“If only I wasn’t so easily hurt and so darn sensitive!” – Sylvia Plath
That quote comes from an article by Jeannette Cooperman who notes, “Virginia Woolf’s family pronounced her delicate, oversensitive, and intensely nervous.
“Is it possible for a nervous system to be that alive and not be nervous? Can you be highly sensitive and not be anxious? That would be a trick worth learning.”
From article “How Sensitivity Enables and Disables Our Nervous System – Reflections on a trait that is both despised and esteemed in the American personality,” The Common Reader, Feb 28, 2022.
Plath died by suicide at age 30 in 1963.
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Highly Sensitive People, mental health, suicide ideation
Julie Bjelland is a psychotherapist who specializes in high sensitivity, founded Sensitive Empowerment, and is author of multiple books, articles, courses, The HSP Podcast, and more.
Creative Mind Audio Podcast episode: Improving Mental Health and Saving Lives of Highly Sensitive People
This audio is a brief excerpt from HSP Podcast Episode 164: Saving HSP Lives and Improving Mental Health by therapist Julie Bjelland.
In a survey of 326 HSPs collected over five days between December 17-22, 2022:
- over 90% of HSPs have had thoughts of suicide.
- over 18% have attempted suicide
- almost 33% use alcohol or drugs to numb emotional pain.
We can learn a lot from this survey on how to support and save HSP lives.
Things that were named that make it hard to cope:
- Overwhelming and intense emotions
- Sensory overload
- Absorbing the suffering of others and the world
- Feeling different and misunderstood
- Not understanding how to support their sensitivity
In the survey, HSPs also identified three main areas that helped them cope, which we can use to help others. Within each of the three areas, I have resources.
- Learning About the Trait of High Sensitivity
- Self-Care the HSP Way
- Supportive People
Visit The HSP Podcast page for links to resources, and listen to full Episode 164: Saving HSP Lives and Improving Mental Health (46 min).
You will also find links to her articles, books, courses, The Sensitive Empowerment Community and other resources.
Read Transcript for the excerpt above: Improving Mental Health and Saving Lives of Highly Sensitive People on the main Creative Mind Audio Podcast page.
More from the HSP podcast episode Show Notes:
Recommended Resources
Explore online courses created to teach HSPs the type of self-care that works best to regulate the sensitive nervous system. Each course covers different types of support.
For overwhelming emotions and high anxiety: Brain Training For the Highly Sensitive Person Course, Techniques to Reduce Anxiety & Overwhelming Emotions has been one of my most popular courses and often reduces anxiety naturally within the first two weeks.
Daily tools to calm the nervous system: The HSP Toolbox Course, Holistic Tools to Calm a Sensitive Nervous System. Because we live in a world not set up for high sensitivity, these daily tools have been proven to help keep the nervous system balanced throughout the day, leading to improved mental and physical health.
Increase self-love & boundaries: Blooming Brilliantly Course, Understanding and Loving Who You are as a Sensitive Person. Grow more self-compassion, learn how to set healthy boundaries, advocate for your needs, protect your energy, and improve relationships.
Visit the HSP courses page for more information.
If you know someone who is struggling with thoughts of suicide, let them know they are not alone and that there is immediate help available 24 hours a day. They can call, text, or chat at 988, and you will be connected to trained counselors in the United States at the Suicide and Crisis Lifeline, always available 24 hours a day, free and confidential. Internationally, you can find suicide hotlines in your country at the International Association for Suicide Prevention.
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Artists, sensitivity, and suicide
Singer, songwriter, actor Naomi Judd commented in an interview about her anxiety, depression and sensitivity.
“There’s also what is called GAD – which stands for Generalized Anxiety Disorder. That means you’re just nervous all of the time. Some of us were born with different wiring than other people.
“I certainly was. That’s one thing that allowed me to become a songwriter, and a singer, and to be able to talk to people in an arena of twenty thousand people. I feel like I know how to communicate with them because I’ve been there.
“Those with GAD are hyper-vigilant, which means you are always on edge – don’t ever sneak up behind me because I might deck you.
“That’s one aspect of GAD. Another is being very empathic – where you understand the other person’s emotions. People with GAD are very sensitive, and are very tuned in to other people, which can be a blessing – or a curse.”
From article “Naomi Judd Opens Up About Her ‘Shocking’ Battle with Depression with Hopes to Help Others,” By Sounds Like Nashville, Nov 29, 2017.
Her book: River of Time: My Descent into Depression and How I Emerged with Hope.
Naomi Judd died by suicide in April 2022 at age 76, just a day before her induction into the Country Music Hall of Fame.
Judd is among 133 names (many artists) on the page “Female suicides” by Wikipedia.
A study, “Elevated empathy in adults following childhood trauma,” shows that children who experience early life trauma often grow up to respond better to the emotional states of others. From article: Link Between Anxiety Disorder – Early Life Trauma and Empathy By Jim Folk, Anxietycentre.com June 23, 2021.
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Creative people may be more psychologically vulnerable to mental health challenges, but also more resilient.
“Researchers at the Yale Center for Emotional Intelligence, supported by the National Endowment for the Arts, found that artists and other creative individuals are more likely to be described by a combination of higher than average psychological vulnerabilities like stress and anxiety and psychological strengths such as hope and ego resiliency than their less creative counterparts.
“This project was inspired by a description of creative individuals as ‘at once both naive and knowledgeable, destructive and constructive, occasionally crazier yet adamantly saner’ by Frank Barron, a creativity scholar in the first golden age of creativity research during the space race of the 1950s and 1960s.”
From article “The Apparent Paradox of Creativity – A new study shows creativity is related to both vulnerabilities and strengths” By Zorana Ivcevic Pringle Ph.D., Psychology Today April 15, 2020.
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Over the years I have created a number of related articles, including:
Existential Depression – Creative, Sensitive People In Need Of Meaning
Rethinking Creativity and Depression
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Douglas Eby (M.A./Psychology) is author of the The Creative Mind series of sites which provide “Information and inspiration to help creative people thrive.”
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