Published on 12, July, 2020
About 10 years ago, I discovered the trait called Highly Sensitive Person:
Description here: https://hsperson.com/
I took the test back then, and discovered I was Highly Sensitive. Some of the features are:
I bought the Highly Sensitive Person handbook and it was like getting 'the handbook for how I function'. I should read it again tbh.
So recently I was diagnosed as autistic, as you know, and it just occurred to me that these features would fit an autistic person as well. I wondered if I could be HSP *and* autistic. Or maybe I'm one or the other, not both- maybe one has been mistaken for the other? What do you think?
Thanks for this Kiki. I've read all the descriptors and it's confused me. They all seem to be the same autistic traits that I have and so I'm confused now whether I have a different condition.
I don't think HSP is a condition, Elaine Aron says it's a trait. I think maybe HSP is part of autism, not the other way round. It's hard to say. Scientists/ doctors need to understand the human brain a heck of a lot more before they know.
HSP doesn't take into account other things like executive dysfunction, rigidity of thought, repetitive behaviours, special interests, alexithymia, regulation of emotion. Communication difficulties could look the same but have a different root cause (eg autism / socisl anxiety).