The highly sensitive personYou may be familiar with the terms Sensory Processing
Sensitivity (SPS) or Highly Sensitive Person (HSP). Those with the SPS trait have a more sensitive nervous system which allows them to pick up on subtleties in their environment and find deeper meaning in the information they process. As a result, HSPs may become overwhelmed and have an intense response or reactivity (internal and/or external). Research on SPS over the last 20 years has revealed some remarkable benefits to those who inherited the trait (such as heightened intuition,imagination and creativity)and also correlations between the trait and certain mental health challenges. Most commonly the challenges HSPs may be at higher risk for include anxiety, depression, and some personality disorders HOW DO YOU KNOW IF YOU HAVE THE SPS TRAIT?
Because SPS is a trait (not a condition or disorder),there is no clinical diagnosis for it. Rather, it is identified in a self-assessment - a questionnaire that includes roughly 30 of the most commonly known characteristics of the trait.
One such self-assessment can be found here: nickersoninstitute.com/hsp-self-assessment/ How does counselling help with SPS?If you identify with being an HSP, you probably know all too
well the daily struggles of being overstimulated in a high sensory environment, feeling emotionally overwhelmed, being affected by the emotions of others, and generally feeling like you don't have control over your feelings or life. From a social-emotional viewpoint,these factors can affect self-esteem, interpersonal relationships, boundaries, and identity; which, depending on how long and how intensive the experiences - and how well they were managed - may result in anxiety, depression, or a personality disorder. Or some may simply find that life is more of a struggle than it should be. Of course, while the SPS trait is separate from any mental health condition or disorder, it still contributes to many facets of the quality of one's mental health. If you think of two people standing on opposing mountaintops staring down at the same valley,they will see very different things. So, too, your world (your childhood, beliefs, behaviors and relationships) will look quite different when being viewed from the perspective of the HSP mountaintop; and that perspective needs to be taken into consideration to determine the best approach/methods of counseling. In addition to helping you reframe your experiences from the HSP perspective, you will acquire tools in counseling to help you shift from a reactive state(overwhelmed,negative feelings and responses) to a more proactive state (being better prepared to handle what comes your way and taking control over key areas of your life).
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