The Highly Sensitive Person

I know this is a label that is applied to such people and I do belong to a group for Highly Sensitive People on Facebook. A definition for this personality is....

‘A highly sensitive person is a term coined by certain writers for those who are thought to have an increased or deeper central nervous system sensitivity to physical, emotional, or social stimuli. Some refer to this as having sensory processing sensitivity, or SPS for short. People may have labeled you “highly sensitive” or “too sensitive” in the past and meant it as a negative thing, but this is not necessarily negative as much as it is a personality trait that brings both strengths and challenges.’

I find this interesting and there are various tick box checks to see if you fall into this category. This is one......

https://hsperson.com/test/highly-sensitive-test/

As you can see most of us in Benzo Withdrawal can be described as highly sensitive at this time but what if we were already highly sensitive and then suffer withdrawal from Benzos on top?

I’ve been considering this question for awhile as my own recovery has been so protracted and I was and still am a highly sensitive person with most of the boxes ticked on the above test. If we already have a sensitive nervous system it must become doubly difficult to overcome benzos.

Also, is it because we may be highly sensitive in the first place that benzos are prescribed? This would obviously mean the majority of sufferers in the groups feel bad symptoms because they’re already sensitive.

This is only conjecture but it makes for interesting research. I do think individual sensitivity plays a large part in how we deal with symptoms and react during recovery. From what I’ve learnt being an HSP makes us more compassionate, loving and understanding of others but it’s also going to make us easily upset when other people are suffering and to feel greater emotional and physical pain ourselves. Anyway, I’m just ruminating on this subject really to see where it leads us so please comment. Are you an HSP in benzo withdrawal?

Even highly sensitive people can go on to become stronger, wiser and calmer with all we learn while in benzo land! ❤️