Abstract
Sensory processing sensitivity (SPS) is a personality trait reflecting inter-individual differences in sensitivity to negative and positive environmental information. Being high in SPS is associated with increased stress-related problems if environments are unfavourable but also appears to enhance one’s ability to benefit from health-promoting environments. In understanding SPS, therefore, lies the potential for innovating the ways we use to promote mental health. However, as a young research field, the core characteristics of SPS are yet debated. Qualitative research interviewing highly sensitive adults is important to conduct ecologically valid research connected with the complex realities of people. This study was the first to systematically report the perceptions and experiences of SPS characteristics in adults high in this trait. Semi-structured interviews (n = 26) were analysed thematically and described following consolidated criteria for reporting qualitative research. Six themes emerged: (1) emotional responding; (2) relatedness to others; (3) thinking; (4) overstimulation; (5) perceiving details; and (6) global SPS characteristics. With regards to coping with negative consequences of high SPS, the main themes were: (1) reducing sensory input and (2) psychological strategies. We gained fine-grained information on experiences of adults high in SPS and derived new hypotheses regarding the fostering of well-being related to high SPS.
Highlights
Everybody is, for survival, sensitive to environmental stimuli, the degree of sensitivity differs between individuals
We did not exclude the two participants who scored within the medium-sensitivity range because the cut-off value is not validated yet in a Dutch sample, and these two participants provided answers that were similar to the answers of the other participants
A sixth theme emerged on perceived global Sensory processing sensitivity (SPS) characteristics that concerned self and identity, feeling stressed, and feeling tired. Whether these identified experiences are central and essential to high SPS cannot be disentangled in our design, but our results suggest that these experiences may be central to how the trait is experienced by highly sensitive adults, several participants reported experiencing the characteristics in the six theme as a consequence of several of the other five themes
Summary
For survival, sensitive to environmental stimuli, the degree of sensitivity differs between individuals. Sensory processing sensitivity (SPS) captures a continuum of inter-individual differences in sensitivity to environmental information in an evolutionarily conserved personality trait, observed in >100 animal species [1]. High SPS is related to stress-related problems and being more susceptible to overstimulation by sensory input and unfavourable environments, but is associated with being more susceptible to positive mood induction and benefitting more from psychological interventions [10]. A recently published systematic review showed that individuals high in SPS experience a lower quality of life in physical, mental, emotional, and social areas and highlighted some aspects of SPS that were associated with positive outcomes [11]. In the present qualitative study, we shed further light on positive and negative aspects of high SPS, as experienced by adults high in this trait, with the ultimate goal to contribute to optimising phenotyping and validation of the SPS trait
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