AS, ADD and the HSP (Highly Sensitive Person) connection

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risingphoenix
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30 Nov 2006, 4:51 pm

For explanation, HSP stands for Highly Sensitive Person, it's a term which was introduced by an American psychologist called Elaine Aron. When I first read about the description and typical characteristics of HSPs a lot of them reminded me of AS (or also ADD).
So I wondered, if we see Neurotypicality as a spectrum which at some point goes over into AS, ADD and the like, could it be that HSP lies like somewhere in the gray middle area between those two? Or where on the whole continuum of human wiring would you put it (i.e. closer to NT or closer to AS)?

Here are some links to the traits:

http://www.sensitiveperson.com/attribts.htm
http://www.hsperson.com/pages/test.htm

As well as a general description:
http://www.hsperson.com/index.html


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Last edited by risingphoenix on 05 Dec 2006, 1:18 pm, edited 1 time in total.

tortoise
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30 Nov 2006, 8:12 pm

risingphoenix wrote:
For explanation, HSP stands for Highly Sensitive Person, it's a term which was introduced by an American psychologist called Elaine Aron. When I first read about the description and typical characteristics of HSPs a lot of them reminded me of AS (or also ADD).
So I wondered, if we see Neurotypicality as a spectrum which at some point goes over into AS, ADD and the like, could it be that HSP lies like somewhere in the gray middle area between those two? Or where on the whole continuum of human wiring would you put it (i.e. closer to NT or closer to AS)?

Here are some links to the traits:

http://www.sensitiveperson.com/attribts.htm
http://www.hsperson.com/pages/test.htm

As well as a general description:
http://www.hsperson.com/index.html


Yes that could be inattentive ADHD but not combos or hyperactives who are more reactionary with their emotions. I'm generalizing here, but they don't hold in, they lack internal control of emotional impulses.


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risingphoenix
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01 Dec 2006, 9:19 am

That's true, to the hyperactive and combined ADHD type this probably does not apply, also not to the (classic?) very extremely rational AS type. Of course the fact that HSPs are said to be highly empathic also contradicts AS very much (or does it? I don't know, are really all people with AS so bad at feeling empathy or is that just a cliché?), on the other hand I still think there are terribly lots of similiarites, also in her book "The highly sensitive child" Aron mentions that highly sensitive children often resemble children with ADD and Asperger's Syndrome. So my question mainly is if people here can identify themselves with those traits or if they in fact say, no, I'm the complete opposite. I think both could be possible.


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Uhura
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02 Dec 2006, 8:29 pm

I think I have a lot of characteristic that Elaine N. Aron talks about in "The Highly Sensitive Person". Some of them are also characteristics of AS. As far as picking up on the emotions, for me it depends on which emotion it is. If people in a room are extremely happy, I have a hard time empathizing with that. I do get and feel happy, it's just that NTs seem to express it louder than I do. Hope that makes sense. But if the room is negative, I can relate easily, although I only sometimes realizing that I am doing it. Usually I stay happy and fine but then when I get home am more likely to have a meltdown (usually a crying spell for me) and realize that it is because the people in the room were so negative.

I don't think it contradicts. A lot of things seem to fit in both AS and HSP. I wish HSP were a more common term.

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risingphoenix
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03 Dec 2006, 7:02 pm

So the difference is not so much that Aspies don't feel the empathy but more that they have problems expressing it? Because that would be a thing I could relate to well, like it certainly upsets me when someone next to me cries or is in some other way devastated, I think it affects me even more than most other people to be honest, yet I'm far worse at offering such things as comfort and condolences. Or maybe that's exactly the case because the moods of other people affect me so much and so I get more unsure and confused about what to say to them, I don't know.
What I also have problems with when it comes to figuring out the emotions of other people is that I don't understand how people can be meanly snapping or madly shouting at you one time and the next minute be totally calm and normal as if nothing happened, while things don't seem to pass so easily on me, that is I could likely be in a depressed mood and worrying for the next few hours or even days because of such an incident, but I don't know if that's just my way of seeing things or an Aspie thing too.
Anyways, what about if we just do this short test -> http://www.hsperson.com/pages/test.htm and post our results here? I'd be interested what you all get, besides that psychological tests are fun, aren't they? I checked 21 of the items as true.
Oh, and here's yet another one I just found: http://healing.about.com/library/quiz/h ... E&ccount=0


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07 Dec 2006, 7:09 am

risingphoenix wrote:
So the difference is not so much that Aspies don't feel the empathy but more that they have problems expressing it? Because that would be a thing I could relate to well, like it certainly upsets me when someone next to me cries or is in some other way devastated, I think it affects me even more than most other people to be honest, yet I'm far worse at offering such things as comfort and condolences. Or maybe that's exactly the case because the moods of other people affect me so much and so I get more unsure and confused about what to say to them, I don't know.

I get upset & don't know if it's due to distress from self or others, but it ends up inhabiting me.
risingphoenix wrote:
What I also have problems with when it comes to figuring out the emotions of other people is that I don't understand how people can be meanly snapping or madly shouting at you one time and the next minute be totally calm and normal as if nothing happened, while things don't seem to pass so easily on me, that is I could likely be in a depressed mood and worrying for the next few hours or even days because of such an incident, but I don't know if that's just my way of seeing things or an Aspie thing too.

I get stuck in bad feeling after incidents & can't bounce back rapidly-mental jetlag/hangover.
risingphoenix wrote:
So my question mainly is if people here can identify themselves with those traits or if they in fact say, no, I'm the complete opposite. I think both could be possible.

I've only read "The HSP in Love" by same author, didn't take time to follow the links provided here. Using book's self-tests, I (AS dx) scored as highly sensitive, my boyfriend (NT) scored as a sensation seeker. We guessed correctly how we'd rate before taking the quizzes.
I believe an AS dx (or being NT) does not predict which type one is. There are people who crave more sensation/stimulation & those who yearn for relief from it, and either sort could easily be an "aspie", IMHO. Sensory hypo-sensitivity is listed as common in ASD's, as often as hyper-sensitivities. One individual may be "over" sensitive about tastes & smells, yet "under" sensitive about noises & touch-and that person may be considered NT anyway. One person may notice a lot but not be bothered by one's environment, another person may be bothered by a lot & not realize what in the environment is causing the discomfort. In short, it all depends on which explations we use to make sense of ourselves.


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07 Dec 2006, 10:38 am

risingphoenix wrote:
Oh, and here's yet another one I just found: http://healing.about.com/library/quiz/h ... E&ccount=0


This quiz seems to mix up how much input you get and how you respond to it.

For insatance, it said I was "not easily swayed by my emotions" because I'm not quick at picking up what others are thinking, but if I do pick it up, it can be overwhelming.



risingphoenix
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08 Dec 2006, 8:35 pm

superfantastic wrote:
risingphoenix wrote:
Oh, and here's yet another one I just found: http://healing.about.com/library/quiz/h ... E&ccount=0


This quiz seems to mix up how much input you get and how you respond to it.

That's true though. I think the problem is also that it equals highly sensitive with highly empathic, which I'm not sure is true, especially not if highly sensitive is meant only in the sense of more sensitive to physical stimuli, but not emotionally highly sensitive. So is it generally possible also to have Asperger's and still have good empathy skills?


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08 Dec 2006, 9:08 pm

I've read Elaine Aron's book and could relate to some of the stuff in there, but not all. However, I have taken the HSP test and got a high score, so I consider myself HSP. I think both Aspies and NTs could be HSP.

About the empathy thing, how can you really define it? Is it a genuine feeling that you feel when you understand what a person is going through, or merely an attempt to show an emotion to pretend to care about what a person's going through? I think I'd consider the first one true emapthy, which I think I rarely have except when I actually can relate to what a person's going through. I think the second one could be considered fake empathy because you don't really feel what the other person is going through, or maybe that's the definition of sympathy?

Either way I think many Aspies can fake empathy, but few really feel it, but I could be wrong.

I just don't think you necessarily have to be emapthetic to be HSP, it's only one of the traits.


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31 Aug 2011, 10:36 pm

22 for me. Down with itchy shirt-tags.



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01 Sep 2011, 8:08 am

Well, according to this post, most autistics are HSP (80-95%).



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01 Sep 2011, 4:49 pm

20 here. I guess I am an HSP too.



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01 Sep 2011, 5:05 pm

ghostgurl wrote:
About the empathy thing, how can you really define it? Is it a genuine feeling that you feel when you understand what a person is going through, or merely an attempt to show an emotion to pretend to care about what a person's going through? I think I'd consider the first one true emapthy, which I think I rarely have except when I actually can relate to what a person's going through. I think the second one could be considered fake empathy because you don't really feel what the other person is going through, or maybe that's the definition of sympathy?


I tend to think of empathy as knowing what someone feels, as sympathy as caring and feeling bad or good or whatever for them [assuming you do know]. I'm not sure what the real definitions are, but caring and knowing are very separate in my mind.

I might not be able to tell what someone is feeling, but I am if anything over-sympathetic. I do react strongly to others' emotions, if I actually know what they are and have been described as caring too much. .



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02 Sep 2011, 5:12 am

I scored 26. I already consider myself to be an HSP and found the book 'The Highly Sensitive Person' to be an accurate reflection on my personality. But, 'Aspergirls' is just as close, if not closer, to the real me. I suppose I'm both.

As for empathy, I think this is a complete red herring. From experience, NTs don't appear to have any more than Aspies, less in fact. Or if they do, they're somehow able to detach themselves from it. E.g. Why does a bully continue to inflict torture on his victim and seem to get pleasure from it? Either he doesn't have empathy or does have it, but is truly sadistic. I use this as an example as Aspies tend to be the victims of NT bullies. I'm pretty sure I have empathy and I can't ignore it ever, but it stops with my morals (isn't that always the case). E.g. How can a non-racist have empathy for a racist's point of view?