HSP (High Sensitivity) and PTSD

Below is a list of characteristics as part of the personality of someone who is highly sensitive (HSP). When looking at these characteristics, it is about what a person experiences himself and not what someone is allowed now, or has been allowed in the past to experience from his immediate environment (private and work environment).

Strong empathy Sleeping problems Caring Feels accountability for other people's problems - caring for others comes first Often intuitive - perceives subtle signals Physical stress symptoms - e.g. irritable bowels, headache, nervousness, stomach pain, general feeling of discomfort Sensitive body - cold, heat from the environment, but also cold food / drinking Can intensely enjoy, for example, nature, music and/or art Easily fascinated, but also easily boredOverstimulationGiving help to others without asking for help – this can come across as intrusive to others Low self-esteem – has difficulty with being rejected Sensitive to the opinion of others PerfectionistLoyal to rulesExperiences unspoken negative feelings from others others Can 'deflate' in contact with others Difficulty making decisions Tires easily – often leads to unexplained fatigue Difficulty setting personal boundaries Thinks a lot – 'is a lot in the head' Experiences allergies such as eg. hay fever and skin eczema Sensitive to coffee, herbs, alcohol, drugs, etc. Quickly takes over the emotions of othersEating disorder Mood swings without cause Restless – uncontrollable unrest in the body or in the headLooks for balance Procrastination behavior Dutiful Rich emotional life Can easily contact his/her lose body and reality People find it difficult to be watched and judged by others

The non-highly sensitive usually knows nothing about high sensitivity and cannot imagine anything with it. However, the person who does not yet know that he or she is highly sensitive does not realize that he or she thinks and records and processes data in a completely different way - and that most others (80%+) do not function in the same way like them.

Because the highly sensitive person makes a rich variety of observations, they spend longer with the mental processing thereof and they are often emotionally reactive.

Also partly because the highly sensitive person perceives by making connections, they experience that everything is connected with everything, and they therefore always look for new observations, in order to be able to place them in the context of the whole. This holistic and integral view can lead to particular confusion in the work environment, for example when this context is missing or when connection is not even desired.

One of the biggest frustrations comes when a highly sensitive person wants to connect with someone and the other person doesn't. In addition to the nasty feeling of rejection, the highly sensitive person will do everything to make that connection. Of course this does not work with someone who does not want this and for the highly sensitive person this is also accompanied by intense emotions and feelings of failure.

The highly sensitive person makes a feeling or sensitive connection with his environment and as a result they also feel more responsible for that environment (and for the other). This is because they experience this as a part of themselves. They often act on their own in the other person or in the environment – not a little, no completely. Pain of the other is therefore pain of the highly sensitive person himself. Suffering, trauma of the other directly becomes suffering and trauma of the highly sensitive person.

When this also has to do with injustice – for example when a child should not have died, when this was caused by a drunk driver, who lost control of his vehicle at much too high speed and as a result Another car, in which the child was sitting, collided and died on the spot.

The highly sensitive person stands for honesty, love, meaning and respect. When these aspects are found in daily activities, this greatly increases

the chance that a highly sensitive person will find this pleasant

and, above all, will experience it as meaningful.

The highly sensitive person eventually burns out in an environment where he/she feels that respect for the person is lacking. An environment where people are not honest and where as a consequence they experience no meaning in their daily activities. Such an environment, although workable for the non-highly sensitive, leads to regular sick leave for the highly sensitive and ultimately to long-term psychological absenteeism in the form of burnout.

Although a highly sensitive person struggles with a special, often unnaturally high sense of loyalty, eventually on the basis of breaking down inside, the knot will have to be cut in order to come out with his/her feelings. One will then have to make the difficult decision to leave a certain work environment for good, for example.

Finally, the highly sensitive person always perceives holistically and integrally - one always sees everything from the totality of experiences and insights. Where others hear words chronologically and distinguish between the story and themselves, the highly sensitive person will step into the story and at once, perceive everything in its entirety.

Not only does the highly sensitive person hear everything, they feel the words, hear the intonation, the background and can often even predict the end of the sentence or the other person's story. The latter also often causes problems in the work environment - one can already see where things are going. The others do not see this at all and this often causes the connection to be broken.

A highly sensitive person therefore not only sees more, but hears more, feels more and above all can process a particularly large amount of information very quickly and simultaneously experience it and interpret it in a completely individual way. Something that the non-highly sensitive person might also want, but cannot do this and will also be able to learn this. You simply cannot imitate a different functioning nervous system.

To be clear and perhaps unnecessary to mention here - high sensitivity is not a disease, it is part of someone's personality. A very important part to recognize, acknowledge and accept. This allows it to be used as a strength rather than a weakness and ultimately a serious stumbling block.

The relationship between High Sensitivity and PTSD

Because highly sensitive people process incoming stimuli in a profound way and also perceive them with feeling, it is very plausible, despite the lack of scientific data, to state that a highly sensitive person has a higher risk of developing PTSD symptoms.

This is because, based on the physical reactions (physiology) of the highly sensitive person, it is not possible to stop doing complex things – high sensitivity and psychological trauma as part of PTSD are therefore very often duplicated.

In addition, highly sensitive people, more often than not highly sensitive people, experience lower mental health based on the often present anxiety disorders, depression and resulting physical symptoms. The differently functioning nervous system of the highly sensitive person and the resulting personality characteristics, such as temperament and social skills, can indeed influence the development of PTSD.

Unfortunately, there is not only a taboo on the word PTSD (and seeking help for this), but also on high sensitivity and the term HSP (and seeking help for this). You could say that this is a negative cocktail. So it can indeed also be a determining and negative factor that influences that a person with high sensitivity finds it extra difficult to seek help with PTSD? The social vacuum in which the highly sensitive person -PTSD often ends up also leads to a lack of the much-needed social-emotional support from others after experiencing a shocking event.

It is therefore certainly not surprising when people with high sensitivity and PTSD keep going round in circles. Due to the increased stress stimuli that arise after PTSD, physical symptoms eventually also arise. People start to feel down, because they do indeed often become physically ill.

People are looking for understanding from the environment, but how do you explain all this to a (often) non-highly sensitive person? When one has finally found the courage to start the conversation, one often encounters incomprehension and disbelief. The loneliness that takes place after this umpteenth rejection often creates an indescribable emptiness and loneliness.

Again, the trauma is experienced intensely by a highly sensitive person and processed deeply and emotionally. It would therefore be nice to conduct further research into this specifically together with PTSD/Trauma and HSP experts. Supporting people with high sensitivity is an expertise that has arisen out of sheer necessity in recent years, but is viewed with suspicion by many. It is therefore not about the label, but about offering support when performance barriers arise, partly driven by the presence of the high sensitivity.

There are many highly sensitive people who have suffered trauma and can no longer stand it in certain environments and organizations. As a result, they often become the canaries in the mine and are the first to drop out with stress-related complaints, bore-out, burn-out. It often turns out later that the burnout was the precursor of an undiagnosed PTSD. Without proper knowledge and guidance, this not only leads to a lot of (unnecessary) suffering, but also to a gigantic economic catastrophe. In addition to PTSD itself, you could say that this is an organizational challenge of proportion! One that, driven by unfamiliarity, is given far too little attention.

PTSD Voorbij will contribute in a unique way to further investigate the relationship between high sensitivity and PTSD and to demonstrate a connection. We are discussing this with various nationally operating parties. As far as we are concerned, this will not only lead to an improvement in the understanding of the relationship between HSP and the development of PTSD, but through improved signaling of high sensitivity, this will also contribute to improving the prevention of PTSD.

The research will most likely lead to the confirmation of our suspicion that there is indeed a clear psychophysiological link between high sensitivity and PTSD. In addition, people with high sensitivity run a greatly increased risk of developing PTSD after a shocking event. This will hopefully lead to solid scientific research and the first specific literature in this area.

PTSD Voorbij will of course do everything it can to contribute to this. We look forward to future developments with great interest!