Hyperawareness - Triggers - How do I stop?

(Possible trigger) First, this subject is excruciatingly painful for me, but lately, it has become almost a matter of life or death in my relationship to my T.

I'm what is typically known as a Highly Sensitive Person (or whatever they call it now). I can read body language and facial expressions w/nearly 100% accuracy. I sense changes in peoples' moods or reactions and I register changes that are so minute, some people in my life have terminated friendships because I'm so hyperaware - they feel I can read their minds.

This hyperawareness is intrusive in therapy. I know what's about to happen before I have a chance to talk to my T about the situation. Consequently, the changes I see coming are triggers for my desire to SH. I can't seem to stop this behavior/awareness. It's similar to abandonment triggers and how they make those of us w/abandonment issues feel (I think my fear of abandonment started this behavior).

My T knows how sensitive I am and how I pick up on changes, but we haven't talked about how painful this is for me. I don't know how to stop "reading" people and situations. Or is there a way to stop? (I fear not)

Any suggestions, opinions on what I'm doing, things I might try to dull my senses...any and all responses are appreciated.

What does SH mean?

I hear you on this , what I found really helpful was taking up meditation and Tai Chi so it was done outside of therapy. Hyper awareness and hyper vigilance make it seem like everything is going at 200 miles an hour like a racing car , so it feels like life or death , but you can't continuously drive a car at that speed because it will break down. So you need to slow down and even go out of your comfort zone , which can be done with Tai Chi / Qui gong exercises or trauma release exercises. Maybe find a guided meditation that you like to help with the mind chatter , but you need to keep at it and also breathing techniques help.

That sounds so difficult and painful, especially as it relates to your fear of abandonment. While sensitivity can be a gift, it can also be incredibly painful to soak up everyone's emotions all the time. I can relate to this experience and in my case, I've found that being open with my T about it. Not to sound invalidating (as I understand how excruciating it can feel), but her and I kind of have an inside joke whenever I get triggered about a facial expression of hers or draw conclusions about what she's thinking. I have found that being open with her about what I'm noticing (in terms of her body language, moods, etc) has been the most helpful and her and I just have an established understanding that my hypersensitivity does come up in our relationship often (probably the most in any of my relationships) and she is a safe person to work on my skills with and share my fears because she does understand me. Sometimes, when I've asked her if she feels sad today, she'll be open with me and say that she is sad but that it's not about me. This helps me remember that she is human, she has a range of emotions, but I'm not the only variable affecting her.

SH is

I'm like that too, both with hypersensitivity and hypervigilance so I get how difficult it can be. The hypervigilance drives my T a bit nuts at times, because I'd say something like, "Oh, you're shifting in your seat, so it must be time to stop," and she'd be like, "No, my hip was just bothering me." It's also caused issues in my marriage because I can sense when my H is angry or stressed, and then tend to assume it's about me. When often it's about work or something else. It's something we've worked on a bunch in marriage counseling. One way I deal with it is if I think, for example, that he's mad at me, I just ask him rather than assuming (though that often irritates him).

There's a whole series of books about The Highly Sensitive Person--one of them is a workbook. I haven't gotten that one yet, so I can't give a review, but that could be something to check out. And I agree on mindfulness and meditation--yoga has been helping me.

Sorry. SH=self-harm