HSP Therapy
You’re not “too sensitive.”
You’re exquisitely perceptive.
Therapy for Women and HSPs in Wisconsin, Massachusetts & Washington, DC
What do you mean when you say Highly Sensitive Person?
You live deeply
HSPs have a rich inner life. They deeply appreciate nature and music. It might mean that they have a hard time shaking off criticism.
Generally, Highly Sensitive people are very reflective and need more space for processing. HSPs tend to be very in tune with other people’s needs, and often live a deeply spiritual life.
And feel deeply
HSPs have a lower tolerance for noise, scents, and lots of activity. They also have the gift of lots of empathy. Their depth of empathy means they often experience a high level of pain. They tend to feel like a sponge for the emotions of the people around them. Keenly sensing other people’s needs can leave them feeling obligated to take care of others.
Am I a Highly Sensitive Person?
A good way to explore this is to take a brief questionnaire that Dr. Elaine Aron created from her extensive work and research on the Highly Sensitive Person (HSP) that you can find here on her website.
HSPs are highly aware of themselves and their surroundings and brimming with empathy. As a result, HSPs need a lot of down time.
Keep in mind it’s not a diagnosis. High Sensitivity is a trait people are born with. About 20% of the population is Highly Sensitive.
Does it matter if I’m Highly Sensitive?
For many reasons, it matters if you are Highly Sensitive. It’s important to know you’re not “too sensitive!” If you are an HSP, it means you have different needs than people who are not Highly Sensitive. More down time and more sleep, to start with.
It’s also helpful to be able to distinguish between High Sensitivity and depression and anxiety. Needing down time is not the same as being socially anxious, for instance.
Bonus: Highly Sensitive People feel more joy than non-HSPs!
How does being Highly Sensitive
affect my depression?
Everything is amplified
It’s likely that the emotional pain of feeling helpless and alone is amplified if you are Highly Sensitive. HSPs tend to feel both joy and pain more intensely than people who are not Highly Sensitive.
The things that make you feel depressed seem insignificant compared to other people’s experiences and reactions. With HSP depression, this can worsen the part of depression that makes you feel like there is something wrong with you.
More Invalidation
Even without depression, High Sensitivity has a weight to it. A wonderful weight when you are feeling joy, reveling in nature. A beautiful weight (that may also feel obligatory) when offering empathy to the world and those around you. A crushing weight when feeling pain.
The messages people send you - “Get over it,” “Don’t let that bother you so much,” “It’s really not a big deal” - end up invalidating your very real experience.
More self-doubt
When you try to match the rest of the world, you end up feeding the voice of self doubt and amplifying the feeling of being wrong.
It feels like everyone else is “on” all the time. Trying to do that is hard enough on a good day. When you’re feeling depressed, it leaves you frazzled and depleted.
It’s a fact that it takes you longer to make decisions than most people, which on a good day means that the decisions you make are well-researched and sound. When depression creeps in, this can become debilitating.
Can working with an HSP therapist help?
High Sensitivity contributes to your success
Therapy will pay attention to these successes when looking at how you are also suffering. You don’t need therapy because you are an HSP, but the therapy you need is different from what non-HSPs might need.
It’s important that your therapist can validate your experience, give you plenty of time for reflection, and recognize how being Highly Sensitive benefits you. You also want your therapist to help you discern between High Sensitivity and things like depression and anxiety.
Being understood is the basis of good therapy
If you felt invalidated or misunderstood by a therapist in the past, they may not have known about High Sensitivity. That might have reinforced the feeling that something is wrong with you.
There is nothing wrong with you. You might feel too “broken” for therapy, or your last therapist may have given you some worksheets and a reading list but wasn’t understanding you. (Worksheets and reading lists are great, but you need something else from your therapist.)
HSP’s may get more benefit from therapy than non-HSP’s
Research shows that negative experiences affect HSPs more deeply than others. The positive side of this means you also get a greater positive impact from beneficial experiences. This includes supportive environments, including therapy, throughout childhood and beyond.
Depression and the Highly Sensitive Person
Listen to my conversation with Dr. Lourdes Viado on the Women In-Depth podcast. We discuss the characteristics specific to the HSP brain and their impact on HSPs, the importance of seeking out an HSP-informed therapist when you are a HSP, and hope for Highly Sensitive women struggling with depression.
Click on the play button on the podcast on the left to listen.
5 Tips on How to thrive as a Highly Sensitive Person
If you’re Highly Sensitive, HSP Therapy is important.
It’s hard to engage in therapy if you don’t feel understood
When women I work with tell me they have had therapy before, often they say they didn’t feel understood by their therapist. That’s why I created a practice for psychotherapy in Madison, WI.
My job is to understand you, whether it is therapy for HSPs, therapy for anxiety, or depression therapy.
Want another opportunity to feel understood?
Not ready to start therapy? Keep learning about Highly Sensitive People in these blog posts:
What is a Highly Sensitive Person?
How do I know if I’m Highly Sensitive?
Five Benefits of Being Highly Sensitive
Five Things that Highly Sensitive People Need
Five Tips on How to Thrive as a Highly Sensitive Person
Why High Sensitivity Matters: An HSP Therapist Weighs In
Highly Sensitive People and Depression: Where is the Hope?
Sensory Processing Sensitivity: An HSP Therapist gives some context