Sensitive People & Jungian Psychoanalysis

Counselling & Psychotherapy can help

highly sensitive people to take advantage of their huge talents, diminish their limitations and decrease their perception of the overwhelmingness of the world.

Some people are born with a particular temperament which could be described as; sensitive, shy, timid, artistic or introspective.

This temperament trait has its disadvantages, particularly for those of us living in a culture which values extroverts and an extroverted way of being.

At home sensitive children can be irritable, have difficulty communicating their needs and feelings and have hesitation in being cuddly. At school they are often not understood or appreciated by teachers or fellow kids. They therefore are often open to being bullied and they often under achieve in exams, such as in GCSEs & A levels. This is often because they tend to get exam nerves. They also perhaps tend to have a higher than average incidence of various forms of dyslexia. When they leave school, they tend to be very wary of getting a relationship and career. With a relationship they often go for a reliable, coping person who will look after them, but may limit their capacity to be themselves. In work, their shyness often leads them to under perform. In older age they tend to be perhaps more fearful of doctors, medical tests and death.

On the other hand, being sensitive has distinct advantages. Sensitive people tend to have a lot of intuition, inspiration, empathy and creativity. As kids they are charming and endearing. As adults, in an evolutionary sense, they have been the lookouts, shamans and court advisers. In more recent times, they have been the artists, therapists, poets, musicians and inventors. All of this is beneficial for society and rewarding for highly sensitive people.

Psychotherapy, counselling & psychology can help highly sensitive people in several ways. Redefining sensitivity as being on the whole beneficial can be very liberating and empowering, if the person is limited in their lives by fear, we can teach them stress management and if they have been limited in finding out who they really are and what they really want, due to their temerity, we can provide them with a space to explore their inherent possibilities.

E.M Forster - the novelist - said the following with reference to highly sensitive people.

"I believe in democracy, though - if that is the right word, and if a democrat may use it. Not an aristocracy of power...but...of the sensitive, the considerate... It's members are to be found in all nations and classes, and all through the ages, and there is a secret understanding between them when they meet. They represent the true human tradition, the one permanent victory of our queer race over cruelty and chaos. Thousands of them perish in obscurity, a few are great names. They are sensitive for others as well as for themselves, they are considerate without being fussy, their pluck is not swankiness but the power to endure..."

Counselling for the parents of sensitive children can also be useful.

If you want to find out more on this topic, you can look at www.hsperson.com. You can do a rough test on there to check your level of sensitivity. Alternatively you could read the book, "The Highly Sensitive Person" by Elaine N Aron.

For further information or to book a session, please feel free to contact me at:

t. 01297 625006 m. 07989 000088

ewpsychotherapy@gmail.com

11 Wessiters, Seaton, Devon, EX12 2PW

Providing Counselling, Psycholology, Psychoanalysis, Jungian Analysis, Couple & Marriage Therapy and Supervision for people in and around:

Seaton, Axminster, Chard, Yarcombe, Dunkeswell, Cullompton, Payhembury, Honiton, Dalwood, FenitonWhimple, Exeter, Ottery St Mary, Kilmington, Budleigh Salterton, Sidmouth, Branscombe, Axmouth, Rousdon, Lyme Regis, Uplyme, Charmouth, Seatown Bridport, Beaminster, Tiverton, Ilminster, South Petherton, Taunton and Crewkerne.