Are you a highly sensitive person (HSP)?

reply to post by berenike


Apparently, in addition to being highly sensitive and a thrill-seeker, I am also purely a nerd. Thank you for that, lol.

reply to post by Malfeitor


Hey, you're in good company, me too. And CaitlinFae

reply to post by shamus78


A few times I have seen a color when someone is talking. I was 5 the

first time this happened. I have seen pink, yellow, brown, and dark red.

reply to post by winotka


Are you, by chance, referring to seeing energy?
If so, I find the best way to practice doing so is when alone at night. Bright lights, for me, anyway, tend to be a bit blinding. If you're really looking for fun, try to manipulate the colors. While I've never found a useful application for this skill, I do find it amusing when I have nothing else to do.

That article describes me perfectly. I know I've always been like that. About 10 years ago I decided to go to a counselor because my hypersensitivity was causing me quite a bit of stress. He told me I was just that - hypersensitive- and that's just the way things are in my nature, that there wasn't something "wrong" with me. I had no idea other people mostly filter things out, or just let them go by. It does give me a lot to deal with though...

Sounds similar to the symptoms of Dyspraxia to me, something I've had to live with for 27 years now

Let me first say this, as it gives me plausible deniability: I am intoxicated.
That being said, I have a few things to say. I fit perfectly the descriptions for both the Hypersensitive and Seeking personalities, which may explain why I like to screw with energy when I get drunk.
That being said, to hell with psychologists who attempt to catagorize everything which can or cannot be explained; I spent years studying psychology, and I can tell you with no lie that roughly 30% of the population doesn't fit the archetypes of text. By psychology, I mysef should be a serial killer; I am nothing of the sort, however. I am an aspiring writer, an artist, and a musician; nothing less, nothing more. There are a good number of people who do not in any way fit into the known "file cabinets" of psychology, and I believe that hypersensitives and thrill seekers are among them.

Now, go ahead and disprove me; I assure you that by tomorrow afternoon I will have adequate mental facilities to refute any claim you make.

reply to post by warza


Very true there warza. I think many people here would agree that being sensitive gives us a lot to deal with. Some people have learned how to handle it better (like Traveler) while others still struggle a little with it (like myself).

While I still need to improve on not getting stressed by being sensitive, I honestly wouldn't want to change that part of me. I would feel too... 'synthetic' somehow. (If that makes any sense lol).

reply to post by Malfeitor


What's to dispute? We're people, not titles. I would think it's just a description for communication purposes and helping to identify what someone is experiencing.

Haha... tonight is your turn of intoxication eh? (I had mine last night while riding out the omgrunforyourlives electrical storm that hit us here.) Have fun, and stay home safe.

Originally posted by Malfeitor
Let me first say this, as it gives me plausible deniability: I am intoxicated.
That being said, I have a few things to say. I fit perfectly the descriptions for both the Hypersensitive and Seeking personalities, which may explain why I like to screw with energy when I get drunk.
That being said, to hell with psychologists who attempt to catagorize everything which can or cannot be explained; I spent years studying psychology, and I can tell you with no lie that roughly 30% of the population doesn't fit the archetypes of text. By psychology, I mysef should be a serial killer; I am nothing of the sort, however. I am an aspiring writer, an artist, and a musician; nothing less, nothing more. There are a good number of people who do not in any way fit into the known "file cabinets" of psychology, and I believe that hypersensitives and thrill seekers are among them.

Now, go ahead and disprove me; I assure you that by tomorrow afternoon I will have adequate mental facilities to refute any claim you make.

LMAO I like you. I too did the psych route... complete bs and I am now holding a degree I despise. There is no box full of labels and measuring tapes, yardsticks or hats in which to use. There is no category that fits each, never will be. It's time to accept instead of "figure out" personality differences. By that I mean judge them as good bad average normal, insane whatever. "they are different than me" should have worked just fine.

reply to post by seagrass


You just made me think of this psychologist John Breeding. I found him while I was researching for a work project and he gives me hope for the mental health industry. You can find his videos on the "psychetruth" channel on YouTube. Here are a couple samples.

Wonderful stuff, eMachine. I find myself in complete agreement. As for psychiatry itself, I believe in a certain level of value where it can help us accept and understand our differences and where it can help us adjust things we feel keep our lives from being as fulfilling as possible.

But psychiatry as mutated itself into a "respectable" science by attempting to clearly define lines that have never been anything but blurred. By treating the mind as if it's a machine rather than a process of individuality, confusing the brain with the mind.

Interrelated but not so easily correlated.

Thanks for posting those.

reply to post by eMachine

He says it much better than I ever could

nice addition for this thread.

reply to post by berenike


I am a pure nerd. I knew that.

I start reading different subjects online and learn just enough to be dangerous.

Yes I am. My whole family has this trait. It's a long going one too. It's odd, really. Most in the family lose it by middle age.

I was the first in my family to realize the Wilhelm scream in movies. I usually spot out sings first that are far to much ahead to be seen by others. I usually can scan an area for a specific color and my mind highlights it. But I do not become overwhelm by outside influences.

Perhaps I have the best of both worlds. I have all that's described there, but I am a statue when it comes to resisting the outside. I cannot be changed by others, nor overwhelmed by their insanity. As a teen, I confronted bullies with the utmost chivalry and civility. I even sometimes acted like a 1700s general with "I do say, my good sir, that insult was most pathetic. perhaps you have one worthy of those of us with higher brain functions then that of the brute of a brain you have". There was also "My good man, that punch you through might have injured a commoner but unfortunately for you I have no feelings of pain. It would seem your attempt to use violence into coercing me have failed, and with that I bid you farewell"

Oh my those were the days. So, does that mean I have the best of the two and am in a win-win situation? If so, yay me!

I envy you Gorman. Excellent combo. Love your choice of words as well.

Wonderful posts here!
I thought about this yesterday. Since HSPs have a natural tuning for spirituality, I laughingly realized that one place I had, what I now understand them for what they were, panic attacks was attending church. As soon as I was old enough to no longer feel an obligation to attend with my parents, I quit attending.

Originally posted by desert
Wonderful posts here!
I thought about this yesterday. Since HSPs have a natural tuning for spirituality, I laughingly realized that one place I had, what I now understand them for what they were, panic attacks was attending church.

As soon as I was old enough to no longer feel an obligation to attend with my parents, I quit attending.

so I take it you no longer have them? Yay! No drugs, problem solved..

My mom did "threaten" me with taking me to a psychiatrist. Back then, that was a threat, not a reality.
If I were growing up today, I probably would be dragged to a child psychiatrist, who probably would have me taking a drug for adolescent depression. I've realize for a while now, that I had classical symptoms of adolescent depression.

Maybe drugs would have been a "fast track" to shaking off depression and panic attacks, but I ended up doing fine anyway, kind of like getting over a physical illness without taking a drug to reduce symptoms or get rid of the bacteria/virus.

I was blessed to be born into a family that had a lot of unconditional love. No matter if we (all my siblings and me) were "weird" or "had to get married" or...the list goes on we always felt loved.

I definitely had adolescent depression. And it kept on into adulthood, with some breaks here and there.
I could have used some counseling, but I'm not sure they would have believed me.