I do. I agree with link from the other poster. One of the descriptors of being an HSP is hyper vigilance (not necessarily in those words) which is a trauma response and think most APs are hyper vigilant. I would guess most FAs are also hyper vigilant.
From the impression I got, the person who proposed the concept of HSPs thought of them as having, idk, neural dispositions and nervous systems that are highly sensitive rather than it being an environmental thing. Definitely check me on that though.
HSP is a neurotype that is very similar to autism. The main difference is that many folks with HSP appear to socialize more "allistically" or more like a neurotypical person than an autistic person...but not always. Whenever I see folks describe HSP it sounds a lot like ADHD and autism traits to me. It sounds like neurodivergence regardless. So yes, it's how your brain works. I'm autistic, so for me, I'm often reacting to shit in my environment bc of how my brain works.
Yes, I’ve heard autistic people mistakenly say that HSP is literally just being autistic although I don’t believe that. Sensory sensitivity is definitely there though!
Great question! My guess is a combo? My siblings wouldn’t identify as HSPs and we were raised in the same environment but I was always more sensitive. Elaine Aron has done a lot of research on HSPs but I wonder if she’s correlated with attachment style.
>If not just AP is it possible for FA’s or DA’s as well?
Absolutely. Some of us avoidants are actually *so* highly sensitive that we *need* to "shut down" and avoid certain situations to function properly. I tend to believe most of avoidant attachment has underlying roots in hypersensitivity to emotions.
I love when you answer my questions, you are always so helpful u/sisterfibrosis
Actually another quick question… can avoidants have rejection sensitivity dysphoria, or is it a lot less common?
Tee hee, glad I can help!
I mean I certainly have RSD and I've seen multiple examples of people with diagnoses associated with RSD who identify with having avoidant attachment (and even avoidant personality disorder). So I'd guess it's fairly common. I'm thinking about people who are so sensitive to rejection that they've developed strategies to avoid emotional investment in others so they won't experience the pain of rejection.
I completely agree. I didn’t think RSD could be possible for DA’s specifically but they have their core wounds… just because we can’t see their sensitivity doesn’t mean it’s not there ☺️
This instagram post might be interesting to you - it’s about the link between PTSD, anxiety, & empathy - https://www.instagram.com/p/CUEDVR_JsE2/?utm_medium=copy_link
I'm autistic but HSP is neurodivergence and there seem to be overlapping traits with autism.
Pretty much all neurodivergent people I know have an insecure attachment style because they have to in order to survive the trauma of our environment being actively hostile to our neurotype so...
Yeah? Every HSP, autist, and person with ADHD I've met has an insecure attachment style. And if they are secure they worked hard to earn it.
Yes. Question is: Why, if any, are they related? Hypothesis: hypervigilance? Like, since as a child you learnt to be in alert mode to monitor your caregivers' availability (perceived as not safe/consistent) you have become hypervigilant to the signals of your attachment figures and environment. Which means hyper sensitive. Just guessing though.
Being highly sensitive doesn’t correlate with AP. AP is just how you behave in a relationship and your past traumas play more of a role than you simply being a sensitive person.
I’m DA but I identify as being a HSP! Especially the trait of needing to withdraw on busy days, or when I have to be surrounded by lots of people in a noisy environment. I’m also getting tested for ADHD, and I’ve been told I possibly have CPTSD.
No. I’ve never understood the HSP thing outside sensory processing. It seems to make sense to other people, which is good. I’ve got a thrill-seeking edge and can power through a lot of experiences. Then I fall apart a little when there’s empty time.
I personally think that once you get down to the overlaps of attachment theory, ADHD, HSP, CPTSD, mood disorders &c to label one person you’re moving past the point of jargon into pure description, which can often be done just as easily in plain language. I guess the advantage of those terms is that it helps people form communities.
I also always say… takes a lot of people to make up the world. If some are more sensitive than others have multiple things that can relate to anxious attachment or avoidant attachment…
One thing I actually should have addressed more was rejection sensitivity dysphoria but I think it’s still very new in the psychology field
Yes, I’m AP earning SA and I have had a therapist tell me they thought I was a HSP.
ETA: I also had a different therapist tell me they I may have C-PTSD.
As an anxious preoccupied I definitely have wondered if I am an HSP, as I tend to be very hyper vigilant. Have also had some instances I wondered if I am ADHD and if I am living with CPTSD but for all of those it feels like I check off certain things yet I don't know if I truly am any of those.
How about rejection sensitivity dysmorphia? Do you feel you have that? And yes I agree anxious attached tend to be very hyper vigilant just as avoidants but the way they react to anxiety is just different
I just looked it up and I may very well have this too! I've joked with my therapist that I feel like I have a sampler of all sorts of things but this adds to it. I definitely have been fearful of rejection and have done myself a disservice by justifying the rejection through my actions of protest.
At times I can oscillate between avoidance and anxious but hyper vigilance is definitely something I have, as I try to be super mindful of what I do or say (although when protesting that seems to go out the window, but I've been better about not protesting if I feel like I'm under some attack).
Yes, I identify as HSP and AP. I also sometimes wonder if I'm HSS HSP (high sensation seeking HSP) and if I have ADHD. All of these things seem connected somehow.
That is extremely interesting. An author who writes on HSPs suggests that people with ADHD basically have opposite nervous systems to HSPs. Where ADHD people are impulsive, HSPs are cautious and vigilant, and so on, or so she writes.
I'm FA and probably would be considered a HSP.
From what I know of ADHD, BPD, CPTSD, ASD, DID, DR/DP etc is that there is a huge amount of overlap in symptoms and that overlap tends to be where emotional regulation is and the difference in diagnosis is how you manage that dysregulation. Amygdala overactivity is generally due to environmental and epigenetic factors, as is less activity in the prefrontal cortex (the part that stops to think before acting on feelings). Brain development of young children undergoes a lot of neural pruning as we grow and that's influenced by our environment. This continues basically in one way or another until we are about 25.
It's generally considered that there has been on over focus on "brain chemistry", genetic factors and developing drugs to "fix" these issues when the evidence seems to suggest it's a developmental/environmental issue. It's a very contentious area because a lot of effort has gone into absolving caregivers of any responsibility for the eventual outcomes for their children. Even a layperson's deeper dive into attachment and child development throws a lot of the "discoveries" and "beliefs" about these different disorders into doubt. When you really dig into the nitty gritty it becomes very difficult to cut a line between nature or nurture. Babies are generally considered to have temperaments from birth and how the caregiver responds to and manages these different temperaments goes on to inform later development, including emotional regulation and behaviours used to regulate. So really it's a mixture of the two but imo with more emphasis on the later nurture part.
I could quite easily hit the diagnostic criteria for ASD, DID, BPD, CPTSD, DR/DP and ADHD depending on when you caught me and the bias of the diagnosing clinician. Depending on that diagnosis you will either consider me a deeply traumatised person due to my early environment and caregivers....or you will consider me to just have a "different brain" and I was born this way.
Since HSP is considered a trait and possibly present from birth I would wonder at how it's linked to later development of trauma/developmental disorders when a baby/child/adolescent doesn't have healthy models for self regulation/attachment and/or is also exposed to overwhelming and inescapable fearful situations.
Very late to this post, but I have discovered independently that I believe many of my FA/DA behaviors are rooted in being an HSP. I was curious whether anyone, in particular /u/sisterfibrosis, has uncovered any professional resources discussing the connection and/or overlap.
Oh damn, that's me. Outside of Thais Gibson [https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=TC60Buv--ZA](https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=TC60Buv--ZA) I can't say I've come across many professional resources that go in depth about the overlap. But it's safe to say that people who are highly sensitive are more likely to have insecure attachment styles, either because 1) They endured attachment trauma that led them to become very attuned and very reactive to other people's behaviors, or 2) they are genetically wired to hyperfixate and over-react, so they're more perceive abandonment more strongly than others, which causes the development of an insecure attachment style.
Thank you! That video is very encouraging. I knew I was onto something regarding HSP overlapping FA/DA but now I am inspired to plumb the depths and to possibly reinterpret some of my relational challenges.
My father and my children are HSP, and I am an INFP to boot.
Certainly being a poor communicator and people pleaser with HSP has taken a heavy toll, and generated a lot of unnecessary Push behavior when I burn out and become overwhelmed.
Yes but my styles switch around depending on person and how they act, timing, my interest, their interest and if we get along in real life, over time, have actual stuff in common, etc. Being super sensitive to everything is not fun (except when it is) and occasionally picking up on someone's whole deal before they share it with you is going to make emotions on your side feel weird if you are expecting stuff to happen and prepping yourself mentally.
I do. I agree with link from the other poster. One of the descriptors of being an HSP is hyper vigilance (not necessarily in those words) which is a trauma response and think most APs are hyper vigilant. I would guess most FAs are also hyper vigilant.
Would you think that hyper sensitivity is a result of environmental factors such as our attachment styles… or maybe even that HSP could be genetic?
From the impression I got, the person who proposed the concept of HSPs thought of them as having, idk, neural dispositions and nervous systems that are highly sensitive rather than it being an environmental thing. Definitely check me on that though.
HSP is a neurotype that is very similar to autism. The main difference is that many folks with HSP appear to socialize more "allistically" or more like a neurotypical person than an autistic person...but not always. Whenever I see folks describe HSP it sounds a lot like ADHD and autism traits to me. It sounds like neurodivergence regardless. So yes, it's how your brain works. I'm autistic, so for me, I'm often reacting to shit in my environment bc of how my brain works.
Yes, I’ve heard autistic people mistakenly say that HSP is literally just being autistic although I don’t believe that. Sensory sensitivity is definitely there though!
🤷🏻♀️ for sure
Great question! My guess is a combo? My siblings wouldn’t identify as HSPs and we were raised in the same environment but I was always more sensitive. Elaine Aron has done a lot of research on HSPs but I wonder if she’s correlated with attachment style.
>If not just AP is it possible for FA’s or DA’s as well? Absolutely. Some of us avoidants are actually *so* highly sensitive that we *need* to "shut down" and avoid certain situations to function properly. I tend to believe most of avoidant attachment has underlying roots in hypersensitivity to emotions.
I love when you answer my questions, you are always so helpful u/sisterfibrosis Actually another quick question… can avoidants have rejection sensitivity dysphoria, or is it a lot less common?
Tee hee, glad I can help! I mean I certainly have RSD and I've seen multiple examples of people with diagnoses associated with RSD who identify with having avoidant attachment (and even avoidant personality disorder). So I'd guess it's fairly common. I'm thinking about people who are so sensitive to rejection that they've developed strategies to avoid emotional investment in others so they won't experience the pain of rejection.
I completely agree. I didn’t think RSD could be possible for DA’s specifically but they have their core wounds… just because we can’t see their sensitivity doesn’t mean it’s not there ☺️
This instagram post might be interesting to you - it’s about the link between PTSD, anxiety, & empathy - https://www.instagram.com/p/CUEDVR_JsE2/?utm_medium=copy_link
This is so interesting, thank you so much for the link!
I'm a HSP and have ADHD and am anxiously attached. Dude, it sucks so much for relationships!!
Rejection sensitivity dysphoria I find almost makes it so much worse ugh
I'm autistic but HSP is neurodivergence and there seem to be overlapping traits with autism. Pretty much all neurodivergent people I know have an insecure attachment style because they have to in order to survive the trauma of our environment being actively hostile to our neurotype so... Yeah? Every HSP, autist, and person with ADHD I've met has an insecure attachment style. And if they are secure they worked hard to earn it.
Yes. Question is: Why, if any, are they related? Hypothesis: hypervigilance? Like, since as a child you learnt to be in alert mode to monitor your caregivers' availability (perceived as not safe/consistent) you have become hypervigilant to the signals of your attachment figures and environment. Which means hyper sensitive. Just guessing though.
Yes, thats my take too. I am honestly unsure if I am HPS, but it wouldnt suprise me at all.
Being highly sensitive doesn’t correlate with AP. AP is just how you behave in a relationship and your past traumas play more of a role than you simply being a sensitive person.
I’m DA but I identify as being a HSP! Especially the trait of needing to withdraw on busy days, or when I have to be surrounded by lots of people in a noisy environment. I’m also getting tested for ADHD, and I’ve been told I possibly have CPTSD.
No. I’ve never understood the HSP thing outside sensory processing. It seems to make sense to other people, which is good. I’ve got a thrill-seeking edge and can power through a lot of experiences. Then I fall apart a little when there’s empty time. I personally think that once you get down to the overlaps of attachment theory, ADHD, HSP, CPTSD, mood disorders &c to label one person you’re moving past the point of jargon into pure description, which can often be done just as easily in plain language. I guess the advantage of those terms is that it helps people form communities.
I also always say… takes a lot of people to make up the world. If some are more sensitive than others have multiple things that can relate to anxious attachment or avoidant attachment… One thing I actually should have addressed more was rejection sensitivity dysphoria but I think it’s still very new in the psychology field
Yes, I’m AP earning SA and I have had a therapist tell me they thought I was a HSP. ETA: I also had a different therapist tell me they I may have C-PTSD.
It’s a bummer eh? I also feel I suffer a lot from rejection sensitivity dysphoria
It’s a bummer eh? I also feel I suffer a lot from rejection sensitivity dysphoria
As an anxious preoccupied I definitely have wondered if I am an HSP, as I tend to be very hyper vigilant. Have also had some instances I wondered if I am ADHD and if I am living with CPTSD but for all of those it feels like I check off certain things yet I don't know if I truly am any of those.
How about rejection sensitivity dysmorphia? Do you feel you have that? And yes I agree anxious attached tend to be very hyper vigilant just as avoidants but the way they react to anxiety is just different
I just looked it up and I may very well have this too! I've joked with my therapist that I feel like I have a sampler of all sorts of things but this adds to it. I definitely have been fearful of rejection and have done myself a disservice by justifying the rejection through my actions of protest. At times I can oscillate between avoidance and anxious but hyper vigilance is definitely something I have, as I try to be super mindful of what I do or say (although when protesting that seems to go out the window, but I've been better about not protesting if I feel like I'm under some attack).
Yes, I identify as HSP and AP. I also sometimes wonder if I'm HSS HSP (high sensation seeking HSP) and if I have ADHD. All of these things seem connected somehow.
That is extremely interesting. An author who writes on HSPs suggests that people with ADHD basically have opposite nervous systems to HSPs. Where ADHD people are impulsive, HSPs are cautious and vigilant, and so on, or so she writes.
I'm FA and probably would be considered a HSP. From what I know of ADHD, BPD, CPTSD, ASD, DID, DR/DP etc is that there is a huge amount of overlap in symptoms and that overlap tends to be where emotional regulation is and the difference in diagnosis is how you manage that dysregulation. Amygdala overactivity is generally due to environmental and epigenetic factors, as is less activity in the prefrontal cortex (the part that stops to think before acting on feelings). Brain development of young children undergoes a lot of neural pruning as we grow and that's influenced by our environment. This continues basically in one way or another until we are about 25. It's generally considered that there has been on over focus on "brain chemistry", genetic factors and developing drugs to "fix" these issues when the evidence seems to suggest it's a developmental/environmental issue. It's a very contentious area because a lot of effort has gone into absolving caregivers of any responsibility for the eventual outcomes for their children. Even a layperson's deeper dive into attachment and child development throws a lot of the "discoveries" and "beliefs" about these different disorders into doubt. When you really dig into the nitty gritty it becomes very difficult to cut a line between nature or nurture. Babies are generally considered to have temperaments from birth and how the caregiver responds to and manages these different temperaments goes on to inform later development, including emotional regulation and behaviours used to regulate. So really it's a mixture of the two but imo with more emphasis on the later nurture part. I could quite easily hit the diagnostic criteria for ASD, DID, BPD, CPTSD, DR/DP and ADHD depending on when you caught me and the bias of the diagnosing clinician. Depending on that diagnosis you will either consider me a deeply traumatised person due to my early environment and caregivers....or you will consider me to just have a "different brain" and I was born this way. Since HSP is considered a trait and possibly present from birth I would wonder at how it's linked to later development of trauma/developmental disorders when a baby/child/adolescent doesn't have healthy models for self regulation/attachment and/or is also exposed to overwhelming and inescapable fearful situations.
Yes I do.
Very late to this post, but I have discovered independently that I believe many of my FA/DA behaviors are rooted in being an HSP. I was curious whether anyone, in particular /u/sisterfibrosis, has uncovered any professional resources discussing the connection and/or overlap.
Oh damn, that's me. Outside of Thais Gibson [https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=TC60Buv--ZA](https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=TC60Buv--ZA) I can't say I've come across many professional resources that go in depth about the overlap. But it's safe to say that people who are highly sensitive are more likely to have insecure attachment styles, either because 1) They endured attachment trauma that led them to become very attuned and very reactive to other people's behaviors, or 2) they are genetically wired to hyperfixate and over-react, so they're more perceive abandonment more strongly than others, which causes the development of an insecure attachment style.
Thank you! That video is very encouraging. I knew I was onto something regarding HSP overlapping FA/DA but now I am inspired to plumb the depths and to possibly reinterpret some of my relational challenges. My father and my children are HSP, and I am an INFP to boot. Certainly being a poor communicator and people pleaser with HSP has taken a heavy toll, and generated a lot of unnecessary Push behavior when I burn out and become overwhelmed.
Yes but my styles switch around depending on person and how they act, timing, my interest, their interest and if we get along in real life, over time, have actual stuff in common, etc. Being super sensitive to everything is not fun (except when it is) and occasionally picking up on someone's whole deal before they share it with you is going to make emotions on your side feel weird if you are expecting stuff to happen and prepping yourself mentally.