Mental Sensitivity (The HSP Owner’s Guide)

This post elaborates on the Mental Sensitivity section of The HSP Owner’s Guide.

Highly Sensitive People (HSPs) often experience the world in a way that feels intense, nuanced, and layered.

Understanding how mental sensitivity functions and recognising your responses to emotions, thoughts, and interactions can help you make choices that support your well-being as a highly sensitive person. By developing this awareness, you can better manage your emotional world and leverage your creativity, imagination, and intellect.

Note that the points discussed in this post differ from person to person. Not every HSP is the same. The trait is not an identity or personality type. Instead, sensory processing sensitivity is a core part of the foundation for how our nervous system perceives and interacts with the world within, around, and between us.

What Is Mental Sensitivity?

While it’s not a perfect term (there isn’t one!), we will use “mental sensitivity” to refer to the heightened way HSPs process internal and external stimuli. This helps us understand and raise awareness around the role WE play in responding to stories we hold in our nervous system at any given time. It also shows why “mindset hacks” are not universally helpful, especially if we don’t understand the broader flow of information and deep processing in a sensitive nervous system. The idea of “reframing” thoughts, stories, or perceptions can assist in specific contexts, but many of the challenges highly sensitive people experience are not about their mindset. They can often come from trying to change their attitude to conform to assumptions, pressures, and ways of fitting into a world that doesn’t support a highly sensitive nervous system.

What Does Mental Sensitivity Look Like for HSPs?

Here are some common areas where mental sensitivity may arise for highly sensitive people:

Emotional

• Strong emotional responses (e.g. HSPs might tear up easily)
• Feelings of excitement or elation in positive situations
• Falling in love quickly and deeply (HSPs may experience deep, rapid emotional connections with people and places)
• Needing to protect themselves from emotional attachment (HSPs risk throwing themselves into everything they emotionally connect with – without clear parameters, this can lead to overstimulation and burnout)
• Deeply stirred by injustice (HSPs can be deeply affected by unfairness or suffering)

A beautiful, deep bond with living beings, places, and experiences can become overstimulating if you fully invest in everything without discerning what matters most. Remember, you are a finite person who can’t care for everything as much as you wish you could (I know!). We can trust that other people care about things, too, so we don’t have to do it all ourselves!

Empathic

HSPs can be subconsciously attuned to the emotions and moods of others.

• Sensitivity to the emotions and moods of others (HSPs might read between the lines and pick up on subtle cues, e.g. responding to shifts in tone and body language)
• External calmness while experiencing intense inner emotions (HSPs may not show what’s going on within them, even if they are experiencing strong emotions)
• Feelings of helplessness or playing a victim role (HSPs may look to others to defer responsibility or control)
• Being accused of overreacting or being “too sensitive” (HSPs can be misunderstood by those who don’t understand the trait or the needs and preferences of a particular person)
• Feeling pressured to “perk up” in social situations (HSPs might feel pushed to squeeze themselves into the mould of those around them – this might include performing the correct emotions to keep others happy)

Awareness of empathic sensitivity can help HSPs understand their needs, communicate preferences, and engage in social situations without feeling unnecessarily drained.

Creativity

Creativity can come from a person’s relationship with their sensitivity, which helps them process information, explore emotional responses, and express themselves to connect with and change the world within, around, and between.

Relating to creativity, these things may be true for highly sensitive people:

• Strong creative impulses and vivid imagination (it’s often fun to hear how HSPs sense and perceive aspects of the world)
• Possess deep intellectual curiosity and passion for learning (HSPs can be natural dot-connectors, seeing how ideas, concepts, and stories link together, leading to new insights and discoveries)
• Unique talents and/or creative skills (Many HSPs have a natural aptitude and interest in creative or artistic practices and enjoy exploring their potential and finding new ways to develop and apply their skills.)
• A tendency to analyse and reflect on new experiences and challenges (HSPs often deeply process their experiences and bring fresh eyes to situations and settings)
• A need to explore, express, and process deep thoughts from early in life (HSPs might feel compelled to turn their rich inner world into outward expression)

Highly sensitive people can flourish when they discover creative practices to process, explore, and express their rich inner worlds. This extends beyond the individual, as many of our cherished entertainers, visionaries, and artists contribute their creative spirit to the cultural pool.

Cognitive Processing

HSPs often take more time to process information and make decisions. This isn’t a flaw; it reflects their natural process of absorbing information and assessing different factors. For example:

• Pausing to consider every available aspect of a situation before acting (HSPs might need time to reflect before deciding or taking action)
• Taking time to analyse and process information (HSPs benefit from space and time to absorb information, allow emotions to settle, and formulate responses with a clear mind)
• Balancing quick thinking with moments of mental reflection (because of the depth of processing, HSPs may have strong intuitive and instinctive quick thinking, especially when their nervous system is in a calm state – this requires spacious margins for downtime)
• Being affected by the mental load or complexity of a situation (HSPs can get overstimulated by complex or high-pressure situations, e.g. having a lot to do in a short period, being observed, or having a lot riding on “getting it right”)

Recognising their need for processing time enables HSPs to create environments that support their cognitive styles, rather than forcing themselves to conform to a faster pace. By embracing their natural rhythm, they can transform their depth of processing into a strength, providing thoughtful insights and careful consideration to both their own lives and the world around them.

Behavioural Adaptations

Mental sensitivity also influences how HSPs behave in different situations.

• Balancing quick, decisive actions with moments of dreamy procrastination
• Adapting responses depending on the situation’s intensity (HSPs tend to adjust their behaviour based on the context, making them highly adaptable and prone to overthinking at times)
• Sensitivity to pressure or stress, affecting the ability to take action (HSPs might feel paralysed or overwhelmed by high-stakes situations)
• Being observed affects the ability to perform tasks at one’s best of their ability (HSPs) may feel self-conscious or pressured to act differently when aware they are being watched, judged, or analysed.

The mental aspects of sensory processing sensitivity influence how HSPs navigate various situations, balancing swift, decisive actions (the capacity for rapid processing) with periods of reflection (providing space for deep processing). This natural oscillation necessitates that individuals understand their needs and work with them in a way that fosters a sustainable and energising rhythm.

The Ebb and Flow of Sensitive Intensity

For HSPs, mental sensitivity can feel intense because their brains are wired to process information more deeply. This means they’re not just experiencing emotions or thoughts but processing them on multiple levels.

For example, when hearing about a friend’s struggle, an HSP may not only feel sadness but also experience a flow of thoughts concerning the broader implications of the situation, notice complexities in their friend’s emotions, and contemplate constructive and creative ways to support them. Much of this can occur not as intentional problem-solving but as a flow of information to be processed.

An HSP might enjoy a beautiful sunset and feel a deep sense of awe, reflect on the passage of time, and feel inspired to create something from it.

This depth of processing makes HSPs so creative, empathetic, and insightful. But it can also feel like an annoying burden if they don’t have the tools to manage it.

Navigating The Mental Elements of High Sensitivity

The good news is that once you understand your relationship with it, you can learn to work with your sensitivity in a way that supports your well-being and allows you to thrive.

Observe the presence of these elements of mental sensitivity. What do they look like for you? How do you recognise them? Don’t try to control or reason with it; notice and record what you find (including thoughts, feelings, and the ebbs and flows of your energy).