Online Therapy for Highly Sensitive People & Empaths

Are You Highly Sensitive?

A highly sensitive person (HSP) is someone who has a rich inner life. A beautiful song or work of art might make them tear up. Often highly valued by others in their lives for their empathy, creativity and intuition, they’re deep thinkers, pausing before taking action to consider all the angles. About 70 percent of HSPs are introverted.

They may struggle with saying no, feeling they’re letting others down if they don’t meet all their needs. Change can be challenging for highly sensitive people. They often experience physical symptoms as a response to stress, and may be acutely aware of strong smells, bright lights and loud noises.  It often feels unsafe to share deep emotions with others because rejection feels so scary. They may have been in partnerships that were abusive or that felt like they were never truly “seen”. 

Being highly sensitive is not a disorder, but a personality trait shared by 15-20% of the population. It’s a sensory processing sensitivity where all sensory input is processed at a deeper level than many people experience. In a culture where being hair-trigger decisive and bold is valued, those with this trait can feel like something is wrong with them, and they’ve often been told they’re “too much”: too emotional, too sensitive, too uptight, too shy, too intense, too introspective. The truth is that highly sensitive folks have many brilliant strengths, but are often going by a playbook that wasn’t written for them.

Are You An Empath?

Empaths share many traits with highly sensitive people, but also have some additional qualities. Empaths share a deep appreciation of nature and beauty with HSPs, Like HSPs, they need extra time to unwind after a busy day and tend to have finely tuned senses. 

Empaths experience the emotions and sometimes physical sensations of others on a deeply energetic level, and can find it difficult to distinguish between their own emotions or pain and someone else’s. 

While highly sensitive people are often very observant of others’ emotions, empaths can feel like they are absorbing other people’s emotions. Empaths might notice that their emotions significantly change for no discernible reason depending on who is around them or what’s happening at the moment. 

This is a gift as it allows them to deeply connect with others, but it can also be disorienting if empaths are unaware of this quality or ways to turn it down when needed. Many empaths are likely also HSPs, though they can be introverted or extroverted. And yes, you can be an empath and an HSP.