Spatial Strengths

Vivid Imagination

Picture thinkers have great—often wild—imaginations. They form strong, vibrant mental pictures that are often on the move. They make their own mind-movies as they read and listen. These mental movies can include voice-overs, close-ups, split screens, or panoramic shots. Anything they’ve ever seen on a screen they can imagine and use, including a zoom-in to enlarge something, an overlay of two or more images, transformation of one thing into another, rotation to see the other side of something, cartoon animation, or a graphic they can enter like a video game. They can organize information visually—laid out on an inner computer screen—and then file it away mentally to pull out later (handy for tests). Some picture thinkers may not know they have this mental computer capacity—so hampered are they by trying to listen and take notes at the same time (and then outline!). Picture Thinker’s spatial imaginations can run away with them in great leaps from one fantasy to another, but when under control, there is almost nothing they cannot bring into play in the arena of their mind’s eye.

Visualization

Visualization takes imagination a step further. Picture thinkers are wonderful visualizers, although some need to be taught this skill to jumpstart it. Visualization is the most versatile tool in the picture thinker tool kit. It can be applied in every subject area in school and in life in general. Tapping into what you have visualized provides immediate rich experience that can be examined whenever you want to . It is the basis of a kind of mental organization and storage of information, ideas, and their interconnections that is like a computer and imitates a computer’s worldwide web potential.
There are two parts to visualization. There is the “cognitive scratch pad” that is like your computer screen where you input what you see. Then there is the long term storage of all the visuals that is like your computer memory. Visualization is so important that we devote an entire section of this book to the wonders of this tool. There we include sample classroom activities that build visualization skills, and we show how to use visualization in a wide variety of school situations. Here, we are just want to emphasize how important it is as a visual-spatial tool. Visualizing will work for all kinds of thinkers, but is home territory for picture thinkers.
One point. Good visual memory is needed for successful visualization. There are some picture thinkers, usually impatient ones, who never look at anything long enough to make an image. They just play with speed-of-light perceptions. These picture thinkers may need help to look “just a few nano-seconds longer” to form a real memory. Once this trick is learned, they will quickly pick up their innate visualization skills and then will be off and running.

Seeing the Big Picture

Perhaps this goes back to hunter-gatherer days. Upon encountering something new—a new subject, a new experience, some unknown object—picture thinkers want to know right away what that thing is. They want to get to the heart of it, what it IS. Once that need is satisfied, they can sit back and learn about the details, all the bits and pieces that part of the picture. To understand anything, they need to get its big picture first, which is why they ask so many questions. They are trying to hook this new thing to something that they already know. This questioning can be a frustrating time for them. They can feel stupid, impatient, upset, tense, as they “circle around something new,” trying out various viewpoints. Because they are active learners, not wanting to have ready-made explanations handed to them, they are hard to teach. They insist in understanding it in their own way.
It is hard for picture thinkers to experience significance if only parts are available to them without the essential whole. Remembering a detail and then attaching another detail doesn’t work for them. They must size the whole situation up and sort out what feels important to understand for themselves what something is about, and to make the right connections. Often they suddenly “see” the whole thing all at once, with everything in its place. Aha!

3-D Mastery

Although they may be called picture thinkers, visual-spatial learners are oriented to the dimension of space and see in 3D. Their world is far more complex than the flat worksheets or textbook pages in a classroom. Spatials often “see” ideas in a 3-dimensions like computer animation with depth. They look through both real and imagined space to see the whole of something and to check out the relationships and connections. This creates “inner territory” to explore. Picture thinkers can quickly scan all that their senses have taken in—seeing, hearing, smelling, tasting, feeling, sensing—and mentally connect the dots that spell out what is going on, or what the essence of something is We all do this all the time to some extent. It is called “perception.” But picture thinkers do it in spades. They take in 360 degrees of the space that surrounds them, making their input enormously richer and at the same time, more challenging to analyze. Having to pay attention a small set of details (like periods at the end of sentences) can feel like being pulled back from their normal range of awareness to a trivial pursuit. That tiny part better be important, or they discard it to return to scanning for significance.
Sometimes seen as having poor organization skills, picture thinkers have their order. It centers around significance, an emotional response. Rather than outline as step-by-step learners do, where main ideas stand out like trees on the plain, spatials respond to feelings about importance. If something strikes them as worthwhile, it becomes part of their web of essentials, a mental map of things worth paying attention to. Instead of outlines—so comfortable to the stepwise —a picture thinker’s scheme of reality is more like a 3D star map. The various stars and constellations stand out in different degrees of brightness, all shining against the dark space surrounding them and all interconnected in some way. Those connections are based on feelings and sensed importance.
At times, picture thinkers not only see but feel their way through concepts. They have kinesthetic input like those cyberspace reality games that evoke muscle response to what players “experience.” These spatials grope through space as if they could touch ideas and possibilities to find what is there. Einstein, who could visualize thought experiments, spoke of using “a kind of imagistic, kinesthetic shorthand” in his thinking process. (He was groping for words, typical of spatials when trying to explain themselves.) It seems he was trying to express the visual-spatial experience of thinking, seeing in imagination, and feeling muscular response to ideas. It is interesting that he recognized this as like “shorthand”—very minute, partial symbols, and tiny, nuanced muscle responses that could mark sensed relationships and also hold them in memory for future use. Spatials’ shorthand is different!
Certainly not all picture thinkers are Einsteins, but this explorative mode of operation is true for many of them, especially the deep thinkers and long processors. (They are covering a lot of mental territory and this takes time.) Thinking in 3-D mode means that all sorts of connections can be made in any dimension. Quantum physics and string theory would make us aware of more than 3 dimensions Spatials may lead the way to extraordinary feats of inner space exploration, making its complexity more approachable to us all, but that is another story.

Seeing Relationships

When spatials get the big picture, they see the whole of something and how the parts fit together. The relationship of the parts to each other and to the whole comes naturally to them. That is the way things are. They often think about putting something together with something else, like a cook trying out a new recipe. They wonder what that new relationship might like—how each would affect the other. Rather than sort things into categories, their most natural mode of thinking is to consider various new combinations of parts and what the flavor of the new relationship would be. Their ability to invent and explore goes along with this curiosity about how something might affect something else. For them, everything is interconnected and, of course, related. They are very aware of personal relationships among people as well as how things relate to one another. While they can become very good at sorting into categories, this skill is secondary to that of recognizing the balance of relationships.

Pattern Recognition

Scanning and the search for significance combine to produce a talent for pattern recognition in picture thinkers. It is part of their awareness of connections. If a pattern (recurring connection) exists, they will see it. This means, for one thing, that they will learn math facts better when made aware of the interconnecting number patterns than through rote memorization. Playing games that use number patterns works far better for these emotionally attuned learners than drilling, since their memories don’t hold isolated, disconnected facts. Picture thinkers immediately recognize patterns that are pointed out to them but really excel in finding their own, often seeing connections among things that are overlooked by others. Once pointed out, the connections make sense to others who wonder why they never noticed that.

Out-of-Box Thinking

An important aspect in understanding picture thinkers is that they need to think in their own way. They are uncomfortable with following some one else’s line of thought, partly because such linear thinking is not the way their minds operate. Sometimes they really just can’t follow along step by step. They can take in each step but without that Big Picture, the steps fade away. They don’t remember details well unless those details vibrate with significance, are tagged with their own feelings, or are part of as sudden gestalt. Picture thinkers blaze their own thought trail. Most need processing time to put together their own Big Picture. There seem to be no real steps in their thinking. Often they have a sudden insight that “things go together like this!” Either slowly or in a flash, a whole concept emerges, which may be brilliant or flawed. Picture thinkers need help in proving (or discarding) their new ideas. Trying them out is a good strategy in teaching them. If their idea actually works in a variety of situations, then it has validity. If not, it’s back to the spatial drawing board.
The tendency to originality can make teachers uncomfortable. Not only does it throw off lesson plans, but there is often an uncomfortable feeling that they are not doing their job, not teaching them. Shouldn’t they be the ones to tell spatials what they should know? They aren’t sure spatials have “got it right.” It is helpful to give spatials some processing time and to let them work in their own way, while insisting that they apply and test their ideas.

Radar Scanning

It is as if picture thinkers have radar out always scanning the environment, taking in every little thing. They are alert for changes, shifts in energy, or tones of voice in everything around them. They easily notice if some little thing they saw yesterday is missing today. They scan for signals that something is going to happen as well as for the general feel of things. They absorb what’s going on, intensely immersed in that experience. At school, if the lesson of the day can enter into their experience, these emotional picture thinkers will take it in and remember it forever. Otherwise, scanning makes picture thinkers vulnerable to distractibility. Their attention may be captured by all sorts of things. They can be equally aware of a bug bite on their arm, the way the lights are humming, someone’s simmering anger three rows away, or the relationship of a radius to its circumference.

Emotional Intensity

Picture thinkers live emotionally. They do not shut their feelings away to examine later. Instead, their emotions enliven, interpret, and underscore their experience all the time. Their emotions affect the way they think. Moods intertwine with learning, which means that their thinking can take off when they feel upbeat and confident. On the other hand, if they are upset, confused, angry, or depressed, picture thinkers may have difficulty learning much at all. It is as if their mind shuts down then, not able to function until their feelings are more positive. This may be why they try to liven things up with humor, games, tricks, and drama. Positive vibes just help them to learn better. It follows that picture thinkers will have days when they learn poorly, just as they will have days of remarkable accomplishment. Those around need to learn that variability is the name of the game..

Gamesmanship

Picture thinkers want life to be upbeat. They love humor, fun, excitement, and challenge. They are affronted by dullness and drudgery and will often sabotage a dreary atmosphere, creating excitement of some sort. They were usually happy, cheerful, fun-loving bon vivants as toddlers. Just as then, t hey have boundless curiosity, are natural explorers, and delight in discovery and excitement. Positive feelings are very important to them, partly because when they are down, they can be so very down. Their desire to liven things up—often by playing the clown or stirring up arguments—can be very annoying to a teacher with a lesson to impart, but they are (mostly) not behaving this way to be obstructive. They want life to be lively. Situations where games and play are used to aid comprehension or solve problems draw out the best in them. Teachers do well to make the most of picture thinkers’ creativity, out-of-the-box thinking, and solutions that seem to come from nowhere. They add excitement and interest to learning.
In a classroom, hands-on participatory lessons work well for them—and for step-by-step learners too. Simulation games, board games created by students as part of a learning project, hands-on immersion learning situations, contests, construction and designing, art, music, poetry, skits, and dramatic enactment—all meet a deep need of picture thinkers to work in a rich, colorful, and stimulating environment. They remember their own experience best, so experiential lessons make their points memorably. Enlivening activities such as these also spice up things for step-by-step learners, who enjoy but won’t demand this kind of teaching. It is just these lively, upbeat, dramatic personality qualities that draw others to picture thinkers like a magnet. Life is more zestful around them, and classrooms are more exciting.

Source: http://www.visualspatial.org/spatialstrengths.php by

Linda Kreger Silverman, Ph.D.

A different way of approacing HSP

Dr Cardoso has a different way of dealing with being a HSP.

Interview with Laurie Ferris

Mandy Moore on depression and sensitivity

Along with her success as an actor and musician, Mandy Moore has experienced emotional challenges including depression and sensitivity.

“A few months ago I felt really low, really sad. Depressed for no reason. I’m a very positive person, and I’ve always been glass-half-full. So it was like someone flipped a switch in me.”

She says her recent split with Zach Braff “added to what I was going through, but it’s not the complete reason. It definitely doesn’t help if you’re already in that place.”

Moore, at 22, also spoke of some of the existential issues she is exploring:

“I’ve been going through this really crazy time in my life – it’s what I imagine people fresh out of college go through. I’m asking myself life-altering questions, like Who am I? Where do I fit in this world? What am I doing, what do I want to do? Am I living to my full potential?” [Jane magazine, Feb 2007]

Gifted and talented people are more likely to ask those kinds of questions, and may experience feelings discussed in the article Existential Depression in Gifted Individuals, by James T. Webb, Ph.D. As he notes, “existential depression arises when an individual confronts certain basic issues of existence.. [such as] death, freedom, isolation and meaninglessness.”

Mandy Moore has commented in earlier interviews about her sensitivity:

“I’ll cry at anything, even a tissue commercial. I’m overly sensitive. It’s so easy to hurt my feelings.” [allstarz.org/~mandymoore/]

“I’m extremely-extremely sensitive. I can cry at the drop of a hat. I’m such a girl when it comes to that. Anything upsets me. I cry all the time. I cry when I’m happy too.” [absolutely.net]

“I’m really overly sensitive. I get my feelings hurt very easily, and sometimes I just cry for no reason, and I hate that.” [malaya.com March 21 2004]

Many people equate high sensitivity with exceptional ability. But in her article The Highly Sensitive Child (and Adults, Too): Is Sensitivity the Same as Being Gifted?, Elaine N. Aron, Ph.D. writes that in her experience, “not all highly sensitive people are gifted. That is, at least as adults, many HSPs are not expressing some talent in a way that others would recognize as outstanding.” She also notes high sensitivity occurs in 15 to 20 percent of the population, but a smaller percentage are considered gifted.

But sensitivity is a trait shared by many highly talented, if not gifted, actors and other artists like Moore, and may be part of what makes them so creative.

Bron: http://talentdevelop.com

The happy gene that makes you a smiley, more positive person

If you are a cheery soul whose glass always seems half full, you can thank your parents.

You will probably be pleased to learn some of us are born optimists who have inherited a 'happy gene'.

The finding may help to explain why some people are always miserable while others tend to look on the bright side.

Professor Elaine Fox at Essex University showed more than 100 people positive and negative pictures on a computer screen, such as growling dogs and smiling children.

Using a revolutionary computer based therapy, she was able to measure which ones they concentrated on.

Volunteers supplied a sample of their DNA and they were tested to see which version they carried of the 5-HTTLPR gene which affects levels of the 'feel-good' chemical serotonin.

We inherit either two 'short' versions, a long and a short versions or two 'long' versions of the gene.

Those with two short versions of the gene managed to focus on the positive images and avoid getting upset by the negative ones, according to the research published online in Biological Psychiatry.

Strangely this 'short' version of the gene is the same one which has been associated with making people feel anxious and depressed and it suggests these people have a'very emotional' response to their environment.

Professor Fox said: 'When times are really good, it is those with the highly reactive short genotype who really benefit.

'They were very response to positive images which suggests they will thrive in a supportive environment, but previous research shows they can also go under, and will be particularly devastated by a traumatic experience.
'It suggests these people are very susceptible to emotional aspects of their environment. Those with the long version are less reactive which means that they often fare best in fairly benign conditions but they perhaps would not gain as much from a good experience.'
The researchers described the finding as a mechanism which seems to explain our levels of resillience to life's general stress.
The results could be used to determine appropriate therapy for people recovering from traumatic situations.
Professor Fox added: 'If a person's genotype is identified, the correct therapy can make all the difference to recovery.'

 

Bron: Daily Mail online

By Tamara Cohen

Last updated at 2:41 AM on 10th September 2011

Indigo's

So nice to hear the eldest girl say: I don't know if I am different, to me this feels normal :-)

Enjoy watching!

So Sensitive: Are you tired of sucking it up?

Posted  By Cheryl Richardson

"Your sensitivity is your greatest gift.  Protect it."
 
Last night I went to see a movie with a group of friends.  I'd heard wonderful things about the story from people whose opinion I respect, and I was so looking forward to enjoying the film. 

However, within twenty minutes of watching, I made a decision to leave the theater.

I'm very sensitive to violence and human suffering and therefore my threshold is pretty low. 

I really wanted to see this movie, so at first, I kept trying to talk myself into staying. I told myself things like, "Just wait, Cheryl, I'm sure the violence will end soon."  Or, "Close your eyes through the tough parts." 

But, after several attempts to hang in there through what I imagined was the set-up of the story, I thought to myself, "Wait a minute.  I don't do this anymore.  I no longer override my sensitive nature.  Instead, I protect it." 

So I quietly said goodbye to my friends and left.

Knowing and respecting my sensitive side is an important way that I practice extreme self care (which is why I dedicate a whole chapter to this topic in my new book). 

We all have varying levels of sensitivity. 

It's the fundamental part of us that allows us to be touched by beauty, signs of grace, or intimate moments with others. 

And, it's the mechanism that provides us with an internal warning signal that lets us know when we're in situations that may be hazardous to our emotional, physical, or spiritual health.

As we grow in our understanding and practice of extreme self care, our sensitivity level rises and we pay closer attention to what we need to feel good. 

If the lights are too bright in a restaurant, for instance, you might ask to have them turned down. 

Or, if you know that you're easily wounded by harsh criticism, you might decide to educate someone about how best to give you feedback so you can learn and grow. 

While these ideas might sound a bit "high maintenance" (and certainly can be when misused or not handled in a gracious way), they're actually an indication of healthy self esteem.

This week I invite you to notice your own sensitive nature.  Are you paying attention to your needs or overriding them? 

Do you practice the art of "sucking it up," or the art of extreme self care?

Just a gentle reminder to notice, that's all ...

Take Action Challenge
 
During the week, pay special attention to those times when you push yourself to do something you'd really rather not do.

Don't suck it up.  Bow out, say no, turn around and walk away. 

Protect your sensitivity and it will serve you well!

Nicole Kidman on fame, and actors as highly sensitive people

Jennifer Aniston: What attracts you to a project? What’s the key element that has to be there?

Nicole Kidman: Usually something strange. It’s a little weird or offbeat or very uncomfortable.

I have to be convinced to do things that are more mainstream.

As a kid, I was always a bit, I suppose, darker. I was drawn to things that were unusual.

And that’s partly to do with my parents. My mom’s always questioned things, wanted us not to conform.

So, with roles, I like to be in a place of discomfort. I do my best work in the most complicated roles. I don’t have the capacity to be lighter, and I so wish I did. I’m working on it. …

JA: Did you always want to act?

Nicole Kidman: I think I did… For me, it was never going to be work. It was almost like I needed to have a day job, because this was too much fun.

But I was a highly sensitive child, and the last thing my parents wanted was for their child to go in and get hurt.

JA: What do you think is the hardest thing about being an actor?

Nicole Kidman: Fame. It’s a great thing in the sense of the opportunities it gives you, but you don’t realize that you’re dancing with the 100-pound gorilla.

JA: Yeah, it turns from Glinda the Good Witch into the nasty green one, then back to Glinda again.

Nicole Kidman: Most actors are highly sensitive people, but you have this incredible scrutiny. You have to develop a thick skin, but you can’t have a thick skin in your work.

So it’s that constant push-pull of going, How do I stay human and vulnerable and real, and how do I, at the same time, not let all this affect me? I suppose it’s the same when you’re at school and you get a taste of girls who are being mean.

It’s the same thing, just at a bigger level.

But at the same time, we’re in an extraordinary place, and to complain about it you go, Ugh, move on.

~ ~

From “Nicole Kidman: The Interview” By Jennifer Aniston, Harper’s Bazaar January 5, 2011 – they costar in the new comedy Just Go With It.

E is for Empathy

Today I share with you a wonderful blog post by Ann from the blog on her website: http://recoveryourbalance.com/

I’m on yet another learning journey at the moment, and it’s one that might interest you if you often find yourself off balance. Via the wonderful Kat Tansey, author of Choosing to Be – Lessons in Living from a Feline Zen Master, I came across the work of Dr Elaine Aron on what she calls ‘Sensory Processing Sensitivity’.  It was a revelation, and it explains a lot.  Kat Tansey’s interview with Elaine Aron is here.

Recognise this?

Test your reaction to these scenarios. Whom do you most closely identify with?

• A woman is standing in line waiting to pay for purchases. The woman behind her is standing very close, and with each move, unconsciously prods, nudges and pokes her with assorted baggage and elbows.  Eventually the first woman turns round and politely asks the woman behind to please stop prodding her. The second woman puts on an air of mock astonishment and responds, “What? Are you REAL?”
• It’s Remembrance Sunday in a shop in an English shopping mall. At 11.00, the piped music stops, the staff ring a tiny bell, and everyone stands still for two minutes. Well, almost everyone. Despite the almost tangible, heavy silence, the sudden lack of jolly Christmas music and the fact that people are standing exactly where they were when the bell rang, one man crashes around in some crockery, and calls to his wife, “Hey, Susan, here they are – come and look at these.” “I’m busy looking over here”, she shouts back.

They both happened.  I was present at the second, and overheard woman 2 stridently telling the story of the ‘unreal’ person in front of her in that line to anyone who would listen.  Why did they strike such a chord with me?

High sensitivity is real

They’re two sides of the same coin – high sensitivity to sensory stimuli, and a complete lack of it.  Aron, a clinical psychologist, has researched High Sensitivity for almost 20 years. She has found that around 20% of the population, male and female, are what she calls Highly Sensitive Persons (HSPs).  Many don’t realise it, and it’s not a trait that Western society values.  The strength of this trait is that people who possess it are aware of tiny nuances and subtle shifts in what’s happening around them, are highly perceptive of others’ changes of mood, may be highly intuitive and often visionary. The downside is that the same stimulus that most people take in their stride can be overwhelming for an HSP. They’re often told they are over-sensitive and end up feeling there’s something wrong with them.  Well, there isn’t.

Please don’t SHOUT at me!

I took Aron’s self-test and came out with a high score and a big lightbulb moment. Being highly sensitive to sensory stimuli can be both helpful and painfully arousing.  Take the BBC World Service, for example.  I love it.  I download podcasts regularly.  But if I’m awake at night and want to listen to something, I no longer choose the World Service.  Why?  Because for the past year or so, every podcast and every programme is prefaced with a rumbling musical intro culminating in a loud, intrusive three-note musical yell in a minor key:  DA DA DAAAAH!  It might not bother 80% of the population, but it makes me wince,  and probably the other 20% with me.
HSPs take time to process stimuli, and will need to take space to do it.  Overstimulation can lead to the constant presence of stress hormones such as cortisol in the body. Balancing the dual challenges of dealing with the discomfort of over-stimulation and staying out in the World where we need to be is a lifelong task that gets easier if it’s done consciously. It doesn’t mean we’re unintelligent or antisocial.  It doesn’t mean we’re ‘over-sensitive’.  We are simply more sensitive to sensory stimuli than about 80% of the population, and if we don’t understand this we might wonder what’s wrong with us. And you can imagine what happens when the office bully homes in on an HSP.

Are you an HSP?

I’m currently wondering whether the people who bounce back least well from the bad things that happen at work might also include a higher than usual proportion of HSPs?  It would explain a lot.  If you empathised with the woman who didn’t want to be constantly prodded, or wondered how the couple in the shop could have failed so completely to notice what was going on around them, why not take Aron’s self-test and see what you come up with?

…or not?

And if you’re wondering what all the fuss is about, maybe you’ll still find Aron’s work worth exploring. After all, up to 20% of people around you may possess the trait.  Perhaps the colleague you think of as over-sensitive is nothing of the kind.

Top Ten Myths About Highly Sensitive Persons (HSPs)

Published August 28, 2007 by:

Priscilla King

1. "HSPs don't like 'other people.'" This myth is particularly unhelpful to the minority of HSPs who also inherit traits associated with what's usually considered an extroverted personality. Recent research has also identified the physical trait that produces genuine, benign introversion, which shows up on brain scans as a "long brain stem" (LBS) and produces a deeper, slower thought process than average. (For more about LBS introverts, visit www.theintrovertadvantage.com). Some HSPs also inherit LBS traits; some do not. HSP and LBS traits seem to balance each other well.
However, even those who have both HSP and LBS traits can also be task-oriented leaders or charismatic attention seekers. These traits produce introverted tendencies that may help hold extroverted tendencies in check. In any case, even those of us who are genuine introverts usually have deep, lasting friendships and can have rewarding marriages. What HSPs inherit is the ability to analyze our social lives and explain exactly whose company we like and dislike, and why.

2. "HSPs shouldn't marry each other, shouldn't marry at all, shouldn't have children, are probably homosexual," etc. There is some truth in this myth when HSPs try to deny or "overcome" their sensitivity and marry people who may be good catches but are temperamentally incompatible. When HSPs marry each other, in the absence of additional genes that really are dysfunctional, we probably have the most satisfactory family lives on Earth. What the HSP trait produces, in terms of relationships, is a capacity for deep long-term commitment and intense physical pleasure. And, in the absence of disease conditions, HSPs' high levels of sex hormones allow some HSPs to fall madly in love at 50 and have vibrant sex lives at 75.

3. "HSPs are likely to be or become schizophrenic or schizoid." Some psychotic disorders seem to mimic HSP sensitivity, and it's possible for HSPs to develop all kinds of other hereditary or environmental diseases, but there's no real correlation between HSP perceptivity and psychotic hypersensitivity. HSPs are generally perceptive of a wide variety of pleasant and neutral stimuli, through all unimpaired sensory channels. Acquired hypersensitivity produces more awareness of painful, chaotic stimuli, often through just one badly damaged set of nerves. HSPs hear conversations in the next room; hypersensitive people hear buzzing, ringing noises, or hear "voices" repeatedly whispering nonsense or disturbing ideas.

4. "HSPs are 'on the autistic spectrum.'" I'll agree that well-known high-functioning autistics like Temple Grandin and Donna Williams are HSPs, but I'm not convinced that any causal relationship is involved in this correlation. People who overcome severe disabilities or seem to heal themselves from severe diseases do tend to be HSPs. Helen Keller was almost certainly HSP too, but although the HSP trait allowed her to overcome the loss of her sight and hearing, it had nothing to do with the infection that produced her blindness and deafness. What we do know about autistics is that high-functioning autistics tend to have the kind of painful, chaotic hypersensitivity that other people acquire later in life as a result of nerve or brain damage.

5. "HSPs need therapy to become more 'normal.'" It's very easy for non-HSPs to confuse the healthy perceptivity that makes HSPs reject many things as "too loud, too bright, too fast, too tight" with acquired hypersensitivity, or sensory defensiveness, produced by brain damage. Sensory defensiveness, in which ordinary stimuli are perceived as unbearably intense, is "on the autistic spectrum." It is often produced by fevers, concussions, and/or medication, and it can and should be treated with the relatively cheap and simple therapies Sharon Heller discusses in her book. However, HSP perceptivity is normal for those who've inherited it. HSPs become less sensitive with age, but this erosion of perception is not a gain--it merely slows down some aspects of the aging process. (When middle-aged people complain about not being able to read the copyright data line on the eye chart or hear "inaudible" dog whistles any more, while their friends are buying eyeglasses and hearing aids, you know we're HSPs.)
Since you're reading this online, you may benefit from this warning. I was an early adopter of computer technology. (I think I was the third girl student to acquire a guest pass to the computer lab at my school.) My HSP long-distance vision, which I had enjoyed, "normalized" to 20-20 about two years after I bought a computer of my own. The black-on-pale-gray screen at which you're looking may damage your eyes less than my orange-on-black screen did mine, or it may not. All computer addicts, HSP or otherwise, need to force ourselves to take frequent hand and eye breaks.

6. "HSPs are attuned to the psychic realm." I don't want to get into any religious debates about what the psychic realm is. I merely want to emphasize that HSP perceptivity is a matter of consciously perceiving things that exist in objective fact, even if the majority of humankind need binoculars, telescopes, etc., to verify them. HSPs "perceive" auras, ghosts, angels, etc., only if they believe such things exist. Many HSPs don't. Some HSPs make a hobby of debunking the "psychic" claims and perceptions of fellow HSPs.

Here's one example with which I'm familiar. In many times and places, some HSPs were said to have "healing hands," and some of them probably believed it. HSPs who take Judith Walker Delany's NeuroMuscular Therapy courses learn exactly how "healing hands" are able to perceive and relieve stiffness in specific muscles, which can occasionally restore sight, hearing, etc., to people who thought they were permanently disabled. The ability to find the knots is a hereditary gift. Anyone born with the ability can learn to use it, and will probably perform one or two "miracles" before retiring from the massage business. The faith and love some faith healers experience is real, as is the faith of people whose "miraculous" healings are spontaneous (check out Senator Orrin B. Hatch's story in Larry King's Powerful Prayers). Still, people whose "miracles" don't last need to know that this is more likely to be their body telling them that they've slept in the wrong position again than it is to be God telling them that something is wrong with their faith.

7. "HSPs are 'smarter' than most people." What researchers like Daniel Goleman and Dawna Markova have been saying for years is that, if people want to be (or become) intelligent, they are. The question is how an individual is intelligent. HSP perceptivity does virtually guarantee high I.Q. scores for most of us, apart from late-blooming HSP boys who may be too farsighted to learn to read before age ten, dyslexic HSPs who may read too slowly to test well even as adults, and other "Mislabelled Children". (Parents concerned about these issues should click on www.moorefoundation.com or http://mislabeledchild.com. When I tried to Google "Dawna Markova" for you, I only got a link to a "SmartWired" page that didn't make it through my security filter, plus several sources through which individual books like "How Your Child Is Smart" can be purchased.) Because most HSPs are in fact "gifted," we need to be particularly aware that there are other ways of being "gifted" that may be complementary with our own.

8. "HSPs are timid or 'withdrawn.'" HSPs do and should "withdraw" quickly from harmful stimuli; this is why, although our overall life expectancy may not be much longer than those of other people, our active life expectancy probably is. Because HSP children lack the experience and vocabulary to communicate their perceptions clearly, it's also possible that little HSPs recognize harmful stimuli, such as food their bodies aren't built to digest, more accurately than adults may realize. Then there are stimuli that healthy HSPs don't perceive as harmful but do perceive as tiresome, stressful, messy, tasteless, tacky, boring, ugly, rude, and generally no fun (e.g. school, television, shopping malls). Healthy HSPs withdraw from those things too, although most of us withdraw our attention in wholesome ways, like tuning out from school in order to pursue hobbies, or ignoring "desirable connections" whom we don't like in order to spend more time in less predictable relationships with those we love.

9. "HSPs tend to become addicts or alcoholics." There is no question that all chemical stimuli, even those in ordinary food substances, have more pronounced effects on HSPs than on non-HSPs.  Not all HSP's have allergies. but because HSPs are naturally oversupplied with histamine, HSP allergy reactions are hard to miss. Probably not all HSPs are alcohol-sensitive or even sugar-sensitive, but when we are, the results are equally dramatic. HSPs can get relaxed, chatty, and uninhibited without alcohol--and can take blissful mental "trips" without LSD. A few lucky HSPs who were around in the 1960s even avoided those dangerous experiments with drugs, because nothing our friends seemed to experience on drugs seemed much more interesting than what we experienced while meditating. History records that HSP artists have often experimented with drugs and other unhealthy behavior, like deliberate food poisoning or sleep deprivation, in search of "unique" images to paint or write about. As in the cases of Samuel Taylor Coleridge, Edgar Allan Poe, or Janis Joplin, these experiments tended to destroy rather than enhance the artists' productivity. Knowing this is often enough to keep HSPs away from drugs and alcohol for life.

Because young HSPs are at so much risk of being labelled "depressed" or "withdrawn," and inappropriately medicated for conditions they don't even have, I almost wish I had found a link between the HSP trait and the "Prozac Dementia" reaction to serotonin boosters such as Prozac, Luvox, Serafem, or even Ritalin. One anecdote in Joseph Glenmullen's Prozac Backlash, about the dramatic reaction in one of Dr. Glenmullen's brightest students, is suggestive but not really proof of a link. However, it bears reiteration that the type of depression most obviously associated with HSPs is endorphin-deficiency rather than serotonin-deficiency depression. To learn more about which type of depression you or a friend may have, look for a copy of Kathleen DesMaisons' Potatoes Not Prozac, or visit Dr. DesMaisons at www.radiantrecovery.com. Endorphin deficiency is best treated by diet and exercise, NOT serotonin boosters.

10. "HSPs tend to be liberal, humanistic, and/or on the left wing." Elaine Aron's correspondence does seem to support this view, but as a relative, employee, and personal friend of several conservative and even hawkish HSPs, I'm in a position to suggest that the slant and marketing of Dr. Aron's book may have selected for the type more congenial with her. I can testify firsthand that the Army knows the value of even physically inadequate female HSPs. Many HSPs who are physically strong, male, and conservative find a military career congenial, or at least useful as a way to finance education or launch a business.

Neuroscience and sensitivity – our superior colliculus and amygdala

A recent news item by ScienceDaily reported on research that may explain more about the neuroscience that underlies high sensitivity.

“Researchers have discovered that a primitive region of the brain responsible for sensorimotor control also has an important role in regulating emotional responses to threatening situations."

“This region appears to work in concert with another structure called the amygdala to regulate social and emotional behavior.”

The story explains, “Georgetown University Medical Center researchers have recently discovered that activation of a primitive brain region, the deep layers of superior colliculus (DLSC), elicits defensive behaviors such as an exaggerated startle, hypervigilance, cowering, and escape…. in addition to triggering defensive behaviors, the activation of DLSC leads to a decrease in affiliative social interactions.”

Like mainstream media – and probably psychiatry in general – this news story was framed in terms of dysfunction: “Researchers say it is possible that a prolonged activation of this defense system may lead to emotional disorders” including post traumatic stress disorder and other anxiety disorders.

[From Two Brain Structures Key To Emotional Balance Especially In Threatening Situations, ScienceDaily (Oct. 23, 2009)]

As we know who have one, a highly sensitive nervous system is not necessarily a “disorder.”

Ashley Judd: That is not to discount very real medical and mental health issues, such as anxiety, and PTSD – which can include very disruptive or disabling behaviors, emotions, and another kind of over-activation of the nervous system: hypervigilance.

That is something actor Ashley Judd experienced.

She had a “very unsafe” and disruptive childhood, and became what she calls a “hypervigilant child.”

Jenna Avery on helping sensitive souls thrive

Jenna Avery is “The Life Coach for Sensitive Souls” – helping individuals recognize and more fully express their gifts as highly sensitive people.

Today I have added a link to an interview in which she talks about some of the challenges we may face in taking care of ourselves and living our purpose, such as being overly self-critical or not setting good self-care boundaries.

She also talks about her new project of interviewing creative visionaries about how they stay on track and make more effective contributions.

Her main site, where you can sign up for her newsletter, and learn more about her Embrace Your Essential Self program and other resources: http://highlysensitivesouls.com

Also see her Sensitive Professionals Network site http://www.sensitiveprofessionals.com

Jenna mentions an HSP Conference with Jacquelyn Strickland – listen to our podcast interview