DOES: The Four Key Traits of HSPs
What is a highly sensitive person (HSP)?
Highly sensitive people have one core common trait: sensory processing sensitivity. This can manifest in a number of ways, including being more observant, more sensitive to light or sound, more easily overwhelmed by external pressures. The four part test is easily broken down by the acronym DOES: deep processing, overstimulated easily, emotionally reactive, and sensitive to subtle stimuli. Researchers currently estimate that around 20% of people are HSPs, so these traits are not uncommon.
Deep Processing
While everyone processes information and events, HSPs process more deeply than most. Practically, this can come across in the form of conscientiousness as you think through more scenarios and consider possible alternatives as well as the effects of your decisions on yourself and others. This is where comparison is helpful. Think about your family, friend group, or coworkers. In comparison to most other people around you, does it take you longer to reach a decision, process new information, or react to sudden changes in the plan? When you are thinking about a project or plan, do you consider more details or options than most other people?
A caveat here: many HSPs are indeed highly conscientious, so you may be more likely to discount the depth of your inner process or overestimate the amount of thinking that others do. You might have been taught not to think too highly of yourself or assume that you are special in some way. Or you may have been told that your depth of processing is mental slowness, anxiety, or hesitation. Depth of processing is not always highly valued in families and workplaces. If any of these might hold you back from identifying yourself with the trait, feel free to read on and see if the other three fit you well before coming back to make a final decision on this point. The very nature of processing deeply means that you are likely hesitant to form a snap judgment of yourself and others, so this hesitation often serves as further confirmation of the trait.
Overstimulated Easily
Everyone has a threshold for internal and external stimuli. HSPs typically have a lower threshold than most, though of course there are variances among HSPs and within HSP and non-HSP people. Again, this can be more easily identified in terms of comparison. Think about how much you can take of lights, noise, crowds, deadlines, chaos, and pressure.
This is where there are distinctions between introverted HSPs and extroverted HSPs. Extroverted HSPs may still get energized by being around people even while they are more easily overstimulated than extroverted non-HSPs. And introverted non-HSPs may seem like they are withdrawing from situations more often, but for them it is usually a matter of needing time away to recharge their social battery rather than sensory overstimulation. Introverted HSPs may need to step away from a more stimulating environment for one or both reasons.
Some people think this part of the HSP trait is a potential overlap for autism, and I disagree with the common criticism that HSPs are simply mislabeled autistic people. Both autistic people and highly sensitive people share the common trait of sensory processing sensitivity, but autism also has a number of other diagnostic criteria that are not shared with HSPs. Two key differences are in social-emotional communication and reciprocity, which tends to be weaker in autistic people and stronger in HSPs; and restricted, repetitive patterns of behavior, interests, and activities, which is required for an autism diagnosis but not part of the four factor HSP test.
Emotionally Reactive
Emotional sensitivity includes both positive and negative emotions as well as both your own emotions and the emotions of others. The official phrasing of “emotionally reactive” can feel negative and put some people off. But it simply means that you react more than others to emotions, both externally that you perceive in others and internally that you are aware of in yourself.
This often comes across as high empathy. You are often aware of what others are feeling and the mood in the room. In brain imaging studies, HSPs were found to have more active mirror neurons than non-sensitive people. Mirror neurons help us learn through imitation, sense what others are feeling, and read others’ intentions.
Elaine Aron suggests that this heightened emotional sensitivity is at the core of HSPs’ depth of processing. With more activity in your mirror neurons, you are more likely to literally feel what others feel, so you are more likely to thoroughly process decisions to help make things go smoothly for yourself and for others.
The direction of your emotional sensitivity is highly dependent on your childhood and your environment. Research has found that HSPs with good, happy childhoods react more strongly to positive events and emotions. HSPs with bad childhoods tend to be more vigilant for negativity in the people around them.
Sensitive to Subtle Stimuli
Since HSPs process deeply, are easily overstimulated, and react strongly to their emotional environment, it makes sense that they become sensitized to subtleties. This can come across as being highly observant to details like the temperature of a room, the tone created by color choices, or a shift in another person’s voice. It can also take the form of a low tolerance for things like pain, caffeine, alcohol, or drugs including medication.
HSPs often need to have a clean or organized space to live and work comfortably. The layout and flow of your home or office can strongly affect your day. And unpleasant smells, sounds, or sights can feel very uncomfortable. Or for you, this may be a trait that is only heightened when you are already stressed- it’s normally okay for you to have a messy desk, but if you’re already overwhelmed by something else, the desk starts to really bother you.
Do you recognize yourself in these traits?
In true HSP fashion, it may take time to process this information. As you sit with the four factors of DOES, it’s okay if only parts of each one feel like they fit. For most non-HSPs, some parts of one or two DOES traits will feel like they fit, or they will only fit in particular situations. If you are a Highly Sensitive Person, you’ll find that at least three of the DOES traits fit you most of the time, and the fourth one still fits at least some of the time.
The wording on these traits was taken from Elaine Aron’s list, and you can find a self test on her website. Other researchers use different wording to describe the DOES traits, so if you find that you are resistant to some of the word choice but identify with the description, it is likely still a fit.
Limitations of Aron’s descriptions
We tend to see most clearly through our own lens, and Elaine Aron has noted in her books, blogs, and articles that she is more introverted and lower sensation seeking. Some of this bias shows in her criteria, and her test may not fit as well for an extroverted or high sensation seeking HSP.
As an example, she suggests that you can discover who else in your life is an HSP by subtly asking if they are easily bothered by pain or by too many cloudy days in a row. These seem to reflect personal preference more than a true test of someone’s sensory sensitivity- a naturally high pain tolerance or a preference for foggy or rainy weather does not mean that you are not an HSP. Quite the opposite in fact! People who are from a more cloudy area may feel overstimulated by sunny days when they do come around. But we can learn to see the principle here. HSPs tend to gravitate toward familiarity and routine (again, unless they are high sensation seeking, in which case they often choose to pursue novelty).
What’s next if you are an HSP?
If you do identify with the DOES criteria for high sensitivity and sensory processing sensitivity, what do you do with this information? Knowledge about yourself helps you understand your baseline and needs. Understanding the DOES criteria can help you look at your home, work environment, and close relationships from a new lens. Accepting the HSP trait can help you shape your environment into one that is more comfortable, less stressful, and less overwhelming for you. You may discover that some things need to change for you to thrive. Or you may have a new way to describe why something feels like a good fit for you.
Honor your depth of processing by giving yourself time to make decisions, think through your options, and react to change. Understand that thinking more deeply about these things is an advantage and a benefit for yourself and for others. When others are pressing you to make a quick decision, develop the discernment to decide if you truly need to process more quickly and come up with something right away or if it would benefit everyone to have a more thorough, considered option.
Honor your tendency to be easily overstimulated by staying mindful of your internal and external world. Notice when situations are leading you toward overstimulation, and come up with ways to decompress. Get to know your limits in different social, relational, and environmental situations. Advocate for yourself when you need to.
Honor your emotional reactivity by giving yourself permission to feel deeply. Your emotions are the seat of wisdom, not a problem to be overcome. At the same time, make sure you learn how to create space for you to feel without responding right away. Reactivity in the moment often leads to actions we regret, and HSPs can really benefit from practicing mindfulness or meditation to learn to create that space between feeling and action.
Honor your sensitivity to subtle stimuli by curating your space as much as possible. Get to know what you need to have (or not have) around you to make your home, work space, and other areas feel comfortable. You can use a variety of sensory methods to create places where you can decompress, take time to process, lower your sense of overstimulation, and give yourself space to respond to your emotions.
Your sensitivity is not a problem
Just because you are an HSP does not mean there is anything wrong with you. Your sensitivity is a strength, though at times it can certainly feel like a vulnerability (especially if you are from a very non-sensitive family!). As a therapist who works with HSPs, this trait is not a problem. You don’t need therapy just because you are an HSP, and this trait does not need to be fixed or desensitized.
HSPs who have experienced good childhoods and have secure, validating relationships can thrive. I work with HSPs who have had the opposite experience. If you are an HSP who has experienced childhood trauma or neglect, I can help you reprocess your memories, emotions, and stored body traumas using Somatic and Attachment Focused EMDR.