Help for Highly Sensitive Individuals

Lisa Franchi January 16, 2013

Do you often feel besieged by little changes in your environment? Do you get extremely irritated when you hear loud noises or when someone altered your desk arrangement? Do you care deeply about EVERY single thing? Do you get hurt easily when someone says negative comments about your performance or personality? If you say ‘YES’ to all of these, you may be feeling highly sensitive.

But don’t frown! It isn’t a disease, an illness or even a flaw. It’s a completely natural human feeling. According to experts, being highly sensitive is an innate trait. Scientifically speaking, highly sensitive people have a very sensitive nervous system that immediately reacts to varying stimuli. This often causes them to feel deeply overwhelmed by things in their environment.

But being overly sensitive can affect many aspects of your life, including your health. Fortunately, there are ways to effectively cope with this innate trait.

Know your triggers.

When you know what causes you to become highly sensitive, you could definitely do things to avoid them. For instance, if you get easily overwhelmed by loud noise, refrain from visiting places that will certainly annoy you, such as bars and crowded restaurants. You may have one or more triggers. Make sure you are aware of all of them. Steady and deep breathing within a stressful environment can help control your sensitivity too.

Avoid stressful situations

Stress can aggravate the overwhelming feeling caused by being highly sensitive. Over time, chronic stress could affect your physical and mental wellbeing. So as much as possible, cut the stressors from your life. Make a list of the problems or concerns that are bothering you and think of ways to resolve them. The less stressed you are, the less likely you will be affected by your triggers.

Look at the brighter side.

While highly sensitive people often get bothered by even the smallest things in their environment, they are found to be more creative, deeply appreciative of arts, conscientious, and loyal. Whenever you feel like you are so unlucky because you have this trait, think of your good qualities. You will be surprised how it can make you feel a lot, lot better!

Tell them what you’re going through.

If you are oversensitive to noise and your co-workers tend to talk loudly, there’s nothing wrong to tell them that it’s bothering you. But of course, you need to say it in a nice way. If you think they will get offended, build a rapport with them first. Tell them what you are going through. Just be polite. Surely, they will understand.

Relax and take it slow.

Once in awhile, try to get away from your usual routines. Go shopping, visit a spa, watch a movie, dine out with friends, and do other things that relax you. Enrol in a yoga class, exercise, meditate, and undergo relaxing therapies such as acupuncture and hypnotherapy.

Seek help.

If things are getting so hard to handle, consider seeking help from a professional therapist. Psychotherapy is a popular treatment that is proven effective to work for highly sensitive people. But make sure to choose the therapist who has experience in dealing with your problem.

Dear therapist,

What other advice or tips can you give to highly sensitive individuals? When do you think should they seek professional help?

Share your thoughts by commenting below!