[Happy Camper]

Highly sensitive person - Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia

Apparently this is a very common thing (1/5th the population). Being a seemingly introverted male all my life, I was highly repressed and believed far too many things other people thought about me, but I always sensed I was fundamentally different---intuitive, inwardly hyper emotional, and overwhelmed by the sheer amount of things I see and process.

Can anyone chime in on this?

[River11]

Interesting posit, Happy Camper, and I can see some of my traits in that description ... I would suggest, though, that there are some significant traits of BPD that aren't encapsulated in the Highly Sensitive profile.

But I'm far from the best person to chime in for your post, as I'm newish to recognising and learning about my BPD and the psychologist I got referred to sees my hyper-vigilance, tendencies to high anxiety, depression and anger, 'emptiness', occasional SH, exaggerated feelings and fears of abandonment etc (and that being of reasonably high intelligence, self-awareness, spiritual and psych. understanding still doesn't prevent me from going to irrational extremes) as being legacies of years and years of abuse and trauma.

Do you find that all your 'traits' are explained by the 'HSP' category?

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[cboxpalace]

Both affect interpersonal relationships but for different reasons.. BPD will affect interpersonal relationships because of flaws in ones personality which stems from trauma experienced at some point in childhood. How one interacts with another. They wouldn't avoid others because of anxiety but would have a difficult time maintaining a relationship because of personality issues.

HSP can affect interpersonal relationships for reasons associated with anxiety type issues and would more likely avoid or shy away / close up around others.

HSP would be more closely related to a MOOD disorder where BPD is PERSONALITY disorder. It wouldn't be uncommon for them to co exist.

[Maranara]

Originally Posted by River11

Interesting posit, Happy Camper, and I can see some of my traits in that description ... I would suggest, though, that there are some significant traits of BPD that aren't encapsulated in the Highly Sensitive profile.

But I'm far from the best person to chime in for your post, as I'm newish to recognising and learning about my BPD and the psychologist I got referred to sees my hyper-vigilance, tendencies to high anxiety, depression and anger, 'emptiness', occasional SH, exaggerated feelings and fears of abandonment etc (and that being of reasonably high intelligence, self-awareness, spiritual and psych. understanding still doesn't prevent me from going to irrational extremes) as being legacies of years and years of abuse and trauma.

Do you find that all your 'traits' are explained by the 'HSP' category?

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Most BPD's are the way they are due to trama and abuse. We got the way we are due to things happening and being constantly invalidated in the process, being told it wasn't a big deal, that we were exaggerating, that our feelings were incorrect, or that we had no right to feel the way we did. Many of us also suffer from PTSD from those events.

I believe that BPDs are almost all highly sensitive people but not all highly sensitive people are BPD. We have some traits that wouldn't fit in the HSP personna....lack of self identity, fear of abandonment, suicidal tendacies as well as SI tendancies, severe impulsiveness, and our propensity to disassociate to name a few.

[rabbit1234]

Yes I can relate. My former therapist called me an "Empath". I am sensitive in all the senses. I can feel what other people are feeling, and I can "read" them. Sometimes its overwhelming to be in a group of people.

[shezbut]

I am an HSP and BPD, as well as a few other diagnoses thrown in. I wrote an extensive paper in college on HSP's and I knew right away that was me to a T!!

[greentires4me]

my mom calls me a highly sensitive person every time I talk about BPD she literally will cut me off and talk about me differently. She never wants to hear what I have to say...to a degree I may agree with her but overall I finally do believe the diagnosis of BPD to be true for me.

[SaraSkyblue]

Whoa, wait. This makes my brain hurt. I was diagnosed with BPD....but I also have Social Phobia. Like....anxiety SO bad I refuse to leave the house or even talk one on one with people. That sounds A LOT like this HSP. But I really DO fear abandonment and I see rejection in EVERYTHING. So many things. Why do all of these disorders have to have such fine lines between them?

[The_little_didgee]

A lot of ladies with autism spectrum disorder score very high on Aron's HSP test.

[Happy Camper]

Originally Posted by SaraSkyblue

Why do all of these disorders have to have such fine lines between them?

It helps to remember that most of these disorders don't actually exist in a tangible sense--they're just names for a grouping of related traits, clouded by the fog of speculation and theory. Ultimately the consequence of this approach is that for every diagnosis, we swallow a bit of truth and a lot of poison.

[Coldfire123]

Originally Posted by rabbit1234

Yes I can relate. My former therapist called me an "Empath". I am sensitive in all the senses. I can feel what other people are feeling, and I can "read" them. Sometimes its overwhelming to be in a group of people.

I too have these traits. My friend says that it is a skill but i see it as a burden.

I see and feel everything when i watch people. Just by watching people i can somtimes lip read what they are saying, im even better at it if i know what type of person they are.

I would generally avoid busy places as i find them overwhelming, I would often drink to counter this. I could walk into a quiet cafe and be overwhelmed by analysing the people around me.

If i see someone express an emotion i am unfamiliar with i will remember it until i am sure what it is they are feeling.

I normally walk with my head down to avoid analysing people.

I am an extrovert on the outside but massively insecure.

I was diagnosed with bpd and elements of anxious avoident and dissocial personality.

Please could someone help me as i struggle everyday with it.

Thanks in advance

[PandorasAquarium]

Originally Posted by Happy Camper

It helps to remember that most of these disorders don't actually exist in a tangible sense--they're just names for a grouping of related traits, clouded by the fog of speculation and theory. Ultimately the consequence of this approach is that for every diagnosis, we swallow a bit of truth and a lot of poison.

Amen. Especially that bit about the poison. That's downright quotable.

I have wondered about this myself. Some extended family, all with diagnosed PD themselves, have 'diagnosed' me with BPD because I can't abide their raucous family parties. The noise!!! I can't even handle the tv too loud or my husband eating cereal in an otherwise silent house. So a busy, noisy, political, expectation-filled family gathering in my idea of hell. I say it's HSP, they've never heard of it. Oh well.

I can see the parallels though. Like when my noisy/light/activity sensors overload, my processing just shuts down after a few days. I get emotional. I want to sell my soul to escape. I get migraines that are ridiculous. I want only to find a dark, cozy room and curl up in silence. Then I feel awful that I can't just be 'normal.' That's pretty much when the emotional filter breaks down and I feel like I let my husband down. So I finally learned to say No, pace myself, avoid large gatherings or just attend for a little while. I travel off-season to avoid masses. I enjoy solitary sports like X-country skiing, biking, kayaking, fishing... things that are quiet, peaceful. If I avoid large gatherings of people, then I don't get overwhelmed and I don't tick them off. Apparently they see that as attention seeking. If I have a migraine from too much sun and stimulation, they think I'm faking or something just to get attention. Weird. I just want to be left alone. And those migraines are way too real. I wish I was faking. I certainly don't want to ruin their party. I just want people to be mindful of their volume, you know. And their smell. Please just a spritz of perfume or even none. Deodorant and soap smell is just fine by me. My senses are always in overdrive. Always.

So yes, I can totally see the HSP/ BPD dichotomy. Even if the cause of the end behavior is totally different, sometimes the effect manifests in a way that others might see as symptomatic of the wrong disorder.

[BipolarAmy]

HSP with BPD here! I'm so glad to see Dr Aron's work finally being recognized.

This thread is helping me. Happy Camper, I really like what you said about these diagnoses not actually existing. So true. They're a social construct, speculation, and theory.

I am HSP, an empath, an introvert. I have depression, anxiety (situational and worry), and can relate to what someone else said about being invalidated by people. My mom invalidated me growing up, and it messed me up (I have a pretty good relationship with her now though actually).

Me and my therapist are exploring me having BPD traits. I can see it, but also I have done a lot of work on myself and it's not full blown. I'm interested to start exploring this side of myself more. I can see how it is helpful to know it about oneself but also possibly harmful because it's another label.

PandorasAquarium, I'm sorry that some of your extended family thinks it's ok to diagnose you. It sounds inappropriate to me and maybe they should leave that to a professional. I hope they don't do it too often.

[Unrigged64072835]

I've been diagnosed with BPD for a long time, and haven't investigated HSP yet. I'm sensitive to a lot of things, but don't know if it would be considered HSP or not.