Aspergers VS. Highly Sensetive Person???

Page 1 of 3 [ 44 posts ]  Go to page 1, 2, 3  Next

CaptainTrips222
Veteran
Veteran

User avatar

Joined: 30 Mar 2009
Age: 42
Gender: Male
Posts: 3,100

24 Aug 2010, 1:15 pm

HSP (Highly sensetive person) and HFA and aspergers sound so similar. I wonder if some of us only have HSP?



MrXxx
Veteran
Veteran

User avatar

Joined: 11 May 2010
Age: 63
Gender: Male
Posts: 5,760
Location: New England

24 Aug 2010, 1:21 pm

Asperger's is completely different. The difference is in why we are sensitive. And not all us of are by the way. I'm extremely thick skinned. :wink:


_________________
I'm not likely to be around much longer. As before when I first signed up here years ago, I'm finding that after a long hiatus, and after only a few days back on here, I'm spending way too much time here again already. So I'm requesting my account be locked, banned or whatever. It's just time. Until then, well, I dunno...


buryuntime
Veteran
Veteran

User avatar

Joined: 6 Dec 2008
Age: 86
Gender: Female
Posts: 3,662

24 Aug 2010, 1:26 pm

I don't believe a "highly sensitive person" is a diagnostic term that is in anyway taken seriously.



CaptainTrips222
Veteran
Veteran

User avatar

Joined: 30 Mar 2009
Age: 42
Gender: Male
Posts: 3,100

24 Aug 2010, 1:32 pm

buryuntime wrote:
I don't believe a "highly sensitive person" is a diagnostic term that is in anyway taken seriously.


Oh, excuse me. Thank you for taking time out of your day to point that out.



CaptainTrips222
Veteran
Veteran

User avatar

Joined: 30 Mar 2009
Age: 42
Gender: Male
Posts: 3,100

24 Aug 2010, 1:34 pm

MrXxx wrote:
Asperger's is completely different. The difference is in why we are sensitive. And not all us of are by the way. I'm extremely thick skinned. :wink:


I don't see how. I think most of the people who are considered highly sensitive people sound like aspies. And no, not everyone has the same traits.



tenzinsmom
Toucan
Toucan

User avatar

Joined: 7 Apr 2010
Age: 52
Gender: Female
Posts: 273
Location: Seattle

24 Aug 2010, 1:42 pm

I hope you don't mind me piping in here as an NT....

I identify as a Highly Sensitive Person (HSP), and I have toyed with the idea that I have AS.

Finally, I realized that I can't have AS, because my body is all linked up in a typical way.

I don't get completely overwhelmed by things like social situations. I can monitor my thoughts, speak them, monitor someone's reaction, feel my body, do another activity all that the same time. Without stress. I'd say that makes me NT.


When I look at autism as a (whole body) systems integration difference, I can easily see how I can't possibly have autism. While I'm aware of the details and nuances in any given situation, and can get overly stimulated by too much going on, I can still deal with people and situations in a typical way.

I'm different than your average neurotypical in that I don't care for social chitchat, BS, prejudice, hypocracy, cruelty, and will say the truth to my detriment. I don't have a lot of friends because I want genuine friendship, and I don't say things I don't mean. I ponder things deeply and I'm affected by things most people aren't affected by. That's about 15-20 % of the population at large, according to Elaine Aron, the researcher who named HSP.

Still, I am capable of lying, can easily make friends if I choose to, and can multi-task for days until I collapse.

I relate to autism, because I'm very very sensitive but I don't have asperger's because I can live and function in the NT world, without accomodation. I get lonely because I have ideas most people can't relate to, but that doesn't make me autistic.

I don't particularly like the set up but I can manage within it.

And, even though it doesn't really relate I want to share a quote from my friend who happens to have AS, " I am in love with diversity of every kind."

Just because it's such a cool quote and it's true for me too.

HSP and Aspies unite!


_________________
"Every day is a journey, and the journey itself is home." -Basho


tenzinsmom
Toucan
Toucan

User avatar

Joined: 7 Apr 2010
Age: 52
Gender: Female
Posts: 273
Location: Seattle

24 Aug 2010, 1:46 pm

buryuntime wrote:
I don't believe a "highly sensitive person" is a diagnostic term that is in anyway taken seriously.



I agree with you, but I hope that someday it is taken seriously.

It really helped me find self-acceptance.


_________________
"Every day is a journey, and the journey itself is home." -Basho


Ravenclawgurl
Veteran
Veteran

User avatar

Joined: 19 Jun 2007
Age: 34
Gender: Female
Posts: 1,274
Location: somewhere over the rainbow

24 Aug 2010, 1:47 pm

i have a theory that it part of the continuum like that many that are HSPs are actually broader autistic phenotype



CaptainTrips222
Veteran
Veteran

User avatar

Joined: 30 Mar 2009
Age: 42
Gender: Male
Posts: 3,100

24 Aug 2010, 3:28 pm

tenzinsmom wrote:
I hope you don't mind me piping in here as an NT....

I identify as a Highly Sensitive Person (HSP), and I have toyed with the idea that I have AS.

Finally, I realized that I can't have AS, because my body is all linked up in a typical way.

I don't get completely overwhelmed by things like social situations. I can monitor my thoughts, speak them, monitor someone's reaction, feel my body, do another activity all that the same time. Without stress. I'd say that makes me NT.


When I look at autism as a (whole body) systems integration difference, I can easily see how I can't possibly have autism. While I'm aware of the details and nuances in any given situation, and can get overly stimulated by too much going on, I can still deal with people and situations in a typical way.

I'm different than your average neurotypical in that I don't care for social chitchat, BS, prejudice, hypocracy, cruelty, and will say the truth to my detriment. I don't have a lot of friends because I want genuine friendship, and I don't say things I don't mean. I ponder things deeply and I'm affected by things most people aren't affected by. That's about 15-20 % of the population at large, according to Elaine Aron, the researcher who named HSP.

Still, I am capable of lying, can easily make friends if I choose to, and can multi-task for days until I collapse.

I relate to autism, because I'm very very sensitive but I don't have asperger's because I can live and function in the NT world, without accomodation. I get lonely because I have ideas most people can't relate to, but that doesn't make me autistic.

I don't particularly like the set up but I can manage within it.

And, even though it doesn't really relate I want to share a quote from my friend who happens to have AS, " I am in love with diversity of every kind."

Just because it's such a cool quote and it's true for me too.

HSP and Aspies unite!


You sound just like me, except you make friends easily. I for the most part don't feel comfortable enough around most people to enjoy their company, so it never works in the long run.



Leekduck
Veteran
Veteran

User avatar

Joined: 31 May 2010
Age: 30
Gender: Male
Posts: 620
Location: Britain

24 Aug 2010, 4:08 pm

lolno we are indifferent gits



CockneyRebel
Veteran
Veteran

User avatar

Joined: 17 Jul 2004
Age: 49
Gender: Male
Posts: 113,289
Location: Stalag 13

24 Aug 2010, 4:11 pm

I'm both an aspie and a Highly Sensitive Person.


_________________
Who wants to adopt a Sweet Pea?


Callista
Veteran
Veteran

User avatar

Joined: 3 Feb 2006
Age: 41
Gender: Female
Posts: 10,775
Location: Ohio, USA

24 Aug 2010, 4:18 pm

CaptainTrips222 wrote:
buryuntime wrote:
I don't believe a "highly sensitive person" is a diagnostic term that is in anyway taken seriously.


Oh, excuse me. Thank you for taking time out of your day to point that out.
Actually, I think he (she?) has a point; it's not a diagnostic category, more of a phenomenon that spans multiple diagnostic categories.

The main ones are:
-Sensory integration disorder
-Auditory processing disorder
-Attention deficit disorder
-Autism, in its various forms
-Drug and food sensitivity and allergy
-The "hyper-empathic" trait of borderline personality

It's not a diagnosis, per se; it seems more like some kind of a... oh, I dunno, something that various diagnoses have in common. And it can probably be found in people who are functioning fine and don't need to be diagnosed with anything.


_________________
Reports from a Resident Alien:
http://chaoticidealism.livejournal.com

Autism Memorial:
http://autism-memorial.livejournal.com


MoralAnimal
Tufted Titmouse
Tufted Titmouse

User avatar

Joined: 30 May 2010
Age: 36
Gender: Female
Posts: 45

24 Aug 2010, 6:50 pm

tenzinsmom wrote:
I hope you don't mind me piping in here as an NT....

I identify as a Highly Sensitive Person (HSP), and I have toyed with the idea that I have AS.

Finally, I realized that I can't have AS, because my body is all linked up in a typical way.

I don't get completely overwhelmed by things like social situations. I can monitor my thoughts, speak them, monitor someone's reaction, feel my body, do another activity all that the same time. Without stress. I'd say that makes me NT.


When I look at autism as a (whole body) systems integration difference, I can easily see how I can't possibly have autism. While I'm aware of the details and nuances in any given situation, and can get overly stimulated by too much going on, I can still deal with people and situations in a typical way.

I'm different than your average neurotypical in that I don't care for social chitchat, BS, prejudice, hypocracy, cruelty, and will say the truth to my detriment. I don't have a lot of friends because I want genuine friendship, and I don't say things I don't mean. I ponder things deeply and I'm affected by things most people aren't affected by. That's about 15-20 % of the population at large, according to Elaine Aron, the researcher who named HSP.

Still, I am capable of lying, can easily make friends if I choose to, and can multi-task for days until I collapse.

I relate to autism, because I'm very very sensitive but I don't have asperger's because I can live and function in the NT world, without accomodation. I get lonely because I have ideas most people can't relate to, but that doesn't make me autistic.

I don't particularly like the set up but I can manage within it.

And, even though it doesn't really relate I want to share a quote from my friend who happens to have AS, " I am in love with diversity of every kind."

Just because it's such a cool quote and it's true for me too.

HSP and Aspies unite!


Thank you for saying this! I am recently diagnosed and this has been a subject I have contemplated for a while now and this puts a lot into perspective for me.

I am super sensitive and it has always been a problem. After many years of therapy, acupuncture, and energy work I realized the blessing of being sensitive and also how being sensitive you can be easily overwhelmed too. I was overwhelmed as a child (abuse, etc) and I became very very thick skinned because I just shut down. Now I've come out from behind my wall (at least the pieces I can bring down) and am learning to work with the sensory overload and figure out what exactly makes me an aspie and how that can help me be more a more functioning person in the world instead of overwhelmed and shut down because I don't know what is overwhelming me. One thing that I do know, being hyper-sensitive is making me very successful in school studying holistic medicine and is helping me be a great therapist!


_________________
And the day came when the risk to remain tight in a bud was more painful than the risk it took to blossom. ~ Anais Nin


ladyrain
Toucan
Toucan

User avatar

Joined: 21 Apr 2010
Age: 64
Gender: Female
Posts: 262
Location: UK

24 Aug 2010, 10:21 pm

I would say that I'm a Highly Sensitive Person, and certainly identify with much on the HSP website, but I think someone who is emotionally responsive and bursts into tears over other people's every little problem would also describe themselves as highly sensitive. I'm not like that, I respond dispassionately to other people, at least outwardly, but many things touch me deeply.

I think a wide range of people could fit HSP, so it is perfectly reasonable that some people on the spectrum do. And I do wonder whether some women who see themselves as sensitive could be part of the contingent of 'missing' autistic women.

It depends whether you personally equate sensitive with how you respond internally (which I do) or with how you respond externally (which I don't). Can there be sensitive extroverts? I suspect that in a large gathering of self-identified HSPs I would find some too emotionally exhausting to be around. Way too touchy-feely and attendent upon other people's 'needs'.

And as tenzinsmom said, HSP doesn't really cover AS symptomology.

In a way AS could be more like the ability to be both sensitive AND tough - because you have to learn to be tough to keep getting by.



MrXxx
Veteran
Veteran

User avatar

Joined: 11 May 2010
Age: 63
Gender: Male
Posts: 5,760
Location: New England

24 Aug 2010, 10:45 pm

CaptainTrips222 wrote:
MrXxx wrote:
Asperger's is completely different. The difference is in why we are sensitive. And not all us of are by the way. I'm extremely thick skinned. :wink:


I don't see how. I think most of the people who are considered highly sensitive people sound like aspies. And no, not everyone has the same traits.


Please don't take offense to this, because I know I'm being blunt, but I just want to get an important point across as briefly as possible.

You need to research the matter more. Sounding similar and appearing similar to people who do not have Asperger's, is a common problem in non Aspies seeing or accepting that people who have Asperger's actually have it. If you aren't familiar with that fairly common knowledge, you really need to read a lot more about the subject. The reason you don't see how they are very different is because you don't yet know enough about it. Read read read, and then read some more. Invest in some books about it. It's the only way for anyone to learn the difference.

I'll say it again. The difference lies in WHY we are sensitive, if we even are. Not all of us are. I'm not. I used to be, but not anymore.

Most importantly: Sensitivity is not a required symptom of Asperger's Syndrome. It isn't even in the criteria, so this issue isn't relevant to whether anyone does or does not have Asperger's.

Sensitivity has nothing to do with having or not having Asperger's. Having Asperger's though, CAN be a very indirect cause of sensitivity. How it causes it is more complicated than typical sensitivity. Researching it or living it is the only real way to learn how and why that is.


_________________
I'm not likely to be around much longer. As before when I first signed up here years ago, I'm finding that after a long hiatus, and after only a few days back on here, I'm spending way too much time here again already. So I'm requesting my account be locked, banned or whatever. It's just time. Until then, well, I dunno...


CockneyRebel
Veteran
Veteran

User avatar

Joined: 17 Jul 2004
Age: 49
Gender: Male
Posts: 113,289
Location: Stalag 13

24 Aug 2010, 11:05 pm

Believe me. You don't want to be both.


_________________
Who wants to adopt a Sweet Pea?