Adventures with SPD: Sounds

HSP Podcast #08: I’m So Jumpy! (Loud Noises and Sudden Sounds)

This sums me up pretty well, but I don't cover my ears when a sound bothers me. I clench my teeth and get angry. Some other things that bother me:

• Nails on a chalkboard (I think this one bothers many people).
• Use of a nail file (If someone pulls one out, I start cringing).
• Plastic grating across concrete/cement.
• Doors slamming.
• Cabinet
• Microwave

On the other side, some sounds that I like are:

• Water gurgling over stones.
• Brown noise (white noise is too high-pitched).
• Deep voices (although I find it hard to distinguish words, especially when there is a lot of background noise).

"Sensitive--The Untold Story" Part 2

Dr. Elaine Aron: update about "Sensitive--The Untold Story" PART 2 from Sensitive on Vimeo.
Elaine Aron explains high sensitivity to those who do not have the trait. In this short video Elaine Aron packs in all the basic information about high sensitivity, an innate trait found in 20% of the population, as well as why it should be of interest to everyone. She explains that we once all lived in small groups, where we naturally knew who was sensitive, who was not, and valued what each contributed to the survival of the whole. We have lost that knowledge of each other and need to regain it. In particular, the 80% have lost their understanding of the 20%, leading to many lost opportunities for both groups.

Please visit Kickstarter to view the trailer and support this project:
https://www.kickstarter.com/projects/1795131939/sensitive-the-untold-story

Adventures with SPD: Sensory Processing Disorder

Before July 22, 2014 I had never heard of Sensory Processing Disorder or Highly Sensitive People. Towards the end of the third session with my counselor, I saw a light bulb come on over her head...almost literally. She showed me a copy of Sharon Heller's book Too Loud, Too Bright, Too Fast, Too Tight and I went home and ordered a copy immediately. In the meantime, I scoured the internet for information. At first I was frustrated to find only articles, web sites, blog posts, etc. on SPD in children. As I dug deeper, I found adults like me who had lived most of their lives not realizing why everything seemed like "too much".

Sensory defensiveness is a condition that encompasses a constellation of symptoms, including tension, anxiety, avoidance, stress, anger and even violence that result from aversion or defensive reactions to what most people consider nonirritating stimuli. (1)

In an almost childish way, I have thought for all of my life that everyone experiences things like I do, but they do a better job of handling them. They get adrenaline rushes from cabinet doors closing, feel every thread of a rough towel, and smell the individual perfumes and colognes of each person in a room...at the same time, and I was certain that fluorescent lights gave everyone a headache. The one thing I realized I was different on was taste; mostly because it has been an ongoing joke in my family for many, many years.

My hope is to post my "adventures" with SPD here, both in the past and the future. Mostly it will be for my own benefit to mark the progress of my education on the subject and how it is helping me be a better me. If, in the process, it helps someone else, well, that would be really awesome.


SPD Self-Test
Symptoms of Sensory Defensiveness
SPD in Adults


(1) Patricia Wilbarger and Julia Wilbarger, Sensory Defensiveness in Children Aged 2-12: An Intervention Guide for Parents and Other Caretakers. Santa Barbara, Calif.: Avanti Educational Programs, 1991. (via Too Loud, Too Bright, Too Fast, Too Tight)