are if anyone is interested...i was going to put it behind an lj cut,but lj wouldn't let me copy and paste them in here...it's that utf or whatever thingie that i dont seem to be able to get around sometimes.oy. so i put it on my open diary and linked to that entry.
more from elaine aron:
This trait is normal--it is inherited by 15 to 20% of the population, and indeed the same percentage seems to be present in all higher animals.
Being an HSP means your nervous system is more sensitive to subtleties. Your sight, hearing, and sense of smell are not necessarily keener (although they may be). But your brain processes information and reflects on it more deeply.
Being an HSP also means, necessarily, that you are more easily overstimulated, stressed out, overwhelmed.
This trait is not something new I discovered--it has been mislabeled as shyness (not an inherited trait), introversion (30% of HSPs are actually extraverts), inhibitedness, fearfulness, and the like. HSPs can be these, but none of these are the fundamental trait they have inherited.
For a scientific paper on the subject, see Elaine N. Aron and Arthur Aron, "Sensory-Processing Sensitivity and Its Relation to Introversion and Emotionality," Journal of Personality and Social Psychology, 1997, Vol. 73, No. 2, 345-368.
The reason for these negative misnomers and general lack of research on the subject is that in this culture being tough and outgoing is the preferred or ideal personality--not high sensitivity. (Therefore in the past the research focus has been on sensitivity's potential negative impact on sociability and boldness, not the phenomenon itself or its purpose.) This cultural bias affects HSPs as much as their trait affects them, as I am sure you realize. Even those who loved you probably told you, "don't be so sensitive," making you feel abnormal when in fact you could do nothing about it and it is not abnormal at all.
today's wake-up music: crystal/60 miles an hour/turn my way/run wild from new order's 'get ready'