The Link Between Introversion & Sensory Processing

We’ve talked before about how to beat loneliness and isolation, and how that’s important for all of us, including those of us on the less social end of the scale.

However, while we all need at least the option of social contact in order to be at our best, there’s a large portion of the population who also need to be able to retreat to somewhere quiet to recover from too much social goings-on.

Clinically speaking, this sometimes gets called introversion, or at least a negative score for extroversion on the “Big Five Inventory”, the only personality-typing system that actually gets used in science. Today we’re going to be focusing on a term that typically gets applied to those generally considered introverts:

The “highly sensitive person”

This makes it sound like a very rare snowflake condition, when in fact the diagnostic criteria yield a population bell curve of 30:40:30, whereupon 30% are in the band of “high sensitivity”, 40% “normal sensitivity” and the remaining 30% “low sensitivity”.

You may note that “high” and “low” together outnumber “normal”, but statistics is like that. It is interesting to note, though, that this statistical spread renders it not a disorder, so much as simply a description.

You can read more about it here:

Sensory-processing sensitivity and its relation to introversion and emotionality

What it means in practical terms

Such a person will generally seek solitude more frequently during the day than others will, and it’s not because of misanthropy (at least, statistically speaking it’s not; can’t speak for individuals!), but rather, it’s about needing downtime after what has felt like too much sensory processing resulting:

The Effects of Multifaceted Introversion and Sensory Processing Sensitivity on Solitude-Seeking Behavior

If this need for solitude is not met (sometimes it’s simply not practicable), then it can lead to overwhelm.

Sidenote about overwhelm: pick your battles! No, pick fewer than that. Put some back. That’s still too many 😜

Back to seriousness: if you’re the sort of person to walk into a room and immediately do the Sherlock Holmes thing of noticing everything about everyone, who is doing what, what has changed about the room since last time you were there, etc… Then that’s great; it’s a sign of a sharp mind, but it’s also a lot of information to process and you’re probably going to need a little decompression afterwards:

Experiences of Adults High in the Personality Trait Sensory Processing Sensitivity: A Qualitative Study

This is the biological equivalent of needing to let an overworked computer or phone cool down after excessive high-intensity use of its CPU.

The same goes if you’re the sort of person who goes into “performance mode” when in company, is “the life and soul of the party” etc, and/or perhaps “the elegant hostess”, but needs to then collapse afterwards because it’s more of a role you play than your natural inclination.

Take care of your battery

To continue the technological metaphor from earlier, if you repeatedly overuse a device without allowing it cooldown periods, it will break down (and if it’s a certain generation of iPhone, it might explode).

Similarly, if you repeatedly overuse your own highly sensitive senses (such as being often in social environment where there’s a lot going on) without allowing yourself adequate cooldown periods, you will break down (or indeed, explode: not literally, but some people are prone to emotional outbursts after bottling things up).

None of this is good for the health, not in the short term and not in the long term, either:

Sensory processing sensitivity as a predictor of health-related quality of life outcomes via stress and sleep quality

With that in mind, take care to take care of yourself, meeting your actual needs instead of just those that get socially assumed.

Want to take the test?

Here’s a two-minute test (results available immediately right there on-screen; no need to give your email or anything) 😎

Want to know more?

We reviewed this book about playing to one’s strengths in the context of sensitivity, a while back, and highly recommend it:

Sensitive – by Jenn Granneman and Andre Sólo

Enjoy!