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The Highly Sensitive Person…gifted and misunderstood
Is your time alone as precious as food and water? Are you too shy according to others or do you find over-packed schedules and large social events utterly exhausting? Well, you’re not alone. You might actually be part of the 20 percent of the population who is considered to be a highly sensitive person (HSP).
Prior to 1996 there was no terminology for this innate, genetic personality type until Dr. Elaine Aron, professor, renowned psychologist and researcher penned the book and coined the term The Highly Sensitive Person. Since then her work has sold over a million copies and continues to change lives worldwide.
Kathleen talks with Dr. Aron about the gifts that sensitive people offer the world and how to develop the best strategies for approaching life, rather than checking out of it. Together they delve into typical hang-ups for these individuals who go through life overwhelmed and often condemning themselves instead of celebrating their unique traits. Dr. Aron shares practical ways HSP’s can operate more inline with their true nature, which may have once felt like an impediment to a successful, productive life.
Even if you can’t relate personally, chances are you live, work or socialize with a highly sensitive person. After listening to Dr. Aron, you’ll walk away better equipped to communicate and interact with this type of individual.
Elaine Aron, Ph.D. is a research associate at State University of New York, Stony Brook and is in private practice in San Francisco and Santa Cruz, Calif. She is the best-selling author of The Highly Sensitive Person and The Undervalued Self along with numerous other books and articles on the topic of inherited temperament and interpersonal relationships.
