HSP is not a Disorder

Dysfunction is to some degree in the eyes of the beholder. In the case of sensitivity, a nonsensitive clinician in particular might look at a sensitive patient and reason: “Is there distress? Clearly. This person admits being distressed merely by spending a few hours in a crowd or watching the evening news. Impaired? She has refused promotions because she found managing people is too difficult for her. Increased risk? According to the research, she has an increased risk of being disabled by depression and anxiety, and she already experiences an important loss of freedom to engage in a wide range of activities—she can’t even enjoy a normal party. Are her reactions to events expectable or culturally sanctioned? No. She can’t eat at a restaurant that’s a little noisy when a hundred other people are obviously having a good time. I have to consider her to have a disorder.” And the patient might even reluctantly agree. 

On the other hand, as these or similar reactions become understood as quite expectable in 20% of the population, as bestowing as many benefits and abilities as it does vulnerabilities (e.g. Belsky et al., 2009), and as the highly sensitive themselves no longer see themselves as impaired but having a subculturally sanctioned response, then the above position will become increasingly untenable and even ridiculous.

 
Should you look for a “cure” for your child’s sensitivity? No. Temperament traits can be worked with so that the child learns how to cope and fit into a given culture, and parents can learn how to help with that. Trying to cure, remove, or hide a trait, however, is likely to lead to more trouble.

The ‘high sensitivity trait’ is an innate temperament trait; it is not a disorder or an illness;