Asperger's/HFA AND an "HSP" (Highly Sensitive Per

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Can you be both?

I just learned about this condition... I asked this question on another forum:

Sensitivity - both emotional and physical?
Do they tend to go together?

If you're very sensitive to physical pain, are you also extra sensitive to emotional pain, rejection, heartbreak, etc.?

Is there a name for this condition?

Is it related to depression?

And I got this answer:

You may be an HSP person. Don't worry, it is special! It affects 20% of the world's population.

Definition of a Highly Sensitive Person
Highly sensitive people, also known as individuals who are hypersensitive or people with overexcitabilities, are simply otherwise normal human beings who happen to have the as of yet still uncommon trait of being extremely sensitive to stimuli, both internal and external.
Hypersensitivity can be an asset yet more often than not is a handicap because HSP’s, as they are also known, usually are not sufficiently aware of or educated about their very own nature, and so tend to suffer silently. In fact, highly sensitive individuals are often plagued with physical and health problems, occasionally resulting in debilitating physical handicaps when the mismanagement of their lives is not rectified.

Common Symptoms of Hypersensitivity
Following is a list of common symptoms and experiences that highly sensitive people normally suffer from. If in reading the following list of symptoms you find that you can identify with these experiences, there is a good chance you are a highy sensitive person. Recognizing and understanding the phenomenon and its role in your life will be critical to being able to not only live a full, healthy and happy life, but will also be essential in awakening to your divine purpose.
• Easily bothered by sudden or loud noises.
• Troubled by disorder in the environment.
• Unduly affected by the emotions and states of other people.
• Deeply troubled by conflict or violence.
• Sensitive to foods, smells and environmental chemicals.

Hypersensitivity Explained
Highly sensitive people are typically empathic, and this further complicates their lives. Empaths are those who feel very deeply the emotional energy of others, and for the HSP who is untrained in recognizing and understanding the condition so as to be able to learn how to shield and protect oneself from the chaotic and imbalanced energies of other human beings, life can be a living hell simply as a result of the people they are surrounded by.
It appears that a growing percentage of the population are becoming hypersensitive. Some estimates put the ratio at even 15-20% of all people. For the most part, hypersensitivity is a genetically influenced trait, although environmental factors play a significant role in its expression and in the experience of the condition. The increasing energetic chaos of modern life, amplified by technological development, seems to be increasing the occurence of hypersensitivity among human beings.

Drawbacks and Dangers of Being a Highly Sensitive Person
Hypersensitivity which is not properly addressed and managed can lead to even debilitating consequences, affecting every aspect of a person’s life. Here are some of the potential consequences of not understanding and addressing your unique needs.

• Poor Physical Health. An entire slew of physical conditions typically affect highly sensitive people, ranging from mild to serious food sensitivities, allergies, joint and muscle pain. If the trait is unconsidered and aggravated enough, it can eventually leads to auto-immune disorders such as lupus, fibromyalgia and even cancer. The excessive energetic imbalance to which HPS’s are susceptible interferes with proper hormone production and can result even in damaged and inflamed organs, further complicating one’s health condition.

• Emotional Instability. The highly sensitive person can be described as porous, and as such they typically have little defense against the energetic states of other people. Because of their open nature, they are particularly sensitive to anger, conflict, depression and unappiness in others. HSP’s tend to internalize these imbalanced states and emotions as if they were their own, and so may often be plagued with pain in relationships. Consequently, hypersensitive people tend to become irritable and quick to anger, although they tend not to hold onto these emotions. Unfortunately, persistent emotional instability typically leads to some form of substance abuse as a means of coping, and HSP’s can succumb to the abuse of food, alcohol and even drugs.

• Practical Problems. Due to their increased experience with pain, highly sensitive people are often overly cautious and fearful, particularly when making choices. Because they tend to think deeply, they are generally unecessarily encumbered by the fear of consequences even when addressing trivial matters. They tend to be indecisive. And because they feel at a deeper level, they are often more timid, shy, and even reclusive.

• Relationship Trouble. Because “normal” people do not experience things as profoundly as do hypersensitive individuals, their friends and companions often do not understand the extreme sensitivity of HSP’s, in effect wounding them almost continually out of ignorance. Non-HSP systems are different, and whereas a normal individual usually has a much thicker layer of protection against stimuli and energy, the highly sensitive person typically has practically no defense against external chaos. This can lead to extreme complications in relationships with normal people who often simply do not understand what the HSP goes through.


WELL? What do you think? Please take the Poll, and reply with your thoughts!

Oh, and here's the link the person gave - it has an expansion of the above explanation followed by a lot of comments...

highly sensitive person

Obviously you can have both of any conditions. The brain doesn't have to fit into man made catagories.

I'm completely opposite from a HSP though. I've never been able to understand people who get upset over little things. How are they going to deal with bigger problems that life inevidently will give out.
I don't mean to sound rude but I have known people who cry over redicolous things and I don't like having to be careful of what I say or do to accommodate for other peoples feelings when upsetting things are a harsh fact of life.
At the same time I am impaired from my insensitivity because I am unable to understand other people or their feelings whatsoever which has caused me relational problems with others.

When I read Aron's book my first thought was: "that's me", but after a few weeks I thought: "so what?".

I find HSP to be too simplistic a model - it can be co-morbid with virtually any psych condition and this, to my mind, lessens it's potential validity.

Certainly here, on WP, I reckon the "empathic aspie" model is a lot more rigorous - better grounded - so I reckon that adding HSP to the mix tends to confusion rather than clarity.

Since I don't value HSP as a model, I didn't take the poll.

I had it suggested to me that I might be a HSP, so I bought the book and read it and it did sound like me. However, a year or so later, my mum suggested that I might have Asperger's which made more sense. I have been diagnosed with Asperger's now.

What you're really asking is "can you have too much empathy, and too little empathy, at the same time?".

Im not sure aspies really do lack empathy, and im not sure I believe in this HSP jive that I never heard of before.

But assuming that HSP is real, and that aspies really do lack 'empathy' (which is not the same thing as 'sympathy' they say) its probably possible to have both conditions because there are different kinds of sensitivety.

You might be such a dork that you say something insensitive to someone- causing them to get upset (showing you're lack of empathy). But then their upsetness causes you to have a meltdown because you're overly senstive to them being upset.

So I guess its possible to have both seemingly contradictary traits.