Are you a highly sensitive person (HSP)? If you’re an HSP, you have a form of neurodivergence that causes you to experience sights, sounds, smells, tastes, and tactile sensations in an intense way.
You’ll also be highly attuned to the emotional energy of others, making you an empath who can often experience other’s feelings as your own.
You might be called “hypersensitive,” “touchy,” “thinned-skin,” “melodramatic,” and other labels by those who don’t understand your sensitivity.
As a result, you may feel different, weird, like something is “wrong” with you, or perhaps even broken, and this can cause you to feel isolated from others because they can’t relate to your way of perceiving and experiencing life.
Highly sensitive people often struggle with processing all of the sensory input they experience each day and may experience more burnout, anxiety, and depression than others.
However, at the same time, the intensity of an HSP’s neurodivergence means that they are more prone to having experiences of ecstasy, deep connection with life, and even spiritual states of awareness (such as spontaneous trance states or kundalini awakenings).
In other words, being an empathic HSP can be both a blessing and a curse!
Highly Sensitive Person Test
Remember to take this free highly sensitive person test with a grain of salt. It’s not meant to replace your own inner intuition and self-knowledge. Instead, this highly sensitive person test is meant to be used as a form of self-reflection and self-discovery.
This highly sensitive person test uses the DOES model to formulate its questions:
- D – Depth of Processing
- O – Overstimulation
- E – Emotional Reactivity / Empathy
- S – Sensing the Subtle
I hope you enjoy taking this free highly sensitive person test, and if you have any questions, share them in the comments!
Test Yourself Below!
What did you get?
Share your results!
Well, I should have guessed I wasn’t highly sensitive. I basically just sense energy currents and fields. Sometimes I feel like thoughts are coming to me instead of from me, and there is a very subtle energy that I find occasionally that I equate with balance, which I can only feel recieved by my face. This last category is nice, because I do not feel pressured to respond in any particular way.
Thank you for sharing this Mason 💛 what an interesting way to experience life!
Not at all, there is precedence to all of it. I can point to Daoism at least in the case of energy currents and fields, claircognizance for the thoughts, and… Well, in that last case, I’m not so certain, but there is that Bob Dylan line that fits pretty well: “The ghost of electricity howls in the bones of her face.” (Visions of Johanna)
Thank you gals and guys for the tests! You are one of the view good websites with good content that isn’t clickbait and shallow. I love the personality quizzes!! I would like an article about high sensitivity (if any of you have good advise) because i’m struggling with it. And yes high sensitivity especially means being very empathetic and feeling too much. The current political and social situation depresses me. I can’t stand injustice. Sometimes emotions or feelings are too overwhelming. In this world being highly sensitive is a burden. It’s survival of the fittest but i want love,safety,compassion etc i want people to be happy and compassionate. But in this world or human matrix you can only be on top if you are indifferent and taff or sometimes evil as in corrupt and greedy. Sorry i don’t know how to put it in words and describe what i want to say. I just struggle with being highly sensitive. I hope they do more research on that topic and develop tips and tricks for hs people. I’m also starting to feel tired of life because all is too much and it looks like that there is more negative/destructive/evil out there than there is good. And nothing and no one gives a crap about the world or justice or us. There is no god. There is no karma
As a highly sensitive person myself, I can relate to so much of what you share Imisssummer. The overwhelm, the exhaustion, the existential anxiety, and the influx of intense sensory input in a world made for capitalistic consumerism. You’re not alone my love 💗
You asked for a few resources. I’d recommend you read my article on thriving in this world as an HSP: https://lonerwolf.com/highly-sensitive-person-hsp/ And also this one on dealing with sadness as an HSP: https://lonerwolf.com/sadness-sensitive-person/ The Awakened Empath book can also be of great nourishment to you: https://shop.lonerwolf.com/product/awakened-empath-ebook/ Really, there’s so much on this website that can help, so please do dig around. :)
Sending you warm hugs 🤗
already knew i was from reading elaine aron’s book🙋
Wonderful, thank you for sharing Joy! 😊
Imma HSP
Bother, I wrote a heartfelt paragraph, but when I tried to initiate the Gravatar to my work, I lost my writing. Next time, huh?
Sorry to hear that Anji!
Bother, I wrote a heartfelt paragraph, but when I tried to initiate the Gravatar to my work, I lost my writing. Next time, eh?
I’m sorry to hear that Anji! Thanks for taking the time to write nonetheless. I find it helps to always copy what I write before going to a new page or clicking “post comment” just in case. <3
“You Scored 80
You’re a Highly Sensitive Person
Your score was 50 points meaning that you’re most likely a highly sensitive person! ”
Make up your mind – did I score 50 or 80? How can anyone have faith in this if you immediately contradict your own assertions? (Yeah, I know these tests are “for fun” and not absolute hard science, but still.)
I scored 80 too. And it says “Your score was above 50 points meaning that you’re most likely a highly sensitive person!” Probably you didn’t see the “above” part. :)❤
Thanks for clarifying that Selinay. :)
First, can i just say, I love this site. It’s so encouraging and informative.
I am a HSP, which makes sense due to my BPD, anxiety, and depression. I tend to struggle with emotions and being overwhelmed by my feelings, which is dangerous for me, as i have a strong shadow side (or dark side). I tend to withdraw from others and isolate myself due to some traumatic experiences in life, such as when i was cyberbullied because of my ‘hyper’sensitivity, which actually caused me to become desensitized and unemotional until lately, when i am finally recovering, and that recovery is in part thanks to you. Do you have any advice on how to accept my sensitive side so that i don’t have to feel ashamed of it or feel like it is a weakness that can be exploited?
Have you ever looked into women with autism?
Hi, love this site. Thank you for your work. I was just reading the comments here, I can totally relate. I scored 10, and too have struggled with CPTSD life. But after a “Dark Night” I slowly learned that being HSP was a strength. I can’t put into words how I came to feel like this. I think a lot of it had to do with understanding the soul, and with it, seeing how the societal systems around many of us are built on oppression. I feel that this includes labelling HSP in derogatory terms, instead of being able to see the beauty that comes with it. I would rather be like me/us, because we can see through to people’s souls. We can see/sense/feel/know subtleties of life, which for me, was a miracle. If you’re struggling with HSP, look at the environment around you. The system may be wrong. You are not wrong. Find your beautiful heart centre and know you are meant to be here the way you are. Blessings to all reading this. You are more loved than you know.
Having BPD tendencies and depression, I often feel like my empathic qualities are overlooked and everything is just tacked onto my struggles with mental health. I received a 90%. I’m working on seeing it as a strength and not so much of a bane, it’s just unfortunate I never feel this is appreciated from others who have been in my life (and of course are no longer). I always try to hear people, but have struggled with falling into those traps of martyrdom which many of your articles discuss. Thanks for the insightful posts. They have helped me a long while~
I’m sorry to hear of your struggles Feral Arcane – that must be disheartening and frustrating. It’s hard to educate people who are already aware of your diagnosis. Hopefully those who don’t respect your good qualities will be replaced with those who do. It might even be worth keeping your diagnosis in the background until you feel comfortable sharing it, so that it doesn’t come to define you.
Many blessings,
Luna