Therapy for Highly Sensitive People
Let your sensitive soul be your superpower, not your curse.
Therapy for adults who feel like they’re constantly pressured to keep “running on empty.”
Does it feel like you’re living in a world that wasn’t designed for you?
Everyday events decimate your emotional energy…
At work, tasks pile up that your coworkers seem to handle just fine, but you’re left feeling overwhelmed, questioning if you “have what it takes.”
As you battle your commute home you’re challenged with the overbearing stimuli of traffic, not to mention soaking up other drivers’ stressed and angry emotions.
You finally get home, completely drained. Your partner thought it would be fun to grab a drink at happy hour, but there’s nothing more you want than to be alone.
Eventually the weekend arrives! But… how are you supposed to balance friends, chores, grocery shopping, meal planning, and getting ready for the next week…?
You’re ready to stop feeling like you’re the problem.
Because deep down, you know it’s not you; the world around us is steeped in a culture of go, go, go. It’s fast and loud, and it expects you to keep up with the 70-80% of folks who thrive on constant productivity. All you want to do is slow down and smell the roses; process and reflect on what you just experienced before committing to the next thing.
When you’re not able to do that it feels like you’re being suppressed, ostracized, or just left behind. No one seems to understand that you can get overstimulated easily, have more intense emotional reactions, or need time to yourself to recharge. It’s easy to feel like these things mean you’re bad – but perhaps it could mean that the world just needs more people like you.
My approach to therapy for highly sensitive people:
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HSP personality traits are, by definition, relatively static and won’t change much over time; they’re part of who you are. What we want to do is honor those traits without judgment of good or bad . Not to fix those parts of you, but instead acknowledge that although they can have drawbacks at times, they also have tremendous benefits.
Healing and growth happen when you can accept and nurture all parts of you. My job is to support you on that journey, because I do accept all the parts that make you, you.
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Whether you grew up without validation for how you felt, or were outright judged because of your sensitivities, those messages accumulated and coalesced into what eventually became your inner critic. Comments that once originated from others soon came from yourself, leading to the vicious cycle of shame.
Self-compassion is crucial in learning how to fend off your inner critic and deflate the shame spiral. You don’t have to give in to the voice that says you should be ashamed of your sensitive soul. Instead, I can help you learn how to be kind to yourself, validate your struggles, and celebrate your strengths.
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Your inner critic – reinforced by comments from others like, “just get over it” or “why are you crying?” – is what led to the belief system that your sensitivity is “bad.” But, do you want to know the magic secret?
Belief systems based on inner critics aren’t true.
So together, our job becomes identifying those falsely held beliefs, understanding how they got there, and replacing them with beliefs that are actually true. Belief systems that support, for example, the idea that society could benefit from more people slowing down to smell the roses.
What we’ll work on:
Imagine a life where you can…
Comfortably let yourself be the only one crying at a movie or piece of art because you can really feel it.
Lean into deep pain and sorrow, because you understand that the clouds will give way to feeling joy and excitement just as deeply.
Fully and unabashedly empathize with others, leading to stronger relationships.
Honor your mind and body’s need for rest – when needed – without shame.
Set and protect the boundaries you’ve identified based on your needs.
It’s possible to see your sensitivity as a superpower.
Just because other voices may be louder doesn’t mean yours doesn’t matter.
Click the link below and complete the form. I will respond within one business day with available options for us to schedule a free 20-minute phone call. During our consultation, I’ll ask you to briefly share what led you to reach out, and I’ll also be more than happy to answer any questions you have. If you feel like I’m the right fit for your needs, we’ll wrap up our phone call by scheduling our first session and I’ll share what you can expect for the next steps.
FAQs
Frequently asked questions
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The term highly sensitive person (HSP) was popularized by Dr. Elaine Aron in the 1990s, and is used to describe folks who have a high level of sensory processing sensitivity (SPS). SPS is a personality trait – meaning it’s weaved into our genetic makeup and not likely to change much over time – that allows for deeper processing of physical, emotional, and social stimuli, and has been measured to make up about 20-33% of the population.
Because of this, HSPs are generally more likely than others to notice nuances in their environment, pick up on more subtle sensory input, and have a more rich or complex “inner world.”
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Due to their increased sensitivity to physical, emotional, and social stimuli, HSPs are often generally characterized in the following ways:
A heightened awareness and sensitivity to any of the five senses. HSPs might be able to hear or smell something quicker than others (if others notice at all), and may easily become overwhelmed if there’s a lot of sensory input at once.
HSPs feel emotions more intensely, which often leads to a “double-edged sword” situation. They’re likely to experience strong feelings of joy or excitement when doing something they love, but also deeply experience unpleasant emotions in times of sorrow.
Because HSPs tend to feel emotions more intensely, they in turn have a tendency to process experiences more deeply due to their reflection and introspection skills. This can, again, be a double-edged sword: although HSPs may often be more creative or insightful, they may be more prone to overthinking or catastrophizing.
Similarly, because HSPs tend to feel emotions more intensely, they often have a greater ability to empathize with others and become more attuned with them. This can be great for building and maintaining close and supportive relationships, but can also be the catalyst for poor boundaries, “taking on” others’ emotions too strongly, or making the end of a relationship even more painful.
HSPs are often able to pick up on social subtleties, meaning they tend to notice shifts in body language or expressions more easily, or can pick up on “the vibe” of a room when they walk into it as well as any changes in the tone of a conversation.
Because of all this, one of the primary characteristics that HSPs possess – often cluing people into the fact that they might even be an HSP – is their tendency to become easily overstimulated and exhausted. In such a fast-paced world, HSPs find they need time to relax, recover, or recharge more frequently than “seems necessary” to those around them.
If you resonate with any of these characteristics and feel like you could use some support navigating them in your own life, reach out for a free 20-minute consultation to see if I’m the right therapist for you.
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Technically, yes! Although neurodivergence has colloquially been used to reference neurological or developmental conditions (e.g., ASD, ADHD, or learning disabilities like dyslexia), it has a broader and more encompassing definition:
Neurodiversity describes the concept that not every person learns, thinks, behaves, or processes information the same way; that there isn’t a “right” or “wrong” way to experience the world, and that differences are not deficits.
In that way, HSPs simply experience and process the world in a way that a majority of other people don’t, and it isn’t better or worse than any other way. It’s just different, and that’s okay!
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