My first response: I totally agree with the doctor opposed to the new label, who said "Why should we have to label everyone who doesn't fit like clones into the mainstream?" I bristle at calling it an "emotional disorder" in all cases. It's always a fine line dividing what we consider normal and disordered, and the line is always moving anyway. This is just a fancy term for a real, *normal* personality type. [I am now dismounting my soapbox.]
My second response: That being said, I definitely must be a highly sensitive person. (I took the quiz, and I think there were maybe five things I answered "false" to. Not exaggerating.)*
*In general, I do not recommend using women's magazines to diagnose one's self. This includes when they tell you which swimsuit will heal your butt-size issues because let me tell you, boy shorts are NOT the answer.
Subsequent responses (the ones relevant to this blog): I started to wonder how many other writers and book-lovers fall somewhere in the HSP spectrum. This quote sparked my interest:
An HSP doesn't just cry while watching a film like The Notebook — she experiences actual grief symptoms.
I have been known to actually go into mourning when I finish reading a book and take days (once in a blue moon, weeks) to "get over" what's happened in the story. I'm kind of relieved that other people do that, too, and it doesn't mean that I'm particularly cray-cray.
And this is a bright spot in an article that otherwise takes the argument that being a HSP is problematic:
It's not surprising that HSPs tend to be creatively gifted, and that a large percentage have become famous because of their particular talents (many HSPs consider creative types as diverse as Michael Jackson, Johnny Depp, and Winona Ryder to be one of their kind). And given how beautifully they describe the pain that comes with feeling so intensely, both Marcel Proust and Virginia Woolf were almost certainly HSPs.
Interesting. So, let's do a completely non-scientific assessment. How many of you book-lovers and writers out there see yourself as a HSP, based on this article? And do you think it affects your reading or response to literature?
9 comments:
Post-Harry Potter 7 and Mockingjay depression, much? I literally felt off for days after those books. I think it's normal to feel that way after a series ends because you know you it's finally OVER.
Oh, HP and Mockingjay, definitely.
I also stayed up until the wee hours on Christmas Eve once to finish THE TIME TRAVELER'S WIFE. Bad idea. The last chapters totally slayed me. Nothing quite like spending Xmas morning in a sleep-deprived book funk.
Ha, I was actually just thinking about book 7 of HP earlier today - my husband came home from work and I was sitting there, weeping.
Writing can send me into a funk, too. I killed one of my characters and got all upset and my husband was like, "Just bring him back to life." And I'm wailing, "But I can't, it's all part of the bigger plot!"
Glad to know I'm not the only HSP :)
Books make me cry! I admit it!!!
Sometimes I'm disappointed when books don't make me cry.
I really love it when they do, honestly. I love feeling that depth and emotional connection from fiction.
Oh, I definitely think I am but I hate the idea that it's a "problem" or "disorder" I have. I do think it effects how I approach books/literature. I LOVE books that truly make me feel something - even if that something is grief.
I'm with you, Jordyn! I see more benefits to being a HSP than negative effects--especially as a reader/writer/creative type.
Hallmark commercials make me cry. Book endings (like HG & HP)=total funk. The endings of Gilmore Girls and Sex in the City killed me too.
Being oversensitive as a disorder? I'm proud of being a HSP. A girlfriend of mine once asked how I could cry so easily as she would never be able to do that. A lack of ability to connect emotionally and express yourself seems like a much more serious problem to me.
I feel the same way. I would much rather be a person who expresses emotion easily (or too easily, as the case may sometimes be) than be a stoic.
I do think it's also related to empathy, and I know that helps me as a writer, too.
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