Do you hear terms like hyper sensitive, overly sensitive and highly sensitive used interchangeably?

I do.

And while it could be considered little more than a semantic issue I think there is something that needs addressing here. It would appear there is still a big gap in the way we collectively understand the true nature of high processing sensitivity (high sensitivity as Elaine Aron coined it).

The main confusion seems to revolve around the use of the term hyper-sensitive. In this episode I talk about why this is problematic and how we can continue to encourage people to think beyond 'emotional fragility' when it comes to understanding sensitivity.

Shawn Smith reminded us in an article he wrote for Psychology Today that "HSPs are no less capable than anyone else of developing emotional resilience and reliable coping skills". For those of us who have been researching the trait for a long time this comes as no great surprise. But I've noticed that there is still a lot of ignorance when it comes to discussing high sensitivity, which is a conversation that is gaining ever more exposure.

My concern is that if we aren't quick and persistent in defining the terms, they will get ever more muddied by this confusion with hyper sensitivity.

In this episode of the podcast I have used a comment that was left on a video I made in 2014 to explain the basic characteristics of High Sensitivity. The comment demonstrated perfectly how easily highly sensitive and hyper sensitive can confuse the discussion.

In this episode I read the comment and pick apart why it shows an unhelpful attitude towards high sensitivity.