Therapy for Highly Sensitive People

Ever feel like you’re a human tuning fork? Therapy for HSPs can help.

As a highly sensitive therapist and empath based in Oakland, CA, I provide psycho-spiritual depth psychotherapy specifically tailored for folks who share these extraordinary gifts.

High sensitivity is an innate trait, not a diagnosis. Highly sensitive people are often conscientious, creative, detail-oriented, compassionate, emotional, connected to nature, and spiritual. Yet sensitives often struggle with overstimulation, overwhelm, distress due to change, people-pleasing, perfectionism and higher rates of depression, anxiety, and PTSD.

Highly Sensitive People Have Sensory Processing Sensitivity

According to Dr. Elaine Aron, highly sensitive people (HSPs) make up about 20% of the population. If you are highly sensitive, that means you’re surrounded by people who don’t understand your needs.  You may be accustomed to pushing yourself through states of overwhelm, over-stimulation, anxiety and exhaustion. If you were a highly sensitive child and never had help with embracing and respecting the trait you were born with, you might be suffering in all kinds of ways (including from C-PTSD).

Due to the sensory processing sensitivity highly sensitive people struggle with, you may have an aversion to bright lights, loud noises, unpleasant smells, harsh fabrics or tags, other people’s energy, certain foods, medications, and substances.

High Sensitivity: Blessing or Curse?

Highly sensitive people are generally prone to shame and feeling criticized. You may have been told you were “too sensitive” or “overly emotional.” Most HSPs respond best when treated with genuine warmth and gentleness. That’s why it is important to work with a therapist who understands the trait and can provide the emotional environment that you need to feel safe and thrive in. Instead of feeling like your sensory processing sensitivity is a burden to yourself and others, you can learn to cherish it as one of the most beautiful aspects of who you are.

If you grew up with caregivers who couldn’t respond to your sensitive needs in a way that made you feel understood, secure and validated, this can lead to lower self-esteem and feelings of depression and anxiety later in life. HSPs often need more affection and emotional contact to feel safe; if this was something you didn’t get enough of; you might be suffering from complex trauma.

If you’d like help as a highly sensitive person, reach out.

Empaths: Managing and Embracing Your Gift

Being an empath might feel like a blessing and a curse. Feeling others’ emotions is exhausting, and can be extremely painful. At the same time, you might like that people turn to you for support. Perhaps you appreciate your depth of feeling because you feel all emotions to a greater degree.

Yet managing your empathic gift may not come easy to you. You soak it all in. At times, it feels like you have no skin or protective barrier. Learning ways of managing your emotional and energetic boundaries, and clearing them, can make all the difference in how you feel and move through life.

Empaths usually have a rich emotional life. You recharge by spending time alone, with animals, or in nature. Yet empaths often struggle to identify if what they’re feeling is theirs, or if it belongs to someone else. Distinguishing what emotions belong to whom is often an important practice in letting go and separating yourself from the pain of the world, which can be crushing. Sometimes empaths take on and feel responsible for other people’s emotions, leading to co-dependent relationship patterns and even physical illness.

Life is hard enough; you know this better than anyone! Why continue to suffer when there’s a way to embrace who you are, protect yourself, let go, and feel more joy?

Why I Work with HSPs and Empaths

It’s simple. I identify as both. Sometimes it takes one to know one; and I mean REALLY know one. People who feel deeply often make wonderful healers, yet struggle with burn out, isolation, overwhelm and depletion. I’ve had to navigate taking care of myself while deeply caring for others. Since I literally feel your pain, I also have to find ways to release and transform what I take in. If you would like help navigating your gift as a highly sensitive person or empath, please reach out.

Harm Reduction for Highly Sensitive People Who Use Cannabis and Psychedelics

Highly sensitive people already have sensory processing sensitivities. Psychedelics and cannabis can heighten sensory experience to an even greater degree. Please see my blog post on this subject for further information and harm reduction tips when it comes to using these substances as an HSP.

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