HSP resources

I'm thinking of putting together a list of HSP resources for an online HSP group that wanted to share that kind of information with their members.

Will definitely start off with Elaine Aron's HSP test and include mention of her work. Will also include some pubmed articles on HSP and some of the web sites that specialize in HSP topics. Going to highly recommend this forum on the list. Ran across a book called the divergent mind that had an interesting chapter on HSPs. Would like to include some resources on tips for coping strategies. If anyone has any suggestions or recommendations on what to include as far as resources for HSPs or people wanting to know what an HSP is, please post them. Thank you.

That's a really good idea. When you put it together, could you please post a link to your list here? Thank you for including this site.

I have a section full of articles and sites here: https://funhsps.forumotion.com/t2267-discussions-on-what-highly-sensitive-people-are-all-about Sadly due to our host changing the url, many of the links don't work so you'd need to search the site for the threads but you should be able to get the titles from the links.

Also a lot of people have been posting their services on our Facebook page (which I know you're also on) so it would be worth checking those out and reporting about them.

This private group grew out of one of the earliest on Facebook about HSP. It's moderated by therapists and researchers with high quality and supportive posts by members:
 
https://www.facebook.com/groups/ElaineAronHighSensitivity/about

It's still missing a lot of stuff, but a start to a resource list is here:
https://lmemsm.dreamwidth.org/25671.html

lm8 wrote:It's still missing a lot of stuff, but a start to a resource list is here:
https://lmemsm.dreamwidth.org/25671.html

That's a great start; there is so much already there! You're putting together a tremendous resource for people to use. Just reading the lists shows that research as to what exactly HSP is is still very much in the early stages.

Just one thing popped out though; that part about HSP sharing symptoms in common with people with disorders like high functioning autism, social anxiety, etc. I think that sharing might be a failure of language and the actual experiences might be quite different as the underlying reasons for them are. I've had extensive discussions with a few high functioning autistic individuals to explore just that and we came to agree this may well be the case.

I hope you posted this also on our Facebook page.

melodiccolor wrote:

lm8 wrote:It's still missing a lot of stuff, but a start to a resource list is here:
https://lmemsm.dreamwidth.org/25671.html

Just one thing popped out though;  that part about HSP sharing symptoms in common with people with disorders like high functioning autism, social anxiety, etc.  I think that sharing might be a failure of language and the actual experiences might be quite different as the underlying reasons for them are.  I've had extensive discussions with a few high functioning autistic individuals to explore just that and we came to agree this may well be the case.

I hope you posted this also on our Facebook page.

If you can think of a better word than sharing or a better way to rephrase it, let me know. I did link to the Pubmed article that does differentiate HSP from the other conditions ( https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pmc/articles/PMC5832686/ ). I've heard a few people theorize HSP is a form of autism and the article seems to provide evidence it is separate from the other conditions. However, I've been reading some people have comorbidities, so they may have both.

I would love to hear more details about some of the things you discussed with high function autistic individuals. I'd really like to find out more about this. Anything you remember that you can share?

Would you believe I didn't even know you had a Facebook page until you recently mentioned it.

lm8 wrote:

melodiccolor wrote:

lm8 wrote:It's still missing a lot of stuff, but a start to a resource list is here:
https://lmemsm.dreamwidth.org/25671.html

Just one thing popped out though;  that part about HSP sharing symptoms in common with people with disorders like high functioning autism, social anxiety, etc.  I think that sharing might be a failure of language and the actual experiences might be quite different as the underlying reasons for them are.  I've had extensive discussions with a few high functioning autistic individuals to explore just that and we came to agree this may well be the case.

I hope you posted this also on our Facebook page.

If you can think of a better word than sharing or a better way to rephrase it, let me know.  I did link to the Pubmed article that does differentiate HSP from the other conditions ( https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pmc/articles/PMC5832686/ ).  I've heard a few people theorize HSP is a form of autism and the article seems to provide evidence it is separate from the other conditions.  However, I've been reading some people have comorbidities, so they may have both.  

I would love to hear more details about some of the things you discussed with high function autistic individuals.  I'd really like to find out more about this.  Anything you remember that you can share?  

Would you believe I didn't even know you had a Facebook page until you recently mentioned it.

I'll have to think on it, but what comes to mind now is "While people may report similar experiences from different causes, the actual experience described may actually be quite different due to the very different underlying dynamics in play and the limitations of language to describe them." An example of this is what I remember of those talks a couple of years ago; the conclusion reached by the autistic person I talked with and myself that autistic individuals experience overwhelm due to a sort of lack of filter and way to sort ordinary amounts of information from the environment, body, senses, etc. while HSP do have these but just take in far more information from the same input than those who are not. The rate of information taken in is 10 to 100 times that of those who are not HSP so overwhelm is reached faster. So an autistic person experiences input chaos and has ways to impose order on it like ritual physical movements. An HSP is just buried under too much coming in at once, needing to remove themselves until it all can be sorted out. Both are states of overwhelm, but quite different. I hope this makes sense.

My mistake, I thought you'd originally found this site via our Facebook page. https://www.facebook.com/groups/94375973993/

melodiccolor wrote:
I'll have to think on it, but what comes to mind now is "While people may report similar experiences from different causes, the actual experience described may actually be quite different due to the very different underlying dynamics in play and the limitations of language to describe them."  An example of this is what I remember of those talks a couple of years ago;  the conclusion reached by the autistic person I talked with and myself that autistic individuals experience overwhelm due to a sort of lack of filter and way to sort ordinary amounts of information from the environment, body, senses, etc. while HSP do have these but just take in far more information from the same input than those who are not.  The rate of information taken in is 10 to 100 times that of those who are not HSP so overwhelm is reached faster.  So an autistic person experiences input chaos and has ways to impose order on it like ritual physical movements.  An HSP is just buried under too much coming in at once, needing to remove themselves until it all can be sorted out.  Both are states of overwhelm, but quite different.  I hope this makes sense.

That's a really interesting way to look at it, sensory overload, but for different reasons. It does make a lot of sense. I wonder if there's a clinical way to measure how much information the person is taking in. The part about coping with ritual physical movements versus removing yourself from the source is an interesting one too. That might be a very good way to tell the difference in people. Wonder if you could consider the HSP response similar to a fight or flight response where you have to get away from the source of the overwhelm. I can't see an obvious connection between physical movements and a fight, flight or freeze response. Other than "shaking it off" or using up adrenaline with activity, I don't see a connection there, so the movements are probably helping in some other way. Thanks for the information.

lm8 wrote:

melodiccolor wrote:
I'll have to think on it, but what comes to mind now is "While people may report similar experiences from different causes, the actual experience described may actually be quite different due to the very different underlying dynamics in play and the limitations of language to describe them."  An example of this is what I remember of those talks a couple of years ago;  the conclusion reached by the autistic person I talked with and myself that autistic individuals experience overwhelm due to a sort of lack of filter and way to sort ordinary amounts of information from the environment, body, senses, etc. while HSP do have these but just take in far more information from the same input than those who are not.  The rate of information taken in is 10 to 100 times that of those who are not HSP so overwhelm is reached faster.  So an autistic person experiences input chaos and has ways to impose order on it like ritual physical movements.  An HSP is just buried under too much coming in at once, needing to remove themselves until it all can be sorted out.  Both are states of overwhelm, but quite different.  I hope this makes sense.

That's a really interesting way to look at it, sensory overload, but for different reasons.  It does make a lot of sense.  I wonder if there's a clinical way to measure how much information the person is taking in.  The part about coping with ritual physical movements versus removing yourself from the source is an interesting one too.  That might be a very good way to tell the difference in people.  Wonder if you could consider the HSP response similar to a fight or flight response where you have to get away from the source of the overwhelm.  I can't see an obvious connection between physical movements and a fight, flight or freeze response.  Other than "shaking it off" or using up adrenaline with activity, I don't see a connection there, so the movements are probably helping in some other way.  Thanks for the information.

I can only speak from personal experience and the shared experiences of the woman I talked with. For me, if in overwhelm I either shut down and am unable to respond or I flee if I can or I do anything it takes to end the overwhelm as fast as I can. It depends on what is the cause and the situation at the time. The one thing I can't do is function in overwhelm. I do know of some HSP individuals who actually seek out that state, much as those who are not HSP do though, so it can be a very individual thing.

I don't know if there has been research on the differences, but it'd be worth reading up on autism and coping mechanisms. I have read some. What the person shared about her coping mechanisms is it's a way to assert control on her environment when there seems to be none. I think I've read that elsewhere too.

The problem with research is often a bias in the premise that can skew results in general due to an assumption by the person doing the research. There is an expectation of uniformity in how people express and deal with stimuli in the case of various groups, both collectively and in each group. It's something to be aware of when reading.

Elaine Aron just did a scathing reply to some high profile misleading research regarding HSP and Narcissism in her blog, and she gets quite detailed on it's fallacy. The 2nd half of the blog has to do with parental tendencies of HSP also possibly biased in some research. https://hsperson.com/more-research-high-sensitivity-does-not-overlap-with-narcissism-but-we-are-not-perfect-parents-managers-either/

This should be featured on your site prominently as it shows a lot of bad research that can mislabel HSP as a mental illness!

melodiccolor wrote:Elaine Aron just did a scathing reply to some high profile misleading research regarding HSP and Narcissism in her blog, and she gets quite detailed on it's fallacy.  The 2nd half of the blog has to do with parental tendencies of HSP also possibly biased in some research.  https://hsperson.com/more-research-high-sensitivity-does-not-overlap-with-narcissism-but-we-are-not-perfect-parents-managers-either/

Thanks for that. I've also seen some articles that discuss breaking up the various characteristics of HSPs into three groups and Elaine Aron said in some of her works that the traits were to be taken as a whole and not further categorized that way. I think there's a good deal of blogs/articles that take the HSP concept and go their own way with it whether there's any research behind it to back them up or not.

lm8 wrote:

melodiccolor wrote:Elaine Aron just did a scathing reply to some high profile misleading research regarding HSP and Narcissism in her blog, and she gets quite detailed on it's fallacy.  The 2nd half of the blog has to do with parental tendencies of HSP also possibly biased in some research.  https://hsperson.com/more-research-high-sensitivity-does-not-overlap-with-narcissism-but-we-are-not-perfect-parents-managers-either/

Thanks for that.  I've also seen some articles that discuss breaking up the various characteristics of HSPs into three groups and Elaine Aron said in some of her works that the traits were to be taken as a whole and not further categorized that way.   I think there's a good deal of blogs/articles that take the HSP concept and go their own way with it whether there's any research behind it to back them up or not.  

Exactly! I hope as you develop your resource site you're able to leave out inaccurate or misleading research and information as you find it! I've never seen Elaine angry like that before; she was justifiably furious!

We should be too at this trend; it's our very lives and beings that are being exploited and devalued for professional and monetary gain!

melodiccolor wrote:
Exactly!  I hope as you develop your resource site you're able to leave out inaccurate or misleading research and information as you find it!  I've never seen Elaine angry like that before;  she was justifiably furious!

We should be too at this trend;  it's our very lives and beings that are being exploited and devalued for professional and monetary gain!

I've been trying hard not to link to anything that sounded like pseudoscience directly. Unfortunately, a lot of the HSP sites are typically written by someone trying to sell coaching or books or something. So, sometimes they sensationalize rather than stick to facts to try to get attention and earn money. I did put a caveat emptor warning in my list because I felt I had too many commercial resources. However, some of the sites are ones that people in HSP groups tend to recommend because they specialize in the topic of HSP, sensitive or empath. When I attend some of the HSP groups or check out some of the articles or videos, some seem to be preoccupied with topics like low self-esteem, imposter syndrome and narcissists seeking out HSPs. My guess is that HSPs are no more prone to those sorts of things than anyone else. Elaine Aron makes some good points about whether a HSP had a good childhood or not as an indicator of how well they adapt and flourish. Maybe some HSPs who did not have the advantage of a good childhood do have lots of psychological issues like low self-esteem or feeling like they're bullied or sought out by narcissists. However, those subjects just seem like popular topics that people are trying to grab attention with and make money from. There seem to be too many HSP coaching and help courses and they're all there to make a profit. It's a good angle to make money. Want help on a particular topic? Hire someone who's sensitive like you and understands you. Just keep wondering how high their HSP scores are if they are so interested in things like making money over helping others and if they're so outgoing in their advertising. Then again, 30% approx. are extroverts. While some of these people selling products or advertising their writing or video blogs talk like they get HSPs, I often feel like I have very little in common with them and don't see the world the way they do.

I'm glad Elaine Aron is giving rebuttals when research goes off in a way that's harmful to HSPs or their reputation. Then again, Elaine Aron is HSP too, so she may have taken it personally. I think tending to take things personally can certainly be an HSP trait.

lm8 wrote:

melodiccolor wrote:
Exactly!  I hope as you develop your resource site you're able to leave out inaccurate or misleading research and information as you find it!  I've never seen Elaine angry like that before;  she was justifiably furious!

We should be too at this trend;  it's our very lives and beings that are being exploited and devalued for professional and monetary gain!

I've been trying hard not to link to anything that sounded like pseudoscience directly.  Unfortunately, a lot of the HSP sites are typically written by someone trying to sell coaching or books or something.  So, sometimes they sensationalize rather than stick to facts to try to get attention and earn money.  I did put a caveat emptor warning in my list because I felt I had too many commercial resources.  However, some of the sites are ones that people in HSP groups tend to recommend because they specialize in the topic of HSP, sensitive or empath.   When I attend some of the HSP groups or check out some of the articles or videos, some seem to be preoccupied with topics like low self-esteem, imposter syndrome and narcissists seeking out HSPs.  My guess is that HSPs are no more prone to those sorts of things than anyone else.  Elaine Aron makes some good points about whether a HSP had a good childhood or not as an indicator of how well they adapt and flourish.  Maybe some HSPs who did not have the advantage of a good childhood do have lots of psychological issues like low self-esteem or feeling like they're bullied or sought out by narcissists.  However, those subjects just seem like popular topics that people are trying to grab attention with and make money from.  There seem to be too many HSP coaching and help courses and they're all there to make a profit.  It's a good angle to make money.  Want help on a particular topic?  Hire someone who's sensitive like you and understands you.  Just keep wondering how high their HSP scores are if they are so interested in things like making money over helping others and if they're so outgoing in their advertising.  Then again, 30% approx. are extroverts.  While some of these people selling products or advertising their writing or video blogs talk like they get HSPs, I often feel like I have very little in common with them and don't see the world the way they do.

I'm glad Elaine Aron is giving rebuttals when research goes off in a way that's harmful to HSPs or their reputation.  Then again, Elaine Aron is HSP too, so she may have taken it personally.  I think tending to take things personally can certainly be an HSP trait.  

You and I are in agreement on all your points. It's hard to know who is qualified to provide genuine help to someone who is HSP and struggling due to trauma and who is not. There are plenty of both and both are advertising via HSP social media pages and sites. The HSP community has always attracted those who are dysfunctional; many who are not even HSP. They seek answers and an easy way to validate their experiences and sometimes help. However they are not the entirety of the HSP community. I certainly don't see the world the way they do either.

There is one more point; one that astonished me when I found it out; belief matters. If someone believes in spiritual guides, angels and other religious beliefs, it literally becomes their reality and others who share that belief can and do provide help and insight--coping mechanisms that help people get by until they do the actual work of healing--if they ever do. So while I may not find a resource of value, those who share a view may. It's a curious thing.

It's not an HSP trait so much. If any group is targeted in such a way, the harm is immense. Look at the past and "scientific" research on women, people of color and other groups. The people in those groups understandably reacted in the same way to such damaging science that resulted in misdiagnosis, harmful or unnecessary care that destroyed lives, getting marginalized and more.

melodiccolor wrote:
There is one more point; one that astonished me when I found it out;  belief matters.  If someone believes in spiritual guides, angels and other religious beliefs, it literally becomes their reality and others who share that belief can and do provide help and insight--coping mechanisms that help people get by until they do the actual work of healing--if they ever do.  So while I may not find a resource of value, those who share a view may.  It's a curious thing.

The scientific community would call that the placebo affect and yes, it is a strong force. People can spontaneously heal themselves from real issues if they believe strongly enough and under the proper circumstances. Was reading some interesting things about the SIPI test, imagination and topics such as believing in things that the scientific community would think was not real or was merely pseudoscience. I don't think it was a problem with what was considered positive-constructive daydreaming. However, some forms of imagination correlated more with believing things that had no scientific proof or backing.

lm8 wrote:

melodiccolor wrote:
There is one more point; one that astonished me when I found it out;  belief matters.  If someone believes in spiritual guides, angels and other religious beliefs, it literally becomes their reality and others who share that belief can and do provide help and insight--coping mechanisms that help people get by until they do the actual work of healing--if they ever do.  So while I may not find a resource of value, those who share a view may.  It's a curious thing.

The scientific community would call that the placebo affect and yes, it is a strong force.  People can spontaneously heal themselves from real issues if they believe strongly enough and under the proper circumstances.  Was reading some interesting things about the SIPI test, imagination and topics such as believing in things that the scientific community would think was not real or was merely pseudoscience.  I don't think it was a problem with what was considered positive-constructive daydreaming.  However, some forms of imagination correlated more with believing things that had no scientific proof or backing.

There are a lot of things that are real that are not (yet) validated by science; it's "facts" are not set in stone and change all the time as more data comes in, a new theory or view pans out unequivocally; it's in fact a growing picture I can easily state examples of scientific fact that proved false since my university days). Empirical experience gathered over many years counts as valid information too. I find religious and magical beliefs are attempted explanations for experience that has none yet in the science world. I do have a solid background in science and a few degrees. I am not religious. I do trust my experiences and what I've observed many atheists consider belief and magical thinking, not real. It's been an interesting journey separating belief from the experiences in common at the heart of many.

Besides, with a solid grounding in science, I can easily use it to explain my empathic experiences well within it's parameters of what is known. Granted those explanations are theories too and subject to evolving as more data comes in.

Just some things to consider.

melodiccolor wrote:
There are a lot of things that are real that are not (yet) validated by science;  it's "facts" are not set in stone and change all the time as more data comes in, a new theory or view pans out unequivocally; it's in fact a growing picture I can easily state examples of scientific fact that proved false since my university days).  

When I talk about science, I think of facts like laws of physics or mathematics. Unfortunately, you're quite right that science in general is still changing and evolving. I've been reading about nutrition and studies of the brain. There is far too much that science does not know and does not understand. Most of the scientific studies going on are not unbiased. True, the researcher has biases when they have a hypothesis, but many studies are funded by pharmaceutical companies and food companies or organizations with an agenda, not unbiased parties. Those typically aren't what come to mind when I talk about science, but unfortunately, they are a real part of it.

lm8 wrote:

melodiccolor wrote:
There are a lot of things that are real that are not (yet) validated by science;  it's "facts" are not set in stone and change all the time as more data comes in, a new theory or view pans out unequivocally; it's in fact a growing picture I can easily state examples of scientific fact that proved false since my university days).  

When I talk about science, I think of facts like laws of physics or mathematics.  Unfortunately, you're quite right that science in general is still changing and evolving.  I've been reading about nutrition and studies of the brain.  There is far too much that science does not know and does not understand.  Most of the scientific studies going on are not unbiased.  True, the researcher has biases when they have a hypothesis, but many studies are funded by pharmaceutical companies and food companies or organizations with an agenda, not unbiased parties.  Those typically aren't what come to mind when I talk about science, but unfortunately, they are a real part of it.

Actually, so do I. But when I was at college, the big bang theory was considered fringe science. The universal constant on which much theoretical and applied science is based was proved to be incorrect, and yet still worked. Those are just two examples of how even in that area things change. Another scientific belief that is still believed by many practitioners in many areas of science is the idea that brain plasticity ends at a certain age, believed to be the early 20's. This was taught as fact but was disproven repeatedly in the 1980s. When I was in graduate school, I worked under one of the researchers who disproved this and was instrumental in this. Even in pure science unfunded by corporations, politics and status play a huge role in what is accepted science. Those who go too far outside of that find their work unsponsored, relegated as fringe, dismissed.