Mental Illness, the Highly Sensitive Person, or Empath

The sun sneaks through the slits of the blinds in your room creating line of light to illuminate onto the walls of your room. The birds singing their joyous morning song reverberates vociferously between your ears and you question what to yourself, “What do they have to be so happy about?” as melancholy tear falls from your water filled eyes. The sound from the alarm clock tells you “It is time to get out of bed”, but the dreary darkness looming inside your mind says otherwise. You cannot explain the sense of worthlessness and pain you feel. You feel a lingering energy within every cell inside your body. Where did is this coming from? Why do you feel this way? You just want it to stop. Then, it does. A week later, you feel restless, energized, and powerful. A feeling of euphoria cascades over your body as if you just walked beneath a mystical waterfall. Each step you take is no longer a step, but now you feel as though you are floating in the air and your feet begin to get higher and higher off the group. You are flying. This high-flying mood sends you spiraling and makes you feel trapped. You scream, “What is happening?” Mental illness, empath, or highly sensitive?

Mental Illness

Wrongly diagnosed with psychiatric disorders to cope with their spiritual gifts; empaths and the Highly Sensitive Person (HSP) receive labels such as manic-depressive disorder and anxiety disorder. The diagnosis they are most given is bipolar disorder. Empaths and HSPs absorb energy that may appear like manifestations of bipolar disorder. What exactly does bipolar disorder look like? Research tells us it caused by an imbalance in neurotransmitters which carriers signals to the brain causing irrational thought patterns and behaviors and creates distortions in reality. As a result, a person fluctuates between highs of mania and lows of depression. Depending on the person, they can experience these episodes for weeks or months at a time. Some other traits associated with bipolar disorder are a lack of empathy, delusions, and hallucinations. What is the difference between empaths and HSPs?

Empaths

Empaths are highly sensitive to energy and can naturally tune into people’s emotions and feelings. When surrounded by large groups, empaths can become anxious and drained, or they can feel energized and excited depending on the energy of the people that are around them. It can be difficult for empaths to function in society if they are unaware of their sensitivity causing them to want to be alone. Most empaths are in the dark about their special innate gifts.

Empaths receive most of their psychic input through sentience. Therefore, they have a keen sense for being human lie detectors. They are sensitive to both visible and invisible cues able to read body language, tone of voice, movements, words and phrases people choose when they speak, words people avoid, the type of logic used, and the hidden meanings behind motives. In addition, empaths can overdramatize situations to discover in that exact moment a friend or family member experienced a serious or even traumatic event.

The world’s sea of emotions makes it difficult for empaths to cognize why they feel the way they do. Therefore, making it difficult to address the core issues that often appear as mental health symptoms.  Empathy is not something that we just dismiss. For that reason, it can become very confusing for the empath. There are benefits of being an empath. They make incredible friends and excellent listeners.  Consistently showing up when needed most, they want to share their hearts and generosity with those they love. Empaths are some of the most intuitive and emotionally intelligent people.

Highly Sensitive People

One of the most misunderstood and undervalued traits is the HSP. Characterized as being hypersensitive to external stimuli, highly emotionally reactive, and having greater depth in cognitive processing; they often need a safe haven where they can be alone and ground their thoughts.  Approximately 15% to 20% of the world’s populations can identify as having this trait. Just like empaths, HSPs absorb or sense emotional energy from the people around them. Loud crowds or visually busy environments can become extremely overwhelming creating a strong sensory input. Too much noise and chaos can lead to burnout, exhaustion, and fatigue causing the HSP to turn away from the outside world for long periods of time.

A word usually associated with HSPs is introvert due to their need to spend time alone. Withdrawing allows them to gain relief from the overstimulation of information they are constantly receiving. Compared to other people, HSPs process more in situations. In addition, they also reflect more on what they observe. Their deep contemplation and introspection for life creates a world of richness and beauty for them.  

Being highly sensitive does have advantages. They tend to be empathetic, artistically creative, and highly aware of other’s needs. When it comes to emotions, they can go beyond the unknown to reach into the world of feelings and dreams and glean eye-opening experiences for others. In doing so, HSPs are supportive, empathetic, encouraging sounding boards for the ones they care for. They react with sincerity and love for those who struggle helping make connections that others might not have otherwise seen.

Beware of Labels

Whether you believe you are mentally ill, an empath, or a HSP negative labels can have a tremendous impact on how you go about your daily life. Stigma is one of the leading causes why people are afraid to express their true authentic selves. Whether someone is sensitive, intuitive, or has anxiety, they are still people first. However, what people do not understand they often fear.  

A person perceived negatively due to having a shameful or discredited circumstance is known as stigma. Once blemished with such a label, the chances of eliminating it are extremely difficult. Stereotyping is one of the main causes for stigmatization. Damaging names such as “crazy” or “insane” only reinforces judgements made upon them. Entertainment media often portrays individuals who are different from what society has deemed as “normal” as being violent, deranged, and dangerous. These skewed depiction of the mentally ill, empaths, and HSPs disseminated by television, newspapers, and social media only further supports these stereotypes. We can avoid stigmatizing people by seeing the person first and not by the “label” society has given them. Stigma results in prejudice and discrimination. Education is the key to understanding and becoming empathic to those who are different from ourselves.

There is nothing wrong with seeking professional help. In fact, please seek help if you feel there is something seriously wrong. However, consider all possibilities before having a label such as manic-depressive disorder, anxiety disorder, schizophrenia, or bipolar disorder placed on you. These labels can have serious stigma attached to them, especially if you are a person who feels, loves, and connects deeply with humanity. Embrace your gifts. You never know whom you could be healing while you are healing yourself.