This post is also available in Dutch.
For more information on high sensitivity, visit: https://sensitivityresearch.com/blogs/
Authors: Corina U. Greven, Sharell Bas, and Anouke A.W.E.A. Bakx
Buddy: Christienne Damatac
Editor: Rebecca Calcott
Translation editor: Marlijn ter Bekke
I am wondering where this takes us? It seems we are stuck in the same questions and same answers. 26 is a very small sample size. It seems we are stuck, and just grasping. “Most” viewed positively, or “both positively and negatively.” Which? “Most” of 26 viewed positively, or both positively and negatively? How are these numbers helpful?
Shouldn’t we say “most first heard of HSP when they were about 30 years old? Rather than “most found out they were highly sensitive?” How does one “find out” they are highly sensitive, since it is not a diagnosis? I was 52 when I first heard of this as being a personality trait, identified by Dr. Aron. But I first “found out” I was sensitive when I was…….? 3? 8? 23? At what age did I first write “Why am I so afraid of my emotions?” – At least 30 years before I “found out” I was Highly Sensitive as defined by someone I had never heard of before who had defined this as a personality trait identified and slowly being categorized.
With all due respect to the study, 75 minutes with 26 people does not feel like it is adding much to the true development of this trait.
It seems to me that any group of 26 people interviewed for 75 minutes would significantly identify as being “stressed and tired.”
We seem stuck in the study. We keep asking the same questions and keep saying that the trait is both positive and negative. Any trait is both positive and negative. Tying my shoelaces is both positive and negative. Sending this email is both positive and negative. So what?
I learned more about HSP in one 6-minute YouTube video from one person than I have in all my readings since.
None of this is criticism. It is encouraging all of us to begin to move further into this trait. To stop asking “How do you feel?” and to start pushing more into all fields.
Neuroscience. Genetics and epigenetics. All the aspects of Simulation Theory.
How are we affected by epigenetics? Is this all negative and traumatic, or are my ancestors attempting to warn me and take care of me, in spite of all of our differences? If I “feel” the energy of the person next to me, and I also “feel” the energy of the sun, 93 million miles away, then what other energies am I receiving by sensory stimuli? And how could I possibly be not recognizing them?
How does the Construction theory of emotion fit into all of this?
Again, I am not criticizing. I am hoping to push all of us into another realm of this inquiry. We seem to be poking around in the dark, hoping to bump into something.
Thank you for the work. It allows me to follow it, and to respond in this manner.