Is this just overwhelm - or am I a Highly Sensitive Person?

When emotional overwhelm points to a highly sensitive nervous system

If you asked a Highly Sensitive Person (HSP) to give you 20 cents for every time in their life they've been told to just "stop being so sensitive" you'd probably walk away a rich person. And when you hear you're just being dramatic and attention seeking, or you get looked at like you're an alien for having big feelings, it's easy to form the belief that you are broken.

Especially when you couple it with an all-consuming feeling of overwhelm, that shows up often, dysregulates your nervous system, and derails your day. And of course, everybody has moments when they feel overwhelmed. But the frequency and intensity that HSP tend to experience it is far higher than a neurotypical person's.

So, is what you are feeling now just an episode of emotional overwhelm - or could you in fact be a Highly Sensitive individual? Let's unpack the difference.

Situational overwhelm vs. High Sensitivity

Every single one of us has experienced moments when the world felt just that little bit too sharp - when sounds were too loud for comfort, smells or lights were overpowering, emotions felt unbearably heavy and messy, and that small interaction that rubbed us the wrong way stuck with us for days.

But when this experience becomes baseline, it’s worth taking a pause and assessing* whether you might also be a Highly Sensitive Person:

Situational overwhelm	High sensitivity
Varies with life stressors → work pressure, conflict, lack of rest, emotional strain, or temporary overload	Doesn’t have one specific cause, feels "always-on" → because it is rooted in how the Highly Sensitive nervous system processes sensory and emotional input
Does not fundamentally change your sense of self or emotional baseline	Can have major effects on your daily mood, relationships, self-perception and emotional resilience
Usually eases once the stressor passes, you rest, and restore your body's balance	Persists even when circumstances appear "fine" or after rest
Feels uncomfortable or draining but still manageable	Feels overwhelming, absorbing, and hard to mentally disengage from

*this is an indication, not a diagnosis.

Getting a first indication of whether you might be an HSP is important not to pathologize or label your experience - but to unlock understanding and compassion. For your own self, first and foremost, and then for those around you, who love you and may struggle to know how to show up for you.

Because here's the thing: being a Highly Sensitive Person doesn't make you broken or "too much". It simply means you experience the world through a nervous system naturally wired for depth, nuance, and emotional intensity.

HSP and emotional intensity: the biological link

"Am I taking this too hard?"

"Why can't I just get over it?"

"Maybe there's something wrong with me."

If you are an HSP, you might be asking yourself these questions frequently. Because while everyone experiences emotional strain from time to time, when this intensity is rooted in high sensitivity, you tend to feel it often, and experience it being hard to simply "switch off."

In fact, research by Aron & Aron, 2018 and Brindle et al., 2015 shows that Highly Sensitive People activate emotional and empathy centers more strongly than neurotypical individuals. Simply put, your brain is integrating memory, sensation, emotion and social context simultaneously. This depth of processing gives rise to profound empathy and insight - but it also makes feelings feel harder to release.

It also explains why you feel different than others around you, and why you have a harder time "letting go" of certain events. Because when your nervous system absorbs more information, your emotional world naturally feels amplified. Highly Sensitive People don’t just feel - they process deeply, storing layers of emotional meaning that linger well beyond the moment itself.

But different or intense don't equal flawed. Your emotional intensity is the natural result of heightened sensory-processing sensitivity: a biologically rooted trait shaping how strongly you perceive and respond to the world around you.

In simple terms: You’re not "too much." You’re perceiving more - and feeling the full depth of what you perceive. And while this can mean you get overwhelmed faster than other people, it also means you have unique strengths.

Common signs of being an HSP, apart from overwhelm

Apart from frequent emotional and mental overwhelm, you may have noticed other patterns if you too are an HSP. Small things that stacked up along the years, quietly making you wonder whether this is just your personality, or something more.

You might be familiar with:

• Deeply absorbing other people’s moods, even when nothing is said

• Feeling overstimulated by bright lights, noise, strong smells or busy environments

• Having strong emotional responses to criticism or perceived rejection

• Replaying conversations and over-analyzing interactions long after they end

• Feeling deeply moved by music, art, nature or meaningful moments

• Needing more recovery time after socializing

• Feeling emotionally "full" or saturated after intense days

• Being described as perceptive, intuitive, or "old soul"

• Feeling things intensely but struggling to explain why

If several of these resonate, you may be having a lightbulb moment coming up right now, as you are finally able to put your finger on what you have been experiencing for years. And for good reason.

Because various bodies of research (incl. Acevedo et al., 2014, and (Mac et al., 2024)) suggest that approximately 15–20% of people have a highly sensitive nervous system. And yet, many of us grew up in a time when we didn't have a common, accessible language to explain our experiences- instead simply assuming they reflected personal quirks at best, and emotional weakness at worst.

What can make things problematic is internalizing societal myths about our sensitivity, which can lead to feelings of guilt and shame around what is essentially just a different brain wiring.

Myths about being an HSP, debunked

Myth: "I shouldn't be getting this emotional. I should know how to just care less by now."

Reality: Your emotions aren't something you can turn on or off like a tap. Not without consequences to your nervous system and wider wellbeing, at least. What truly helps instead is learning specific emotional regulation strategies that work for you. That is something a somatic or psychological support practitioner can help you with.

Myth: "Everyone gets overwhelmed sometimes - it’s just life, and I need to push through."

Reality: Yes that is true, everyone does get overwhelmed sometimes. But if you feel drained repeatedly, even after rest, or you find yourself getting triggered by subtler stimuli than most, your nervous system may be working overtime due to its natural wiring.

Myth: "If I were stronger, I wouldn’t feel this way."

Reality: Strength has nothing to do with shutting down sensitivity. It has everything to do with learning how to flow with it, set boundaries, and honor your rhythm. At ThriveCollective, we believe your sensitivity isn’t the problem - lack of understanding and support is.

Reflection: is it high sensitivity or just situational overwhelm?

Ask yourself honestly:

• How often do I feel on-edge in social or sensory situations and take hours or days to recover?

• How often do I deeply absorb others’ emotional states, and carry them home?

• How often I feel deep, intuitive, but misunderstood because I react “more than expected”?

Take a piece of paper, and write don your answers, if it helps. Jot down a few situations where you felt you were being emotionally overwhelmed. If you realize the answers stack up towards "more often than not", and that the stimulus can be very subtle for you to feel flooded, it's likely your nervous system is highly sensitive. Which means it needs attuned support to thrive.

Moving from overwhelm to emotional ease

At ThriveCollective, we encourage you to honor your sensitivity by stepping into systems of care, support and regulation that fit your emotional architecture.

When structure meets softness, you start stabilizing and truly thriving.

Curious how your sensitivity can become your asset?

Join our free Discovery path and begin building your emotional-friendly toolkit with regular insights and simple structures.