The highly sensitive person
by Elaine N. Aron · first published 1996
67% recommend33% neutral
Why HN recommends it
Explains high sensitivity as a trait shaping how people notice subtle cues and process stimuli, helping readers make sense of overwhelm and themselves; often suggested to those struggling with anxiety or shyness.
Summarised by Claude from recommending comments
A national best-seller in hardcover, this book identifies and defines a new personality type -- and shows readers how to overcome its limitations and maximize its strengths.
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You might just be an HSP: https://www.amazon.com/Highly-Sensitive-Person-Thrive-Overwh... I've had this problem in many contexts. Some of it stems from childhood circumstances, but it's also that I often read people better than they seemingly know themselves, i.e., noticing…
on “The unsettling truth about the ‘Mostly Harmless’ hiker” ↗You might find the book "The Highly Sensitive Person: How to Thrive When the World Overwhelms You" by Elaine Aron helpful. Shyness isn't the same as being highly sensitive, but sensitive people are often considered shy.
on “Ask HN: I'm way too shy, please help” ↗…recommendations of seeing a psychologist and upping your level of physical activity. Try to find a psychologist who isn't a pill-pusher. I also recommend the books "Feeling Good" by David Burns and "The Highly Sensitive Person" by Elaine Aron. One thing that helps me figure out if I'm ok with where I am and what I have is imagining that I'll lose it tomorrow (not in a bad way). If I'm tired of where I live, I imagine I'm moving…
on “Ask HN: Are you happy, well-rounded? (dealing w/ depression/lack of motivation)” ↗+1 to therapy. Also, consider reading The Highly Sensitive Person by Elaine Aron. I made a huge improvement to my shyness and self esteem by doing a few awareness workshops in my country (not US). And now doing therapy to boost other areas of my life which I want to…
on “Ask HN: If you used to be socially awkward and shy, how did you improve?” ↗…less common these days than 100+ years ago, so that aspect of humanity is now less relevant. But the evolutionary behavior will take a long time to eliminate itself... There were parts of the book, The Highly Sensitive Person, by Elaine Aron, which were eye-opening to me in how they illustrated facets of myself (and how they showed the human value of some of those facets). There's definitely a place in the world for fixers,…
on “TikTok videos leave teens thinking they have rare mental disorders (2021)” ↗…happened to me as a child - Designing Data Intensive Applications by Martin Kleppmann helped me understand intuitively how databases work and how to use eventual consistency to handle workloads - The Highly Sensitive Person: How To Thrive when the World Overwhelms You by Elaine Aron this helped me process my and my families neurodivergence. - Structure And Interpretation of Computer Programs by Ableson and Sussman. Great…
on “Ask HN: What nonfiction books do you keep rereading?” ↗So for a source, I would recommend "The Highly Sensitive Person". The theory is this: some people are more sensitive. They pick up on the microgesture you maybe dont. They hear the small vocal cue or see the change in posture. Our brains -- thinking in general --…
on “New Year’s Resolutions for Introverts” ↗…married, had kids, moved to another country and changed everything I could think of about my life. Unfortunately the dark bouts of depression remained. About four years ago I stumbled on a book called Highly Sensitive Person that absolutely blew my mind. I realized I had very intense emotions that I was culturally programmed to repress, which caused my psyche to overload and go into full apathy mode also known as clinical…
on “I built an app to fix my depression and it worked” ↗There's a few theories out there around sensory processing difficulties, which I've been looking into a lot lately to pretty good effect. Check out The Highly Sensitive Person. (Seriously. get yourself a pair of earplugs and see how that alters your sense of focus on moderately interesting tasks, if it does anything, you should read the book). The TLDR is that when engaging…
on “ADHD, a Lifelong Struggle (2018)” ↗…correct me if I’m saying something dumb) understanding here too is some people are just wired different and can handle more traumatic situations than others. My therapist had me read a book called The Highly Sensitive Person by Dr. Elaine Aron after I told him I was struggling with things I felt a “normal” person should be able to handle just fine. The book made a lot of interesting points about what it means to be sensitive…
on “Was there PTSD in the ancient or medieval world?” ↗…https://psychodramaaustralia.edu.au/sites/default/files/fall... which only caught my eye because of the "A. Aron" author. I'm almost certain this is the husband of Elaine Aron, who launched the identification, qualifier, and description of the "Highly Sensitive Person" (HSP). http://hsperson.com/ Arthur's paper is dated 1997, while Elaine's first book on the HSP type was published in 1996. Which I find to be an interesting correlation in time. More recently, Elaine…
on “How to make a friend fast” ↗…competing sounds (large loud halls full of people having independent conversations), and just general hyper-awareness of everything around oneself. Whether it's accepted or not as "a thing", the book "The Highly Sensitive Person" did mostly describe me. I read the book only recently, so I didn't develop the sensitivities as a result of reading about them :).
on “Everything Is Getting Louder” ↗Thanks, I am playing with the app, it looks great. I got one question what other books did you read on Highly Sensitive Person (HSP)? And if you recommend any? I have been told that I am "Empath" and lately reading up on it (mostly online). Empaths and HSP seems related, based on quick research.
on “I built an app to fix my depression” ↗I read the Book “The Highly Sensitive Person”, and besides the heavy implication that Carl Jung almost had sensory processing difficulties mapped out, it delineates people who think they are introverts or extroverts into two dimensions, and asserts…
on “Ambition as an anxiety disorder” ↗