Highly Sensitive Person (HSP)

It can be connected to autism too ….highly sensitive to certain noises, feelings, clothes on skin, more acute hearing that even small things can jangle your nervous system
I m sure it’s not comfortable living on this high alert But there are tips and ideas that can help different sensitivities Music can often help

No, I’m not but I do know someone who is and it is hard for them because people judge them and the one I know is a bit isolated. She does tend to say the wrong thing at times but there is not a nasty bone in her body, it is just her way.

Hello Aussiegran
Thank you for starting this thread.
It’s a very interesting subject
Yes. I found about the HSP thing about five years ago.
I am definitely, 100% an HSP
It made such a lot of sense to me, and I understood various ‘odd’ things about me.
Especially my hatred of Summer and hot weather (sensory overload)
And having to wear loose clothes and certain fabrics.
My father’s side of the family is very much on Autism Spectrum, and I do wonder if the two things are related. I think that they probably are.

nanna8 I wouldn’t say that ‘saying the wrong thing’ is a trait of an HSP
They are more likely to say the ‘right thing’ due to a heightened sense of empathy; and (over) thinking things through very carefully

This is probably the best website.
There is a quiz / test too
hsperson.com/test/highly-sensitive-test/

I’d forgotten the startling easy thing!
Anything and everything startle me. People walking into rooms I’m in, or talking to me when I’m not expecting it.
I literally jump in the air.
DH calls me Skippy, after the kangaroo ?

Thanks for that, Fanny. I scored 11 on that so not highly but somewhat. I think when I was younger I would have scored a fair bit higher I have to say !

Hello AussieGran, thank you for this, it's so interesting for me. I've always been highly sensitive, needing plenty of time on my own but just put it down to being an introvert. Like you Fanny I hate summer and am in my element in cold climes. Winter can't come quickly enough for me. I feel like I'm in an alien land when everyone is talking about this 'lovely hot weather' and I'm thinking 'nooooooo!!!!' Oddly enough I adore bright colours and find beige/magnolia/camel colours really unsettling! I blurt out stuff I don't mean to say but fortunately I have lots of lovely friends who seem to understand me. As a child I used to hide under a hedge in our garden and have always wondered what I was avoiding at home. Now I realise it was my way of finding silence. My six-year-old granddaughter is, I think, similar. She asks not to have birthday parties, hates the noise and attention, but always has to endure them. After all, what parent wouldn't want to give a young child a birthday party!! I loathed parties as a child, too much of everything!

I scored 16 on the questionnaire.

Yes, reading your post makes me think that I am.

Like you, I can't watch violent TV shows or films, though i cant really explain why, other than by saying that they make me feel bad.
I can't function without proper alone time, either, and hate people 'watching' me.

Too much noise really sets me on edge (which is a problem in my daily life as my DH has TV on constantly, and loud too because of his poor hearing).

The mention of certain fabrics against the skin reminds me of my childhood. I can remember not wanting to sit on the furniture in one relatives house because I found the feel of the fabric on my bare legs unbearable - it had the same effect on me as the sound of chalk on a blackboard.
Sandpaper has a similar effect on me, in fact just thinking about it makes me cringe!

BlueBelle also says things that I can strongly relate to.
In recent years, I've come to strongly suspected that I am autistic, though there is one classic trait that I seem to have the opposite of - far from not being able to read people's emotions, I am ultra-sensitive to them.

I have just done the sensitivity test - scored 22.

I did the test and got a lowish score but my startle reflex is high. If my dh sneezes I not only jump out of my skin but often scream. Just can’t help it.

He does sneeze particularly loudly Brit any unexpected noise affects me

But not Brit

Message withdrawn at poster's request.

silverlining48

I did the test and got a lowish score but my startle reflex is high. If my dh sneezes I not only jump out of my skin but often scream. Just can’t help it.

I was the opposite - I got a high score, but I don't have a high startle reflex.

Until recently I would have poo poohed the whole concept, but now, perhaps I'm considering the idea.
Sneezes make me jump almost out of my skin, and on turn make me angry, even if they're reasonable ones.

There was a thread a while back about foods from childhood, and I wrote how I would silently cry at meal times, and would start almost every mealtime being warned "Don't start!!!"

I also absolutely loathe the hot weather, I find it almost frightening when it is so hot.

Loud voices, my space being invaded (my mum lived with me for 9 months and I gave her 2 hangers outside the wardrobe to put her clothes on)

I'm not sure if I'm seneitive or a miserable old bag.

I have just done the test, scored 20

Not surprised., I hate violent films/tv/books, jump out if my skin when my phone rings or at any loud noise and I often retreat to my bedroom for me time

I scored 22 which makes me highly sensitive. I suspected this and I seem to be getting more sensitive and jumpy as I age. Interesting quiz.

Music that is played as background noise or something to help people concentrate, which I know a lot of people find helpful, absolutely does not help.

Music is something to concentrate on by itself. Something I cannot do if I'm supposed to be doing something else as well. For me, music, even just (there is no just ) listening requires deep concentration on that and nothing else. Most people simply do not understand this. I'm not blaming anyone but I do wish more people got it.

We got rid of our telly because it drove me insane that MrB would walk into the room where it was, switch it on and then walk out of the room! What was the point?

He has got used to me switching his phone to silent (I leave a note beside it) whenever I find it lying around unattended (it's too big for his pockets) and, the other day, when he turned the car ignition on to add some air to a tyre, the radio came on. I went out and switched the sound off. Apart from anything else, I regard imposing unnecessary noise on other people (e.g. neighbours) as pollution.

Recently I had to stop following a story podcast because, as well as suitable music being played at the beginnings and ends of stories and during pauses, it was played while the story was being read. Spoiled the whole experience for me because I had to listen to one or the other but couldn't ignore the other.

As one DD put it about me: "You hear things no-one else hears."

I used to have to abandon shops if the music meant I couldn't concentrate, and throw in some heat, too...

I scored 18,have always enjoyed my own company,hate loud noises,jump easily,I live with silence,as I cannot stand the TV on,or the radio,find huge crowds of people make me want to shrink and hide,I prefer small doses of one to one.

I have brought up two families,DGD moved out 6 months ago,for the first time in my life I feel I have the space around me I always craved,I now for the first time in my almost 70 years live alone.

I have a friend who at 55 has discovered he is on the ASD spectrum,all of those questions I am sure would score him 100%

My daughter apologised to me before she died, saying she knew the idea of a boy coming to live with me must be horrifying, but there was no other option.

I have also got a tendency to blurt things out,which can get me blamed for having no filter,if I post on here very occasionally I find I have to choose very carefully what I say,as I dont want to give offence,as I do tend to speak before thinking.