Highly Sensitive Person (HSP)

I’d never heard of HSP before, but now realise that it describes me and my DD! The test confirmed it for me - 21. Thank you AussieGran59 and Fanny.

I scored 23 in the test. No surprise there then as so many of the things in the test read true.
I take time to adjust to the heat but then resent the changing season as I know I will have to adjust back. I will happily sit in a darkened room to avoid any glare which can drive DH mad.
When we first had a physiotherapist visit the house, as I tried to explain that she was using too much pressure she calmly said “So you’re sensitive then.” It was the first time that I accepted that being sensitive wasn’t necessarily a slur.

I scored 12 but some of the questions I was not sure how to answer.
I was concerned that some people on here said they were startled by loud sneezing. I sneeze loudly and have laughed at some people’s startled ? reaction. I must be more sensitive in future.?

Oh hey, yes - I have a pair of Loops (ear defenders) in their case on an elastic band round my wrist for use in shops, while gardening in busy front garden etc. Loved lockdown etc. Get on better now I have really accepted that some people just have more 'capacity' than I do. It does mean we notice much more than many - good and bad. Have a quiet husband but his family were SO loud - took me a long time to learn that just 'saying' something had no effect on them!

highlysensitiverefuge.com

Lots to read on here about managing being an HSP.

AussieGran59

Anyone out there a Highly Sensitive Person? This means you have an increased Central Nervous System sensitivity to physical, social and emotional stimuli.
My own example?
I cannot watch violent TV shows, I avoid crowds and need time alone more often than most.
For others it's certain fabrics against the skin or even the colour scheme of a room. Both can be intolerable.
Being an HSP is not a medical condition but a personality trait and it can be difficult for less sensitive people to understand. We are labelled as 'overthinkers' or 'nervous types'.

Yes, I identify fully! A lot of the traits are also those of extreme introverts.

My autistic g.son has always had these sort of high sensitivities. Noises would send him into a tantrum (one of his younger siblings would deliberately wind him up by hissing through her teeth. He can only wear certain materials, and even bedclothes have to be carefully selected.

audiotory, sensory as well as sight sensitivities are very much part of the autistic spectrum. Learning how to cope with and manage these are important.

Thank you for this thread Aussiegran and the link to the quiz Fanny.I scored 17.

Thanks Fanny just completed the quiz… borderline 12 .

Yes, it does.

I would like a friend to slouch around, and eat toast, and do nothing in particular with.

Gransnet fits that bill.

I've just looked at those questions and I'm not going to do it. I refuse to be classified as this or that. Yes some (quite a lot) of those things apply. My DSs are excellent at monitoring TV and films for me and warning me about violence. I love time alone. I can browse art galleries alone for hours. I regularly jump out of my skin at something. But I'm very argumentative, love discussion and meeting friends. I'm also a great public speaker (someone told me so recently) and I've done public performances. I am in short a complicated and many faceted human being as are most people. I don't want to be categorised as anything and I refuse to categorise others.
If someone behaves differently because of autism or some. other condition I just accept their behaviour as them. I don't need to label them to accept them.

I've often said that I have no friends.
I loathe the thought of going out shopping, or dancing, or soul weekenders.

I would like a friend to slouch around, and eat toast, and do nothing in particular with.

MissAdventure, I've often pretended to be hearing impaired - just to cut short or avoid interacting with certain people. I've learned a bit of signing and it's useful (to drive most people away). Sometimes I'm 'Late for the dentist so sorry, can't stop!' too. As a child I was deemed different/awkward/sulky, the one who hated family trips anywhere or 'going for a drive' - the one with the constant company of a sick bucket. Still, I was happy enough on a solitary walk or cycle ride, fine with just one friend, but overwhelmed by crowds.

I don't think I'm HSP but did the quiz out of interest and scored 6- not in HSP range. However, I think my father was and also somewhat autistic. My mother used to have to warn him if she was going to use the food processor so he could leave the room - he couldn't bear the noise.

JaneJudge

I scored 27

Me too, so no surprises there!

The only question that I had issue with was the ‘hungry’ one.
I do often prefer to be hungry, because if I eat anything I really want to go to sleep
(I don’t know if that’s anything to do with being HS, or having a buggered up metabolism)

Yes I’m one. I am exactly as you describe OP.

Oldnproud There have been occasions when people have said, 'You'll never guess what' and I have been able to tell them exactly before they tell me. Several times people have said they think I'm a witch....I am sure they meant in a good way!

I think it's because I am very sensitive to patterns and can extrapolate to the next thing but maybe it is more than that.

I worked in the British Legion bar for a while when I was younger, and would chat with the customers.
Some of the males were very friendly, and would jokingly flirt, seeing as they'd not had a youngish barmaid for ages.
One really nice older man and I used to chat, and it turned out that he and his late wife had lived in the flat below my parents, when I was a baby/toddler .

He said "You were the most miserable kid I've ever met!!!! Your mum was always asking me to get off me motorbike at the top of the road and walk it down, because the noise upset you, you miserable swine!"
He spent the rest of the night telling everyone how horrible and 'sensitive' I'd been.

RichmondPark1 I can tell the atmosphere in a room the moment I enter. Sometimes I can even tell what people have done before they tell me and can often almost 'see' what will happen next and predict the future. Do other people have that or is it just me?

No, it's not just you. I'm the same,

I am on the high functioning end of the spectrum, so quite capable but a little 'different'. I'm sensitive to noise, crowds, travel, enclosed spaces - and uncomfortable clothes. It's more difficult as I get older, too. I'm quite easily overwhelmed and need some time alone. My friend has quite severe epilepsy, so couldn't drive or work as a class teacher. He had to move out from his lovely flat, too, when they painted the common hallway and stairwell a shade of lime green - as it triggered his fits.

MissA I have just this minute put my hearing aid in, first time fir over a year because I read simethimg about a 10% increase rusk of dementia! My new echoey voice is already driving me a bit nuts.

Oh my goodness, this is me! I scored 25 on the test and share so many of the feelings and experiences other posters describe.

I can't stand any kind of violence or cruelty to people or animals at all. It's as though I 'feel' the suffering of others.

People who stand too close make me feel uncomfortable to the extent that if I'm in a cafe and people queue at the counter near my table I will have to leave.

I can tell the atmosphere in a room the moment I enter. Sometimes I can even tell what people have done before they tell me and can often almost 'see' what will happen next and predict the future. Do other people have that or is it just me?

Mizuna I used to sit in the hedge to avoid going into the house too! I really thought I was the only one who did this. I loved the quiet, isolation and being able to watch the wildlife up close. Those were some of the happiest moments of my childhood as in the house I was constantly described as over sensitive.

I just don't wear my hearing aids, and tootle about growing plants, and pretending I live in a cottage in the middle of nowhere.

I hate that trapped feeling of having someone in my space,and have all doors open so I can escape.I couldnt cope with your neighbour MissA
I totally understand how that would have me in tears too.