Serotonin, Stress, and the Emergence of Highly Sensitive Person (HSP) Traits

This article examines how young people in a Swedish online forum and in blogs engage in discussions of one popularized psychological personality trait, the highly sensitive person (HSP), and how they draw on different positionings in discursive struggles around this category. The material is analysed with concepts from discursive psychology and post-structuralist theory in order to investigate youths’ interactions. The first is a nuanced positioning, from which youths disclose the weaknesses and strengths of being highly sensitive. Some youths become deeply invested in this kind of positioning, hence forming a HSP subjectivity. This can be opposed using contrasting positionings, which objects to norms of biosociality connected to the HSP. Lastly, there are rather distanced and investigative approaches to the HSP category. We conclude that while young people are negotiating the HSP category, they are establishing an epistemological community.

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Psychometric Properties Of The Highly Sensitive Person Scale In Mexican Population

Psychology Research and Behavior Management ◽

10.2147/prbm.s224808 ◽

2019 ◽

Vol Volume 12 ◽

pp. 1081-1086

Author(s):

Karina Salud Montoya-Pérez ◽

Jorge Isaac Manuel Ortega ◽

Roberto Montes-Delgado ◽

Ferrán Padrós-Blázquez ◽

Jose Maria De la Roca- Chiapas ◽

...

Keyword(s):

Psychometric Properties ◽

Mexican Population ◽

Highly Sensitive ◽

Sensitive Person

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Sensory Processing Sensitivity Among High-Ability Individuals: A Psychometric Evaluation of the Highly Sensitive Person Scale

Roeper Review ◽

10.1080/02783193.2018.1466840 ◽

2018 ◽

Vol 40 (3) ◽

pp. 166-175 ◽

Cited By ~ 2

Author(s):

Anne N. Rinn ◽

Dianna R. Mullet ◽

Noel Jett ◽

Tara Nyikos

Keyword(s):

Sensory Processing ◽

Psychometric Evaluation ◽

High Ability ◽

Highly Sensitive ◽

Sensory Processing Sensitivity ◽

Sensitive Person

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Understanding the cultural concept of “highly sensitive person” among bipolar patients

European Psychiatry ◽

10.1016/j.eurpsy.2017.01.668 ◽

2017 ◽

Vol 41 (S1) ◽

pp. S514-S514

Author(s):

M. Ioannou ◽

M. Dellepiane ◽

S. Olsson ◽

S. Steingrimsson

Keyword(s):

Bipolar Disorder ◽

Cognitive Processing ◽

Emotional Reactivity ◽

Case Series ◽

Cultural Concepts ◽

Highly Sensitive ◽

Cultural Concepts Of Distress ◽

Bipolar Patients ◽

Cultural Concept ◽

Sensitive Person

IntroductionThe concept of “highly sensitive person” is a cultural concept, which has become popular in western societies including Sweden. A highly sensitive person (HSP) is usually described as having hypersensitivity to external stimuli, different cognitive processing and high emotional reactivity. Although the concept lacks diagnostic validity, psychiatric patients may refer to this concept.AimsTo examine the feasibility of the Cultural Formulation Interview (CFI) and the clinical relevance of cultural concepts of distress among patients with bipolar disorder that report being a HSP.MethodsA case series of three patients with a diagnosis of bipolar disorder that report HSP. The CFI was conducted with all patients and the applicability of the DSM-5 cultural concepts of distress tested.ResultsIn all three cases, the CFI facilitated the clinical consultation as reported from the patients and in one of the cases also increased the treatment engagement. The HSP-concept could be conceptualized as a cultural syndrome, idiom of distress and as an explanatory model.ConclusionThe CFI and the cultural concepts of distress proved to be useful for understanding the concept of HSP as also they increased the cultural validity of the diagnostic interview. The three cases illustrate the challenges when encountering patients with other cultural references than clinicians. This highlights the necessity to integrate anthropological thinking in our current diagnostic work in order to reduce the “category fallacy” and promote a more person-centered approach in psychiatry.Disclosure of interestThe authors have not supplied their declaration of competing interest.

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