Free Resources for HSPs
If you're a Highly Sensitive Person (HSP), then you know the value of resources that can help you manage your sensitivity in healthy, empowering ways. This page presents wellness therapies, educational e-books, and academic papers that focus on self-awareness, emotional regulation, and resilience, plus there's even a mood-lifting, HSP-themed joke-of-the-week at the end. We hope you'll find something here that will help you navigate your daily life with more ease, confidence, and happiness!
WELLNESS THERAPIES
Cognitive Behavioral Therapy
Cognitive Behavioral Therapy (CBT) is a therapeutic approach that helps individuals identify and challenge negative thought patterns, which can often lead to unhelpful emotions and behaviors. For example, with respect to HSPs and their hypersensitivity to criticism, CBT can be quite valuable. Through CBT, HSPs can learn to reframe self-critical or catastrophic thoughts, viewing feedback more objectively rather than as a reflection of their worth. In general, CBT builds tools for self-acceptance and emotional regulation over time, empowering people to display healthier responses to social situations.
Here's a link to a brief overview of CBT:
Brief Overview of CBT
The link below gives accesses to a workbook that details CBT-based steps for treating anxiety disorders:
Anxiety Solution Workbook
Acceptance and Commitment Therapy
Acceptance and Commitment Therapy (ACT) is a psychological approach that encourages individuals to accept their thoughts and feelings, rather than fighting or feeling controlled by them. Rooted in mindfulness and behavioral change principles, ACT focuses on helping people live in alignment with their values despite uncomfortable emotions or thoughts. It emphasizes "psychological flexibility," which is the ability to stay present and make decisions based on values rather than avoidance or fear. Through techniques like mindfulness exercises, values clarification, and committed action, ACT aims to enhance well-being by guiding individuals to embrace a more meaningful, fulfilled life.
Here's a link to a 7-page article by Dr. Russell Harris, a medical practitioner and psychotherapist, that presents a non-technical overview of ACT:
Non-Technical Overview of ACT
The link below gives accesses to a wealth of ACT-related information, including info about books on ACT procedures, papers on the philosophical foundations of ACT, and questionnaires that measure psychological inflexibility:
Collection of ACT Resources
SUMMARIES OF EDUCATIONAL BOOKS
The following link will direct you to a detailed summary by Lanre Dahunsi of the book "The Highly Sensitive Person's Guide to Dealing with Toxic People" by best-selling author and psychologist Shahida Arabi. The book offers HSPs practical strategies to recognize, set boundaries with, and distance from toxic individuals without compromising personal values or empathy.
Summary of The HSPs Guide to Dealing with Toxic People
The link below connects to a 3-page summary by Sevket Akyildiz of the book "On Being an introvert or Highly Sensitive Person: A Guide to Boundaries, Joy, and Meaning" by psychotherapist Ilse Sand. By presenting practical advice on how to build meaningful connections, establish healthy boundaries, and find joy without sacrificing personal well-being, the book offers empathetic guidance to introverts and HSPs looking to thrive in alignment with their authentic self.
Summary of On Being an Introvert or HSP
This link leads to a comprehensive summary of the book "The Highly Sensitive Person: How to Thrive When the World Overwhelms You" by clinical psychologist Elaine Aaron. The book sets out compassionate and scientifically grounded approaches to managing the challenges that sensitivity can bring in relationships, work, and daily life. It's a transformative guide for HSPs seeking to understand and embrace their unique temperament.
Summary of The Highly Sensitive Person
EDUCATIONAL eBOOKS
Here's a link to the academic handbook "Psychological Aspects of Human High Sensitivity: Concepts - Identification - Support". The handbook is an invaluable academic resource that provides rigorous research-based concepts about sensitivity, clear methods for identifying HSPs (both children and adults), and institutional strategies tailored to supporting HSPs across various life contexts, including education, mental health, and workplace environments.
Psychological Aspects of Human High Sensitivity
This link will take you to the book "Wholistic Healing for the Highly Sensitive Person" by gifted psychotherapist and healer Daniel Benor. The book will help you understand how wonderful the universe is, and how, by practicing principles of wholistic psychotherapy, you can participate more fully in making this the best universe you and all other consciousness on this planet can experience. Dr. Benor combines scientific insights with spiritual wisdom, creating a well-rounded approach that respects the complex nature of sensitivity.
Wholistic Healing for the HSP
ACADEMIC PAPERS
The following links to the peer-reviewed paper entitled "The functional highly sensitive brain: A review of the brain circuits underlying sensory processing sensitivity and seemingly related disorders" by Bianca Acevedo et al. The paper elucidates the neural markers and cardinal features of the highly sensitive brain that distinguish it from the brains associated with other seemingly related behavioral taxonomies.
The Functional Highly Sensitive Brain
The paper linked to below, "What Does It Mean To Be Sensitive? Serotonin, Stress, and the Highly Sensitive Person" by Alessandra Suuberg, reviews research on the genetic and neurological bases of sensory processing sensitivity and explores how that research might be applied to the development of targeted interventions for HSPs.
What does it mean to be sensitive?
STRESS-RELIEVING JOKE OF THE WEEK
Three guys go in for a job interview.
The first guy goes in and slays it; best job interview he’s ever done in his life. End of the interview comes around, the interviewer says:
“By the way, do you notice anything strange about me?”
“Yeah,” says the guy. “You don’t have any EARS!”
“I’m sorry,” says the interviewer, “but I’m very sensitive about my ears, I’m afraid you’re not the right person for this job, get out of my office!”
The second guy goes in, it’s the same thing, he is doing amazing, best job interview ever. Talks himself into 20K a year more than the advertised salary.
The end of the interview comes around, and the interviewer says:
“By the way, do you notice anything strange about me?”
“Yeah,” says the guy. “You don’t have any EARS, man!”
“I’m sorry,” says the interviewer, “but I’m very sensitive about my ears, I’m afraid you’re not the right person for this job, get the hell out of my office!”
So the third guy’s about to go in, but the first and second guy stop him and warn him.
“Hey, I don’t care how good you’re doing, how comfortable you feel, don’t say ANYTHING about his ears, he’ll throw you right out!”
So the third guy goes in. Again, same thing, an AMAZING interview.
The end of the interview comes around, and the interviewer says:
“By the way, do you notice anything strange about me?”
Third guy looks real close, squints his eyes a bit and says, “Yeah. You wear contact lenses, don’t you?”
“WOW!” says the interviewer, “That is REALLY perceptive of you! How did you know?”
“Well,” says guy three, “you sure as hell couldn’t wear glasses!”