Highly Sensitive Adolescents & Suicide

A highly sensitive person (HSP) is someone with a more sensitive central nervous system than the average person. They are known to have high sensory processing sensitivity (SPS).

Believe it or not, this is responsible for their temperament, making them hyper aware of subtleties in their environment, as well as a potential to be overwhelmed by too much social, physical and emotional stimuli.

Research has found strong neural and genetic factors associated with high sensory processing in 20% of the global population and shared with 100 other species.

What do we know about highly sensitive adolescents?

Highly sensitive adolescents, have higher capacities for introspection, intuition, conscientiousness and perception and being better at spotting and avoiding errors than lower sensitive adolescents. Research has also found that HSP’s have challenging traits, particularly as highly sensitive persons show strong reactions to sensory stimuli and attempt to control the volume of new environmental stimuli, including social contacts.

Compassion fatigue is characterised by emotional and physical exhaustion leading to a diminished ability to empathise or feel compassion for others, often described as the negative cost of caring. HSP’s feel more deeply, they have the capacity to experience another’s experience more vividly and are therefore more prone to experiencing compassion fatigue. But why?

They often do not place sufficiently solid boundaries.
They tend to place themselves as the friend or colleague to turn to, as they show genuine compassion and empathy towards others.
They are more likely to be the animal rescuers, the friend’s counsellor, the justice seeker or the environmental activist.
Due to their vivid emotional experiences, they experience compassion fatigue and may burn out quicker as a result.

As clinical psychologist and sensitivity researcher Elaine Aron writes in her blog, The Highly Sensitive Person, they are likely to experience several bouts of depression throughout their lives, with a deeper sense of despair, sorrow & self-hatred. Many gifted HSP’s struggle with perfectionism and interpret failure as deep fault of character.

Many have to take their sensitivity into every aspect of their life: when dealing with non HSP’s, when socialising, when figuring out their career and when juggling different aspects of their lives.

What about highly sensitive boys?

Many highly sensitive boys have been told to “man up” and “not be so sensitive”, often feeling like their sensitivity is a burden. And this thought pattern if turned to rumination can turn into suicidal ideation. Hence why it is so crucial to raise more awareness on the trait.

Seven things not to say to a highly sensitive (young) person:

1

“Don’t be so sensitive”

2

“Man up” or “grow up”

3

“You’re overreacting”

4

“You’re too young to be in pain”

5

“Stop playing the victim”

6

“You need to stop caring so much”

7

“It could be worse”

If you think your adolescent may be an HSP, they can take a test at Dr Aron’s website. This is not a psychological test, but it can serve as a useful tool to determine what steps to take next.

Sources

Aron, E. N., & Aron, A. (1997). Sensory-processing sensitivity and its relation to introversion and emotionality. Journal of Personality and Social Psychology, 73 (2), 345–368.

Gosling, S. (2001). From mice to men: What can we learn about personality from animal research? Psychological Bulletin, 127 (1), 45-86.

Suicide and High Sensitivity – The Highly Sensitive Person. Hsperson.com. (2016). Retrieved 27 January 2022, from https://hsperson.com/suicide-and-high-sensitivity/.