Highly Sensitive Person (HSP)

[anthony]

Thank you so much for this post! I have learned a lot from it!

Don't lose sight of what I also mentioned below that post you quoted, being:

Don't try and fit yourself into things, as most people could fit themselves into most diagnosis if they tried hard enough. You can pick-up a book and fit yourself into specific aspects you read, then suddenly you are diagnosing yourself with something you don't even have. Very dangerous.

 

[trace101]

Hello, I am new at this. I have both HSP and PTSD. I can tell you it's the worst thing in the world. I really need to post this first and see if it posts, and then I will write about my story.

 

[trace101]

Okay well here goes nothing. I see the last post was posted on Jan 14, 2012, which makes me wonder if anyone really goes on this site any longer...

Anyway, I am a HSP with PTSD. It's so severe that I cannot even function any more. I cannot even find the strength to go to the doctors any more since not too many of them even know what I am talking about. I leave there leaving more depressed than going there. I remember once leaving a Endocrinologist's office with tears pouring down my eyes, passing nurses and doctors along the way with them just stopping and staring. No one asked me if I was okay or if I needed help. I blew through the front door right into my car, where I sat there for probably 20 minutes crying uncontrollably. I really thought that that doctor's appointment was going to be the answer to my misery in which I thought I had a hormonal imbalance. The doctor told me there was nothing wrong with me and basically told me it was all in my head. I waited almost an month for this appointment. It was a devastating experience.

Fast forward...I've been to holistic doctors, modern day doctors, psychologists. you name it....I've gotten no where. I've read so much that I find myself actually educating many different professionals in their own fields. I don't want to sound egotistic, as I am the FURTHEST thing from being even remotely smart, in fact, writing this sucks the life out of me to just find the right words. My brain is exhausted. My heart is drained. And my inner soul has no place to feel safe or at home. I don't know how else to put into words....I am just lost.

I've been through the following in a very somewhat short amount of time: an alcoholic ex husband, a divorce, a sociopathic boyfriend who stalked me and beat me, my only sister who died suddenly from a brain hemmorhage, then shortly my father died of a heart attack. I married a man who sensed my vulnerableness and coerced me to marry him (in such a short time) this was right after my sister died. I had NO idea what I was doing, I believe that I was in a "disassociative disorder" type deal where I didn't feel anything, only later to find him sitting on top of me on our honeymoon trying to strangle me...long story. MY only brother, who is one of the most amazing guys you'd meet, was wrongfully found guilty and sentenced to life. (another long story) The only thing I have left is a mother, a mother who has lost everything including her ability to help help herself, let alone, me. She has cried for 13 years everyday ever since my brother was taken away in handcuffs.

Anyway, you can't make this stuff up, but I wished that I did. I have never been diagnosed with HSP, but my whole life, I've always felt extremely sensitive to EVERYTHING AND EVERYONE. I was diagnosed by a psychologist with PSTD in the past, and I believe that it had been lingering ever since.

I do NOT know where to turn, or where to go. My boyfriend doesn't understand, and I hate having him see me this way. And to boot, I have PMDD. Which for those who care to know, it's severe PMS. And it's really bad this time around. I've read that a lot of HSPs may get PMDD due to it's a sensitivity issue and the "professionals" again do not know why and what causes this, but it's very very tough to deal with.

I am contemplating admitting myself into a hospital, but I am not crazy. Nor do I want to come out crazy...which is what will probably happen if I go there. SO, if anyone reads this, and if anyone can share their advice, I would be greatly appreciative.

 

[Hashi]

trace, have you seen psychologists or other mental health professionals specifically for PTSD? I may be misunderstanding your post, but you seem to have hoped for help on the basis of high sensitivity and to be identifying this as your main, or your major, mental health issue.

HSP is not a mental health condition that has diagnostic criteria and needs treatment. PTSD is.

I am wondering if you have been mistakenly identifying PTSD symptoms as being caused by high sensitivity, or at least whether the two have become confused with each other.

I am a HSP with PTSD.

I wouldn't put HSP first here at all. If you've been diagnosed with PTSD I would put PTSD first, and mention that you also identify with being a HSP. PTSD does not go away over time and it needs to be treated. HSP is a factor in your emotional makeup, not a disorder to be treated. Many people who identify as HSP have good mental health or only minor issues.

As you've identified, you've posted in a thread with little traffic. That's because the issue of being a HSP is important in understanding yourself, your history and what approaches are helpful to you, but the mental health issue is PTSD. If you've tried therapy/treatment specifically for PTSD and have been unsuccessful in that, I'd suggest posting in the therapy section of the site for advice and suggestions. If you haven't tried therapy/treatment specifically for PTSD then I'd suggest that's what you need to seek.

HSP would not be a consideration other than choosing a trauma therapist who feels right for you, just as anyone has to given their emotional makeup, and then to look at the influence of it in your history, just as anyone looks at the influence of their personality and sensitivity on their experiences.

 

[Don't trip]

So glad I found this thread, although it's pretty vacant.

I AM an HSP. My therapist refers to this as Sensory Integration Disorder. This is real and while its references are mainly targeted to children, there is information online with regards to adults who have this disorder. My therapist believes I have this and fit the criteria to a T.

This does not eliminate my C-PTSD and is not co morbid with it. Being an HSP is hard wired into my personality. This also means I need to approach my C-PTSD differently than most, as well as the abuse I have suffered.

I believe HSP is very REAL. It DOES aggravate my PTSD. While I could argue about the DSM all day long insofar as defintions as to the disorders I have, whether they are official or not and so on, it really doesn't matter when it comes to my ability to cope. It's all the same to me. Putting a label on it doesn't suddenly turn on a coping light.

I know now, what helps me with my PTSD. Unfortunately, this is not supported by those who have it. Tough shit. They aren't me and I'm not them. I just know that the ways I have decided to cope with it, remove my resistance to having PTSD and being an HSP. I feel the greatest peace I have ever experienced in my life. And as with many HSP's, I have to filter external noise by others who think I should be healing in a certain way.

I'm talking out my butt here as there is reason for saying this. Anyway..

HSP and PTSD are not co morbid disorders. Nor is HSP a recognized disorder at all anyway.

I don't agree that it doesn't have a powerful impact on my life, because it does and always has. I pick up subtleties that others don't. It's hard to live in a world where one is trying to understand how to cope with their PTSD and recently realized they are also HSP. It's a might overwhelming...