How to Treat a Highly Sensitive Person

It has been estimated that around 20% of the population has “high sensitivity”, a term that has been used to define the personality of those people who are extremely sensitive to the world, perceiving all stimuli in a much more intense way than others. Highly sensitive people (HSP) are characterized by being very intuitive, emotional, empathetic, reflective, introverted, generous, perfectionist, vulnerable to criticism, etc. This extreme sensitivity, just as it may have its positive points, often leads them to feel misunderstood by the people around them and to find themselves overwhelmed or emotionally saturated. If in your immediate environment there is someone who has this personality trait and you want to know how to improve your communication and personal relationship with them, pay attention to this PsychologyFor article in which we explain in detail How to treat a highly sensitive person.

What it means to be a highly sensitive person in psychology

In psychology, we talk about a person being highly sensitive (HSP) when they have a more developed neuro-sensory system and “finer” than the rest of the people. This means that an HSP receives a greater amount of sensory information and assimilates all the nuances and subtleties of their environment that those with average sensitivity do not grasp. On many occasions, high sensitivity can lead to episodes of emotional block, sensory saturation, stress and, ultimately, lead to some type of psychological disorder.

It has been pointed out that this high sensitivity is an inherited trait that is present in around 15 to 20% of the population, affecting men and women equally. As we can see in the book “The Gift of Sensitivity” by the North American psychologist Elaine Aron, there are 4 pillars that a highly sensitive person must reflect to be considered as such and these are the following:

1. Deep reflection of information that he receives: he tends to reflect intensely excessively on all topics and gives many thoughts to the information received to achieve a better understanding of it.
2. Saturation and overstimulation: Having to process a large amount of both sensory and emotional information can cause the person to become mentally saturated and feel overstimulated.
3. Great emotionality: Unlike other people, an HSP lives her life with much more emotionality and intensity. He gets easily excited in any situation and this is associated with great empathy, a characteristic trait also of highly sensitive people.
4. High sensory sensitivity: In addition to having a high sensory sensitivity regarding the 5 senses (sight, taste, touch, smell and hearing), HSPs also have a high sensitivity in terms of subtleties, that is, to minimal changes that occur in their environment or small emotional changes shown by the people around them.

For a person to be classified as highly sensitive, they must reflect these 4 essential characteristics as a whole.

Characteristics of a highly sensitive person

The minds of highly sensitive people work differently from others and what we show below are some of the characteristics that they can reflect in their daily life.

Highly sensitive people have:

• Great empathy with the suffering of other people. They have a high listening capacity and a willingness to help other people so that they feel well mentally and physically.
• High ability to identify all those details that occur in your environment and that go unnoticed by others.
• Very low pain threshold.
• Difficulties saying no and setting personal limits.
• Great ease of falling in love. They are very involved in their relationships, sometimes even forgetting about themselves.
• Perfectionist tendencies.
• Great sensitivity to criticism.
• Great skills to concentrate deeply.
• Ease of enjoying the little things.

Highly sensitive people often feel:

• Insecure and shy.
• Annoyed by intense and strong lights, sounds or smells.
• Very concerned about the suffering of others, justice, the environment, animals, etc.
• Overwhelmed or worried about significant or sudden changes.
• Moved by art and nature.
• Overwhelmed by excess work.
• Misunderstood or uncomfortable in masses of people.
• Comfortable in solitude.

You can expand this information by consulting the article How to know if I am a highly sensitive person.

Psychological treatment for a highly sensitive person

It is possible that a highly sensitive person suffers excessively from having this high sensitivity and may even, on many occasions, feel misunderstood by others or have the feeling that they do not quite fit in. This may lead the affected person to seek professional psychological help and therapy for a highly sensitive person may cover the following:

• Cognitive-behavioral therapy: With this type of therapy, it is possible to work on what the highly sensitive person thinks to teach them to combat irrational thoughts and face the fears they present. The necessary personal and social skills are also provided so that the affected person can achieve their life goals and feel good about it. In addition, different relaxation techniques are taught that will allow you to reduce high stress and anxiety.
• Interpersonal approach: therapy that focuses on the way in which the subject’s personal relationships affect the subject. You learn to identify and express your own emotions and to deal with both past and present problems.

How to treat a highly sensitive person – top tip

If someone in your immediate environment is an HSP or you live or spend a lot of time with someone with these characteristics, we recommend that you take into account the following tips to understand them, make them feel good and improve your relationship. Take note of these Recommendations for treating a highly sensitive person:

1. Respect and understand their way of feeling: It is key that you understand that an HSP cannot avoid feeling pain, suffering excessively or reacting abruptly and intensely to certain situations. Therefore, it is very important that you respect their way of feeling and understand the way in which these types of people perceive stimuli. Avoid making her feel misunderstood and do not isolate her or get angry because she feels differently than you.
2. Speak softly: When you are with her, try to keep a soft tone of voice and remember the high sensitivity that these people have to intense and loud noises. In this way, you will be able to create a good atmosphere between both of you and avoid creating an atmosphere that could give rise to tensions, bad moods or abrupt reactions.
3. Avoid accusing him of being a “complainer”: Something that can really bother people with high sensitivity is being accused of complaining, which can lead them to feel misunderstood by those around them. It is important that you are aware that reacting differently than you would do does not mean that this person is very complaining, but rather that the difference is that they receive that information or stimulus much more quickly and intensely than you.
4. Listen to her: HSPs suffer a lot when they perceive that someone around them is going through a bad time or is not feeling well emotionally, and in the same way that she will worry about you and dedicate time to listening to you and helping you, it is important that you do so with she. Tell her that she can explain to you whatever she wants and that she has all your support when she needs it. It is best that you resort to her empathetic assertiveness when communicating with her.
5. Ask him to tell you what bothers him: Show him your interest in knowing what things bother him and ask him to explain to you what you can do about it to avoid it or help him.
6. Be honest and tell him what you think: HSPs highly value honesty and will feel much better if you clearly tell them what you think or feel. This way, they won’t be constantly trying to figure out what’s wrong with you and excessively worried about you and your well-being.
7. Respect their space: Keep in mind that these types of people also like to enjoy their solitude, make their plans and be very focused when they are carrying out a task.

This article is merely informative, at PsychologyFor we do not have the power to make a diagnosis or recommend a treatment. We invite you to go to a psychologist to treat your particular case.

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