 Hey Psych2Goers, thank you for the love that you've given us. With your support, we are able to make mental health and psychology more accessible. So thanks again. Now let's continue. Do you know what a highly sensitive person is? Do you think you could be an HSP? HSP's experienced the world a little differently than others due to their ability to process things more deeply and their heightened sensitivity towards their environments. This personality trait was first researched by Dr. Elaine N. Aron in 1991. The concept of high sensitivity has gained traction over the recent years and studies show that around 15-20% of the population identify as highly sensitive. Do people around you always tell you not to be so sensitive? Does this make you feel invalidated or alone? Well, in this video, we want to raise this issue and help promote more acceptance towards highly sensitive people and bring awareness towards personality types with a greater need for solitude and less stimulating environments. So we'll be addressing 7 things that only HSP's can relate to. 1. Noisy environments are chaotic for you. Do you get extremely annoyed at parties? Does no one else seem to be bothered by the din of conversation, the bright flashing lights or the pulsing music? As an HSP, you can't stand noisy environments as they overwhelm your senses. Your sight, hearing and sense of smell are all on overdrive being around that much activity. You might start to mentally shut down since you struggle to process everything separately in these environments. It hits you all at once and can feel very overwhelming to you. 2. You absorb other people's feelings as your own. Have you ever felt a certain way without knowing exactly why? Did it happen to match the feeling that one of your friends had at the time? Understanding other people's feelings as your own can be attributed to your high level of empathy and ability to understand other people's feelings. There are even situations where you can't distinguish your own feelings from others, which can be exhausting for you. One example of this is if your close friend is stressed because of a job interview and suddenly you feel stressed as well, even though you are relaxing and content at home. 3. You are overly analytical and observant of other people. Since an HSP, you are extremely observant and might notice things that other people don't. Additionally, you might start over-analyzing what each of these small details means, especially when you suspect the other person was not being honest or was upset with you. For example, you noticed during a conversation that your friend was trying to avoid eye contact with you and that their tone of voice did not match what they were saying. And then, once the conversation was over, you found yourself stuck with those two small details in your mind. 4. You don't do well on a poor night's sleep. A lack of sleep is enough to make anyone cranky, slow, and unproductive. How do you feel when you don't get enough sleep at night? If you are an HSP, you most likely feel pretty terrible, making the following day almost unbearable to get through. Getting enough sleep helps soothe your heightened senses and allows you to properly process your emotions. How much sleep you get at night can literally make or break your day. When you process information deeply, it affects your day-to-day needs. 5. You get extremely hangry. Hangry is a word that has been popularized and comes from mixing the feelings of hunger and anger. It's when you're hungry, irritated, and upset at how large your tummy is growling and the food just won't come quick enough. As an HSP, you're susceptible to extreme feelings of irritability when you're hangry. According to Dr. Aaron, HSPs are more prone to suffer from dips and spikes in their blood sugar levels and hunger can really mess with your mood and concentration. 6. The pressure of being under observation is overwhelming to you. Do you feel like your performance dips whenever someone is watching what you do? Are you extremely self-critical to the point where you start to doubt yourself? As an HSP, you are your own worst critic and tend to overthink things a lot. The fear of failing when under evaluation or while performing can feel overwhelmingly pressured. This pressure can cause you to underperform. 7. You say yes when you really want to say no. Do you ever find yourself doing things or going places you don't want to be in just because someone asked you? As an HSP, you're highly empathetic and aware of other people's feelings. And because of these traits, you want to avoid letting people down at all costs. As a result, you tend to say yes to things that you really don't want to do. For example, if one of your friends asks you to come to a party and you say yes even though you hate parties, you're most likely an HSP. So how many of these points did you relate to? Let us know in the comments below. HSPs process things differently than most. Noises, conversations, feelings, visual information. Everything is processed to a depth that other people can't imagine. In the end, HSPs make great friends because of their empathy and ability to understand others. But you need to take care of yourself and your own mental and emotional state. Please like and share this video if it helped you and you think it could help someone else too. The studies and references used are listed in the description below. 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