by Helen Richardson

Created on: April 12, 2007   Last Updated: May 02, 2007

Since the dawn of time, mankind has recognized that a certain percentage of its population was more in tune with the world around them and the world within them. These were the people who were shamans, healers, counselors and advisors to the tribe's leaders. Their intuition and ability to read people were treasured because they were able to help mediate conflicts within the group and with other tribes. Their ability to sense slight changes in the weather, the environment, the animals around them, helped people to avoid disaster, to move with the herds they were hunting, and to choose the best places to set up camp.

In todays' Western industrialized societies, the appreciation of people with high levels of sensitivity to stimuli has all but been lost. In fact, we have come to a point where highly sensitive people are at a disadvantage and are considered at best odd, at worst wrong. Many are constantly told that they are too sensitive, that they need to get thicker skin, or that something is just wrong with them.

In addition to the messages from family and society at large, the environment also puts highly sensitive people at a disadvantage, sometimes to the point where they are all but disabled by allergies and illnesses related to pollution and exposure to chemicals in their environment. People who suffer from these diseases such as Fibromyalgia and Chronic Fatigue Syndrome are often told that it's all in their heads, leaving them to feel even more isolated and strange.

In 1996, Dr. Elaine Aron reintroduced the concept of the Highly Sensitive Person to the Western world with her book "The Highly Sensitive Person: How To Thrive When The World Overwhelms You" In it, she explains that being more sensitive to stimuli than other people is an inborn genetic trait, and that humans are not the only animals who experience this phenomenon. About 15 - 20% of vertebrates in a population are usually more sensitive than the rest. These are the organisms who sound the alarm to alert the others when danger is near.

HSPs often suffer from depression and stress related disease because they are easily overwhelmed by the noise, clutter, violence, neon and fluorescent lights, yelling neighbors, car alarms, smoke and pollution that they experience on a day to day basis. While other people are able to screen these intrusions out or just aren't aware of them to begin with, HSPs find it impossible to do this, and tend to shut down or withdraw when overwhelmed. Then they wonder what is

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