I agree to some extent that we, as a society, are overdiagnosed on some level--both for physical and mental "problems." I also agree that some of that is being driven by drug companies. NPR did a great store a couple months ago about just that--as it relates to bone density drugs and testing.

That said, I'm also happy that the research community is spending time, money and energy on mental health and psychological issues. Yes, there's a lot to wade through and we need to arm ourselves with as much information as possible before jumping on any bandwagon, I'm at least glad there is more and more information out there and that mental health is increasingly becoming a topic that's okay to discuss.

But back to HSP. I agree that there are positives to it. I consider myself to be a very emphathetic person, and that's not something I would change. For me, understanding HSP as a identifiable set of behaviors just helped me start to make sense of things. That became incredibly important at a time in my life when being an HSP became a huge liability.

I was working as a young lawyer in a large law firm. Imagine being an HSP in an environment that is completely frenetic? Lots of noise and interruptions. No control over your schedule. People standing over you as you worked. Having to socialize with large groups of people I didn't know. An ever increasing amoung of work. Conflicting deadlines. I almost went off the deep end at that job, and spent a lot of time beating myself up for it. I simply couldn't grasp why I went from being high functioning to barely being able to get out of the elevator each day to go to my office. The job simply overwhelmed my senses.

I eventually left that job for my current job--a job that is very different. Not long after that, I started therapy and ultimately learned about HSP. While I don't think for a second that HSP fully explains why I suffered so in that job. (the job sucked, period), it did explain why my reaction to some of it was just so visceral. It was a very clear indication to me that I had to be careful in choosing what environments to place myself in.

And I'm completely at peace with that. I don't see being an HSP as problematic for the most part. It just informs me on some level of what's likely to feel good and what isn't. I also don't ruminate about it all time. In fact, before this thread, I hadn't thought about it for several years. It's an interesting topic to revisit though, as I think it might be helpful to view some of the issues I'm currently dealing with through an HSP lens.