Sensory Processing Sensitivity: A Massachusetts HSP Therapist gives some context to the SPS trait

Hello! Bronwyn here, HSP therapist. I provide online therapy for women and Highly Sensitive People throughout Massachusetts. Today I’ll be talking about the trait of Sensory Processing Sensitivity. I’ll give some history, information on assessment, and discuss common reactions to discovering you’re highly sensitive. Much of the information I am presenting is learned from Elaine Aron, PhD, particularly from her book Psychotherapy and the Highly Sensitive Person, as well as her other books and website. I’ll use the terms “Sensory Processing Sensitivity” and “Highly Sensitive” interchangeably. 

A brief history of Sensory Processing Sensitivity

First, a bit of history. High Sensitivity, in the research community, is known as Sensory Processing Sensitivity, abbreviated as SPS. (SPS is easily confused with Sensory Processing Disorder. For a distinction, Elaine Aron gives an overview here.) Sensory processing sensitivity is a hereditary trait, not a disorder, condition or diagnosis. People are born with it. It’s been a known and researched trait for quite some time. For example, Carl Jung (1875-1961), psychiatrist, psychoanalyst, and HSP, in 1913 discussed the influence of what is now known as SPS on child development. 

Dr. Elaine Aron (b. 1944), a psychologist, did an enormous amount of research on Sensory Processing Sensitivity, beginning in 1991. She and Arthur Aron coined the term “Highly Sensitive Person.” Her research and books on Sensory Processing Sensitivity are what have moved knowledge about the trait into the public dialogue. According to Elaine Aron, about 20% of the population is Highly Sensitive. 

Further, it’s not just people who are Highly Sensitive. Sensory Processing Sensitivity has been identified in over 100 animal species!

Research published in the Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences in 2008 notes that fish, fruit flies, canines and rhesus monkeys, among others, have all been shown to exhibit High Sensitivity. 

How to assess for Sensory Processing Sensitivity

Again, SPS is not a disorder, condition, or diagnosis. Researchers created quantifiable tests, and Dr. Aron created the lay-person accessible HSP Test. You can answer the 27 questions on your own to see if you are likely to have the trait. It’s important to note that this “test” is not a diagnosis. It’s a quick tool in exploring the trait to see if you feel you are Highly Sensitive. Dr. Aron’s book The Highly Sensitive Person goes into much more detail about the trait. Reading it can give you a better sense of how much you identify with the trait. It also gives a lot of helpful information about understanding yourself as a Highly Sensitive Person.

What if I don’t want to be “sensitive”?

I want to acknowledge that the word “sensitive” is loaded.

As Elaine Aron, PhD notes in her research on HSPs, some cultures consider sensitivity an asset.

Others, like American culture in the US where I am, often use “sensitive” like a bad word. Part of what the label “Highly Sensitive” can do is work to challenge what our culture values. People with SPS have many gifts that go unacknowledged, leaving them feeling like there is something wrong with them.

As a result, in my experience HSPs have mixed responses to learning that they are Highly Sensitive. Many people feel relief at having found something that articulates their often misunderstood experience. It can feel validating simply to have your experience articulated and to know you are not alone. 

However, relief and validation are not the only responses people have. Some people cringe at hearing the word sensitive, often because it has been used as such a derogatory word toward them their whole lives. “Stop being so sensitive!” is something that HSPs have likely heard far too many times. Being encouraged to “just get out more”, or “just tune out that jackhammer outside your window” are things that point to the fact that most people don’t understand the reality of what having Sensory Processing Sensitivity looks like.

Identifying with Sensory Processing Sensitivity is always up to you

It’s up to you whether you claim the SPS trait as your own. It’s also up to you whether, when and how you choose to talk about it with anyone in your life.

Reading more about Sensory Processing Sensitivity can help normalize your experience.

It can also give you concrete tips on how to structure your life to optimize your gifts as an HSP. 

Being “sensitive” can carry a lot of shame. It can be helpful to process that shame before reclaiming the word sensitive for yourself. In my experience as a therapist, being labeled by other people as “sensitive” is almost never a compliment in the U.S. Parents, teachers, partners, and friends have all been known to perpetuate the misunderstanding about what sensitivity is. It is not uncommon that undoing this messaging can take a long time. It might feel like peeling back the layers of an onion. Once you begin to recognize the negative effects of having been labeled “too sensitive,” you could continue to see more ways that it has impacted you. 

If you do begin the work of unpacking the shame associated with being Highly Sensitive, please get yourself some good support in that process. Learning more about the four identifying characteristics of High Sensitivity can help. People like April Snow, LMFT, run online groups and classes for HSPs. There are therapists, medical professionals, and coaches all over the U.S. and the world who are trained in the HSP trait. 

Finally, consider the possibility that you can reclaim the word “sensitive” as part of how you thrive as an HSP. There are many benefits of being Highly Sensitive! You may not be in a place to be able or want to take in those benefits, but simply knowing they exist can help. 

About the Author

Owner of Bronwyn Shiffer Psychotherapy, I love supporting Highly Sensitive women to name and claim their needs and gifts.

Based in Madison, WI, I provide online therapy for women living in Wisconsin and telehealth therapy in Massachusetts. In addition to therapy for HSPs, I also provide depression counseling and anxiety therapy.