Emotional Sensitivity or Over Sensitivity

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How many of you struggle with oversensitivity and how do you handle it?

Here is an article to start:

Over Sensitivity

over sensitivity defined


Over sensitivity is being over affected by an external influence that can hardly affect normal people, for example not being able to tolerate Constructive criticism that other people normally tolerate. In order to know if you are an over sensitive person see if your answer to most of those questions were yes.
  • Do you get hurt by some words or comments that are told to you about your personality?
  • are you unable to tolerate criticism?
  • Do you hate loud noise or loud music?
  • Do you feel other people's pain and suffering more than anyone else?
  • Are you slim or your body is smaller in size than peers? (The Ectomorph body type, 99% of the time very sensitive)
  • Do you stop for more than three minutes when you see an accident on the street in order to watch?
  • Do you find it very high to tolerate high or low temperatures?
  • Do you find it very hard to gain muscles by working out?
  • Do you have lots of mood swings as a result of small events?
the life of an over sensitive person
If your answer were yes to some of the previous questions then probably you are an over sensitive person. The life of an over sensitive person is much different than the life of other people, simple because the over sensitive person feels the pain in an exaggerated way and so has problems tolerating it. the over sensitve person forms anchors faster than anybody else, for example if he had a real bad experience in a different country than his home country, after he gets back he may hate the country as a whole because in that case he anchored the pain he felt to the place.

over sensitivity and mood swings
Over sensitive people are more likely to have bad moods, to get depressed and to be moody because their mode changes whenever any small event happen. An emotionally sensitive person is like a fragile person, or a person who is labeled "handle with care". The biggest problem is that people don't have enough knowledge sometimes to realize that they are dealing with an emotionally sensitive person and so they may cause him lots of pain without realizing this. A good thing that you can do in this case is to use the technique called "locking the emotions" in order to extend the periods of feeling happy, read this article to know how to do it.

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you are not bad!!
There are many good things about an emotionally sensitive person, first he feels people’s suffering more than anyone else and so in most cases he tends to be a nice and friendly person. If you know how not to hurt a sensitive relationship partner then he will be a very good choice, emotionally sensitive people are the least problematic persons around. Emotionally sensitive people usually have creative abilities which sometimes make them excel at arts or poetry.
Over sensitivity and Emotional wounds
If you tried to put some water on a fresh wound you will feel pain, that’s because when we develop a wound we tend to become over sensitive to factors that didn’t use to harm us before, And the same goes with emotional wounds, being rejected as a child, lacking self confidence and having self image problems are all examples of unhealed wounds that can make you over sensitive to things that others just don’t notice, if you want to know more about emotional wounds then read this article.
dealing with over sensitivity
There are many ways that can help you deal with your over sensitivity but most of them root to one source, changing your way of thinking and your perception of situations. After all if you are over sensitive you wont feel bad when being hurt unless you have perceived the situation that happened as a bad one, if you managed to change your way of thinking you will be able to reap the benefits of emotional sensitivity and avoid its drawbacks.
http://www.2knowmyself.com/emotional_sensitivity
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I had this when I was younger, I don't have it anymore.
 
I'm considered a Highly Sensitive Person, and that includes emotional sensitivity to a great degree. It has caused a lot of people in my life to be uncomfortable with the idea that they have the potential to hurt me deeply without even meaning to. The only thing that really helps me deal with the negative emotions is not ignoring them. I have a system for processing, and it works for me. I recognize the emotion, figure out what caused it, accept it, and let it go. It doesn't mean things hurt any less, but it does mean I don't hold onto hurtful things. Sounds like a load of crap, but it seems to be the only thing that works for me and keeps me from self-destructing.
 
Yes this is me. I am able to suppress it externally. I can't suppress it from myself though (I.E. I still feel everything).
 
I am classified as a Highly Sensitive Person by one of the online tests, but only slightly.
 
I think and worry about everything in general. Before it was worse. I'm still a worry-wart, just not as much as I used to. I'm able to better control it now.
 
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So basically, an OSP is a neurotic.
I guess therapy would help.
 
I consider myself a sensitive person, but I am not any of this by a long shot.

Do you get hurt by some words or comments that are told to you about your personality? Are you unable to tolerate criticism?
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Depends who it is. If it's family, yeah, I'll get pretty morose. If it's somebody I don't know, heck no.

Do you hate loud noise or loud music?
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No.

Do you feel other people's pain and suffering more than anyone else?
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Yes.

Are you slim or your body is smaller in size than peers? (The Ectomorph body type, 99% of the time very sensitive).
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No, I'm a pure mesomorph.

Do you stop for more than three minutes when you see an accident on the street in order to watch?
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I say a quick prayer and hope they're okay but.... WTF does this have to do with anything?

Do you find it very high to tolerate high or low temperatures?
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No.

Do you find it very hard to gain muscles by working out?
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Heck no. My body is quick gain muscle/weight or lose weight/muscle very quickly and easily.

Do you have lots of mood swings as a result of small events?
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Yeah, sometimes the smallest things will set me off. Especially if I'm already have a lousy day. But sometimes, I'm having a fantabulous day and some teensy thing will set me off.

Guess I'm not OSP then. Phew.
 
Restraint said:
How many of you struggle with oversensitivity and how do you handle it?

Here is an article to start:
There are many ways that can help you deal with your over sensitivity but most of them root to one source, changing your way of thinking and your perception of situations.
Click to expand...
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It's changing the way you think that's the hard part!
Where's the explanation on how to do that?! :becky:

I daresay not many people know how to do it...
 
Dealing with Over Sensitivity

If you feel sad because your emotional sensitivity is causing you much pain in your life, you may get relieved to know that it's very easy to use the advantages of being overly sensitive while the same time increating barriers that can diminish the disadvantages of being over sensitive.

the advantages of being over sensitive


First of all, do you know that being overly sensitive makes you have the following:
  • Increased empathy: have you ever felt sad without any apparent reason by just sitting with someone who was sad? do you feel depressed when just sitting beside a depressed person even if he didn't talk? Probably yes and this is because you have increased empathy, you can know how people around you feel without having them say that. Empathic ability is a normal ability that each human being have but the overly sensitive person have got much higher advantage in using this ability. You will experience happiness more than the normal person experiences it because get deeper to you than other people. Usually sensitive people are very creative and that what can make you in your career or even make you develop good habits like drawing or writing poetry. Lots of artist are sensitive people
  • Experiencing religious related emotions may be higher for the sensitive person than its for people whom are not sensitive, this may cause the emotionally sensitive person to commits to religious activities,to become more connected to religion relative to others or even end up as a religious leader
dealing with emotional sensitivity


All of the previous were the advantages you have as an emotionally sensitive person over others, now onto how to make your sensitivity have a minimal impact on your life:
  • First of all know that the words that can hurt an emotionally sensitive person does not hurt unless he views those words as insulting, or as having the meaning that he is an unworthy person. So by changing your view of the criticism you receive can reduce your response much to being criticized. For example, when someone tells you that you didn't play well today at the match, this doesn't mean that you are a bad player, this doesn't mean you are a failure and this doesn't mean you are worthless! It's not the words that did hurt you, it's the meaning that you did tie to the words.
  • This brings us to point two, what can cause your view of the criticism you receive to be that bad? Usually its your negative self talk, negative self talk are the words or the phrases that you use while thinking. example of negative self talk phrases are "I know why he said so, because I am a looser" or "I knew that I am not up to the standard that's why she told me so". Lacking self-confidence is one of the major factors that can make you have a negative self talk and so get hurt by anything that you hear. By building self confidence and changing your negative self talk, you won't be removing your sensitivity but instead you will be changing your perspective of what you hear and of criticism and so you won't get hurt.
  • Giving up perfectionism,Perfectionism is the way of thinking that considers life is perfect and that you should be perfect in turn, based on that you may think that all people should praise you, that everyone should say good and encouraging words to others, that everyone is kind .....etc. This kind of thinking causes you to get hurt whenever you find that life is not as you expected. Face the reality and know that perfectionism is a bad and unrealistic of thinking .
  • Finally you can use CBT to change your method of thinking and so avoid triggering your sensitivity. CBT is a method of therapy that is very easy to apply, it's based on the concept that your emotions are triggered because of your way of thinking and so by changing your thoughts you prevent triggering those unwanted emotions.
http://www.2knowmyself.com/emotional_sensitivity/dealing_with_over_sensitivity
 
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I really appreciate this article.

I said yes to everything but looking at the car accident example.

The experiencing others pain even when they don't say a word is def. me too...

as far as the body type thing goes, I am way smaller than most 38 yr old women who have had children. I am only a size 3 usually and have a hard time with appetite quite often.
 
Yep I am HSP. Took the test, rated stupidly high on it. However as was pointed out in that article:

-HSP means extremity of all emotion. That means I love more than 'normal people' as well as feeling pain more. That's a trade I'm willing to make.

-Pain brings wisdom. Fair trade again.

-I am learning about what it takes to control and convert the negative aspects of my 'condition' into positives. So I get more and more for less and less from this.

Soo.. why should I want the limitation of emotional scarcity that is deemed 'normal' by people with papers from people who run an education business?

Over-emotional? Hah! You don't get to define it for me. Why would I want to get off this roller coaster and hop on the merry go round with the rest of the planet? :wink:
 
Ohhhh, yes.
I do believe that I am quite hyper sensitive. I did answer yes to all of the questions. I'm a very moody person because something very small can affect my moods to the extreme. I definitely do feel people's pain; both emotionally AND physically. The latter is very irritating. I'm not sure why I can feel other peoples pain in my own body. I guess it's all in the mind. I'm pretty prone to suffering in silence though, because people can hurt me without even realizing it and I'm not one to bring it up.

I hope that someone will be able to love me even though I'm so hyper sensitive. T_T
 
Stellar Affinity said:
Ohhhh, yes.
I do believe that I am quite hyper sensitive. I did answer yes to all of the questions. I'm a very moody person because something very small can affect my moods to the extreme. I definitely do feel people's pain; both emotionally AND physically. The latter is very irritating. I'm not sure why I can feel other peoples pain in my own body. I guess it's all in the mind. I'm pretty prone to suffering in silence though, because people can hurt me without even realizing it and I'm not one to bring it up.
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Same here.

I hope that someone will be able to love me even though I'm so hyper sensitive. T_T
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No doubt the right person will.
 
i found ran across this paragraph in a book called "community and growth" by jean vanier. it changed my life...

Some people find it hard to live with others. They need a lot of time to themselves, a great sense of freedom and above all, no tensions. They simply must not feel under pressure; if they do they will become depressed or aggressive. These people are often very sensitive and delicate; they have almost too great a richness of heart. They could not cope with the difficulties of community life. They are called rather to live alone or with a few privileged friends. They must not be made to think that because community life is not for them they have no place, gift or vocation. Their gift is different. They are called to be witnesses to love in another way. And they find a certain community life with friends and groups, with whom they meet regularly.
 
I have HSP as well, sometimes it can be a pain, since I'm very sensitive to sounds around me and to feel like a failure/ depression.
 
eutychus said:
i found ran across this paragraph in a book called "community and growth" by jean vanier. it changed my life...

Some people find it hard to live with others. They need a lot of time to themselves, a great sense of freedom and above all, no tensions. They simply must not feel under pressure; if they do they will become depressed or aggressive. These people are often very sensitive and delicate; they have almost too great a richness of heart. They could not cope with the difficulties of community life. They are called rather to live alone or with a few privileged friends. They must not be made to think that because community life is not for them they have no place, gift or vocation. Their gift is different. They are called to be witnesses to love in another way. And they find a certain community life with friends and groups, with whom they meet regularly.
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For some reason that got me all teary-eyed..
 
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