Subject: RE: a rare condition
From: Suzanne Morine (suzannem@dimensional.com)
Date: Sat Jun 16 2001 - 00:42:35 GMT
Obligatory Salinger reference: there is no doubt in my mind that J.D.
Salinger is highly sensitive. He notices and notes all sorts of nuances and
is interested in the spiritual part of life. And he tends to avoid people a
little bit. :-) Also relevant to this list, it follows that many of his
fans are highly sensitive. They and other readers may find the following
book and quotes from it interesting and even helpful.
At 08:07 AM 6/15/2001 -0700, you wrote:
> The debate about sensitivity/unsensivity is not
>really the point to me. We all are sensitive, but some
>are just more lucid and conscious than others: it
>makes them look more sensitive...
The book, "The Highly Sensitive Person," by Elaine N. Aron Ph.D. disagrees
with that. The rest of this post is some quotes from it.
Contrary to the subject line, HSPs might make up 15-20% of the population:
"People differ considerably in how much their nervous system is aroused in
the same situation, under the same stimulation. The difference is largely
inherited in all higher animals - mice, cats, dogs, horses, monkeys,
humans. Within a species, the percentage that is very sensitive to
stimulation is usually about the same, around 15-20 percent. Just as some
within a species are a little bigger in size than others, some are a little
more sensitive. In fact, through careful breeding of animals, mating the
sensitive ones to each other can create a sensitive strain in just a few
generations. In short, among inborn traits of temperament, this one creates
the most dramatic, observable differences." pages 6-7.
Descriptions of the trait, including mention of a couple of studies:
"The downside of the trait shows up at more intense levels of stimulation.
What is moderately arousing for most people is highly arousing for HSPs.
What is highly arousing for most people causes an HSP to become very
frazzled indeed, until they reach a shutdown point called "transmarginal
inhibition." [That] was first discussed around the turn of the century by
the Russian physiologist Ivan Pavlov, who was convinced that the most basic
inherited difference among people was how soon they reach this shutdown
point and that [HSPs] have a fundamentally different type of nervous system.
"No one likes being overaroused, HSP or not. A person feels out of
control, and the whole body warns that it is in trouble. Overarousal often
means failing to perform at one's best. ..
"Like the fire department, we HSPs mostly respond to false alarms. But
if our sensitivity saves a life even once, it is a trait that has a genetic
payoff. So, yes, when our trait leads to overarousal, it is a nuisance. But
it is part of a package deal with many advantages. ..
"Stimulation is anything that wakes up the nervous system, gets its
attention, makes the nerves fire off another round of the little electrical
charges that they carry. We usually think of stimulation as coming from the
outside, but of course it can come from our body .. or as memories,
fantasies, thoughts, or plans. .. [and] the same stimulus can have
different meanings for different people ..
"Obviously it would help if we were enlightened and detached from all of
these associations so that nothing could arouse us. No wonder so many HSPs
become interested in spiritual paths." p. 7-9
[Research study on cultural values] compared 480 schoolchildren in Shanghai
to 296 in Canada to see what traits made children most popular. In China
"shy" and "sensitive" children were among those most chosen by others to be
friends or playmates. .. In Canada, shy and sensitive children were among
the least chosen."
Suzanne
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