Short answer: being a highly sensitive person (HSP) means you process stimuli and emotions more deeply than average. It is a personality trait, not a disorder and not a diagnosis.
What is high sensitivity?
The psychologist Elaine Aron described the trait in the 1990s and called it sensory processing sensitivity. The idea: some people take in more from their surroundings and process it more thoroughly before they respond. That applies to sound and light, but also to atmosphere, moods and meaning.
How many people it applies to depends on how you measure. You often hear 15 to 20 percent. A 2018 study found about 30 percent highly sensitive, 40 percent medium and 30 percent low. So sensitivity looks more like a scale than a box. It is not a synonym for introvert either: plenty of highly sensitive people enjoy being around others and simply need more time to recover afterwards.
The signs of a highly sensitive person
Aron sums up the trait in four features. If you only recognise one or two, the term probably fits less well.
- Deep processing. You think for a long time before deciding, see connections and keep turning things over.
- Filling up quickly. A full day, many people or doing a lot at once drains you sooner.
- Strong empathy. Music or a film moves you, and you quickly sense what someone else feels.
- Noticing details. You spot a moved object, hear a change in a voice and smell what others miss.
Am I a highly sensitive person?
Not sure? Take the free highly sensitive person test: 12 questions and you see your result right away. The test is a first indication, not a diagnosis or a scientific measurement. A good conversation with someone who knows your story tells you more.
Highly sensitive, overstimulated, autism or ADHD?
These words often get mixed up. They look alike but mean different things, and they can also occur together.
- Overstimulated is a state, not a trait. Anyone can get there, for example through stress. If that is your question, take the overstimulation test or read how to recognise overstimulation.
- Autism is a developmental condition that also affects social communication and fixed patterns. Sensitivity to stimuli is often part of it, but it is not the whole story.
- ADHD is mainly about attention, impulsivity and restlessness, present since childhood. The ADHD test gives a first picture.
- Anxiety or trauma can also keep your system on high alert. That can feel like sensitivity, but a different approach helps.
Do you recognise yourself in more than one of these? A psychologist can help you untangle it. Only a qualified professional can make a diagnosis.
A highly sensitive child
Children can also react strongly to stimuli: bothered by labels in clothes, struggling in busy classrooms, reacting intensely to unfairness or a small change, and tired after a birthday party. That can simply be their nature. It often helps to announce changes in advance, plan quiet moments and take their feelings seriously without making them bigger. Are you worried, or is school becoming difficult? Talk to your GP or a child psychologist, because the same signals can also have another cause.
What helps if you are highly sensitive?
The goal is not to become less sensitive. The goal is a day that fits how you work. Start with one of these four.
1. Plan recovery in advance
Do not wait until you are spent. After a busy appointment, put half an hour of nothing straight in your calendar.
2. Lower the stimuli you choose yourself
Earplugs on the train, notifications off, a short walk after work. Small things add up.
3. Give your decisions time
Say more often: "I will let you know tomorrow." Deep processing is not indecision, you just need a little more time.
4. Look at who costs you energy
Notice which appointments leave you empty and which do not. Clear boundaries are simply part of it for you.
When should you look for help?
High sensitivity does not need treatment. Talking can help when it makes your life smaller: you avoid more and more, sleep badly, have been exhausted for weeks or feel low. If that low mood stays, take the depression test or see your GP, and have physical causes of tiredness checked too. On MentraNova you find psychologists and counsellors who work with high sensitivity.
Talk to someone who knows this
Tell us in a few sentences what is going on and get free suggestions of screened psychologists and counsellors who have space now, in your own language, near you or online. No referral needed.
Frequently asked questions
No. It is a personality trait and is not listed as a diagnosis in the psychiatric manuals DSM-5 and ICD-11. It is not an illness you need to cure.
HSP stands for highly sensitive person. The scientific term for the trait is sensory processing sensitivity.
It is a trait, so it usually does not go away. You can learn to organise your day around it, so it bothers you far less.
No. Introversion is about what gives you energy, high sensitivity about how deeply you process stimuli. You can be highly sensitive and extraverted: happy among people, then in need of extra rest.
Sources
- Aron & Aron (1997), Journal of Personality and Social Psychology: the original description of sensory processing sensitivity.
- Lionetti et al. (2018), Translational Psychiatry: low, medium and highly sensitive groups.
- Greven et al. (2019), Neuroscience & Biobehavioral Reviews: a review of the research.