highly sensitive person

[GLC1968]

Since when did needing to be alone sometimes, crying at sad things, an aversion to loud noises, glaring lights, relentless music, crowded situations, and strong unpleasant odors... become 'overly sensitive' traits? If you ask me (which admittedly no one has, lol) people who are not affected by such things are 'overly desensitized'!

I think this is partially true. According to the Wiki info - 1/5 of the population is HSP...that's a pretty major chunk!

I think the problem is that in today's society, there is a benefit to being overly desensitized and often times HSP's have a harder time than they should (or maybe than they did in the past). I would bet that it's even more difficult for children today than it was when most of us were kids what with all of the constant stimulation out there! Multi-tasking used to be a desirable trait - now it's a societal requirement. And don't even get me started on crowds...

By the way, I scored a 25 on the HSP test. I don't think I'm highly sensitive to caffeine or to pain...so those were the only two things I didn't check. Unreal. I had no idea that there was a name for this or that all of these little 'quirks' of mine could be tied together under one relationship. Interesting!