Highly Sensitive Person and Autism

That was my thinking too.

Well yes, it is American.  However, it's still widely used in the UK and they certainly used the criteria when I was diagnosed a couple of years ago.  My preference would have been for my difference to be identified and accommodated in childhood and I feel a bit negative about what I consider to be important aspects of myself to come under a diagnosis.    Plus I ended up getting a few unnecessary diagnoses due to the general ignorance about autism and so much being ascribed to something else.

All of the HSP stuff certainly threw me off the scent and prevented me from understanding my identity for years.   

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).

All of those describe me. But aren't they just symptoms of autism? Maybe it's a subset of autism, a set of symptoms that are grouped together?

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 agree 100% about modern life.

Just imagine- for most of human history we've lived in small communities where everyone knew each other; life was pretty slow, basic, quiet (i.e. no engines, noise pollution etc); there were very strict social rules (easy to follow); everyone knew their place in society and what was expected of them; food was homegrown and nutritious.

In the 21st century, that's all been turned on its head. Communities are almost non existent; people live in big cities, not knowing many people; neighbours generally don't know each other; life moves very fast, it's busy, noisy, a vast number of options to confuse us; there are almost no social rules and hierarchies; food is highly processed, less nutritious with many unhealthy additives.

No one knows what's expected of them anymore, what to do, where to go...

No wonder autistic people are completely confused, lonely, isolated, overwhelmed!!

Most people on the NAS site (including me) say that the pandemic and lockdown have either made no difference to their quiet life, or improved it. Probably because it has slowed life down, made it simpler, made people pull together more in communities.

e.g. queueing. I find it much easier now because queues are orderly, people keep their distance and don't push and shove.

Life is just too complicated for most people now with too many choices, and autistic people are suffering the most because it's overwhelming.

However...I fear that Covid is just the start of the viruses and more will come from now on, probably more aggressive ones. So life may have to slow down and be more regimented, as it was in the past. For better or worse.

This sounds a lot like me!

Yes. That describes me also.

Maybe this is why more autistic people are being diagnosed- modern life is forcing us into the open!

this is exactly what I believe or what I believe all the evidence I’ve found is pointing toward. and some research that barely touched on the matter but absolutely pointed toward it from the late 60s-80s  

I’ll have a look at the names you’ve mentioned. The fun thing about research is it can always be overturned with one new variable! 

So you aren't emotionless and cold hearted like people think autistic people are, I wonder if that means you're highly sensitive too?

I’m definitely an emotional guy! The thing I find is that my emotions get kind’a mixed up. I’ll cry at a random advert on TV, but a paramedic calls and says my father could die at any moment, and my reaction was “oh well!”

Yes!

Oh that's interesting, because from what I've read, HSP is carefully distinguished from autism e.g. Elaine Aron's work, Jenn Granneman and Andre Sólo, Caroline van Kimmenade etc. People say 'oh you're just autistic, don't give it a fancy name' but all these HSP experts deny it.

My brain is definitely hyperactive, haha!

I totally agree with you about being at the particular mark in history! I'm positive that autistic people lived more happily til fairly recently because life was much slower, less complicated, less pollution of every kind, more nutritious food, clearer social rules and hierarchy etc. Maybe this is why more autistic people are being diagnosed- modern life is forcing us into the open!

Top marks for deduction!

I've spent my life in the self help aisle too, lol!

I personally think that human brains are soooooooo complicated that it's going to take many more decades for scientists and doctors to work us out. That is if we don't end ourselves before that.

There are probably more conditions than we know about now and they must be interrelated. But how...

Is the DSM the American text book?

That's interesting. Although all the HSP books I've read say that HSPs are neurologically wired differently too. There must be a crossover.

I agree with you. People think autistic people are cold hearted and emotionless, but more like we have lots of emotions we're struggling with inside. Especially women IMO because we have more emotions. I don't think men have so many emotions running through them all the time. Most women I know overanalyse everything. Most men I know just take things at face value and/or don't read into them. Obviously I don't know everyone on Earth but I've known a lot of people to make a conclusion.

I can be particularly jumpy and overreactove when distracted.

From what I've read HSP is one part of Being Autistic. OR on the Autism Spectrum. Neuro-imaging suggests the Autistic brain network is hyper-active, which might contribute to it. Lacan suggested the psychoanalytical view that due to language problems, Autistics would have a problem receiving the right social "coding" to dull their senses in order to operate in society. 

We might be at a particular mark in history where sounds, scent, lights, foods, etc., are all crafted in ways which our senses don't naturally interact with. 

Sounds all too familiar.  I have spent half a lifetime in the self help aisles of bookshops and much of this has been focussed on anxiety, introversion and, more recently being a HSP.  I related very strongly to this and thought I'd finally discovered the truth about myself.  But no, I was autistic all along.  

As I now see it, I'm not a HSP as well as autistic.  Autistic covers it all.  This is something that many have noticed and there used to be a detailed (but I thought rather wishy-washy) rebuttal of them being the same thing on Elaine Aron's website.  I've just looked and it's recently been changed to read:

"Autistic diagnoses can be complex and dynamic. This area is not Elaine’s specialty, and she does not keep up on current research. This topic deserves accuracy and respect. Therefore, we advise those looking for more information to seek out autism experts. Just be certain they understand something about innate temperaments such as high sensitivity as well."

Either way, she distances herself from the subject and I suspect that's because it kept cropping up and the difference wasn't that clear.  

I would say that high sensitivity is one of our core traits, leastways in my family, and it's something that just doesn't yet feature in the DSM (assuming that publication to have any worth or validity).   I think it's central though, and that in time the huge overlap is bound to be clarified.  

I have to admit to having similar thoughts about extreme anxiety.  Mine was always associated with sensitivity and I went through various rounds of therapy and courses with Anxiety UK to try to help.  Nobody EVER mentioned autism and I'm not sure whether it's mentioned even now on the Anxiety UK website.  Perhaps if it had been, or if it had appeared in any of the many books I read about anxiety, I would have been at least able to self identify before the age of 55!  

To me it feels as though too many organisations and individuals working within the self help sector just ignore the possibility of autism and this can reinforce the barriers to people understanding their own identity.  Given the quite severe consequences within my family, I feel quite angry about this.  

Hi, I had this same thought only a few days ago and the answer that came to me was this - yes, we are highly sensitive beings which has strong similarities/crossovers with autism; however, for me anyway, I see the highly sensitive part of me as directly related to my ‘true self’ and the autism part is more like the physical aspect of me, the part where I’m neurologically wired differently to most people, the part that my highly sensitive self/true self works through. So it is helpful to me to understand myself through the framework of autism when thinking about my physical being, including sensitivity’s to sounds etc and to understand my highly sensitive nature as being my true self which is naturally sensitive to the things of this world because it isn’t of this world, it’s in the world but it’s source is of a higher dimension.