Individual Counseling: Am I an HSP or Empath?

Can individual counseling help if you’re highly sensitive or empathetic? People often lump introverts, empaths, and highly sensitive people together. Although they share some similar traits, they’re each quite different. Through individual counseling, Terri at Take Charge Inc. can help you recognize if you’re an empath or a compassionate person. 

Determining whether you are a highly sensitive person (HSP) or an empath involves understanding the characteristics and traits associated with each and evaluating your own experiences and tendencies. So, what is the difference between the two? Do you see yourself fitting into one or more of these categories? Here’s how you can differentiate between the two:

1. Highly Sensitive Person (HSP):
   1. Highly sensitive people have a heightened sensitivity to external stimuli, encompassing various sensory experiences, emotions, and environmental factors. Here are some common traits of HSPs:
   2. Sensory Sensitivity: HSPs are often more sensitive to sensory input, such as loud noises, bright lights, strong smells, and rough textures. They may feel overwhelmed by excessive sensory stimuli.
   3. Emotional Depth: HSPs tend to experience emotions more intensely. They may be deeply affected by both positive and negative emotions, as well as the emotions of others.
   4. Overwhelm: HSPs are more likely to become overwhelmed by sensory input or emotional experiences. They may need time alone to recharge and process their feelings.
   5. Empathy: While HSPs can be empathetic, their empathy is primarily related to understanding and feeling the emotions of others. However, they may not necessarily absorb those emotions as their own.
   6.  Attention to Detail: HSPs often have a keen eye for detail and may noticesubtleties that others overlook.
   7. Introversion: Many HSPs are introverted, but not all. Introversion can provide a quieter environment for processing sensory input and emotions.
2. Empath:
   1. Empaths, on the other hand, have a unique ability to understand and share the emotions of others deeply. Here are some common traits of empaths:
   2. High Empathy: Empaths are highly empathetic and can often feel and absorb the emotions of those around them. They may pick up on subtle emotional cues and experience those emotions as if they were their own.
   3. Emotional Absorption: Empaths may have difficulty distinguishing their emotions from the emotions of others, which can lead to emotional exhaustion.
   4. Boundary Challenges: Empaths may struggle with setting and maintaining emotional boundaries, which can result in feeling overwhelmed by others’ emotions.
   5. Intuitive: Empaths often have strong intuitive abilities and can sense the emotional needs and states of others without direct communication.
   6. Healers and Helpers: Many empaths are drawn to helping professions, such as counseling, nursing, or social work, where their empathetic abilities can be used.
   7. Physical Sensitivity: Empaths may also have heightened sensitivity to physical sensations and experience physical symptoms in response to emotional stress.

Some individuals may exhibit traits of both HSPs and empaths to varying degrees, and these traits exist on a spectrum, and not all HSPs or empaths will experience them the same way. Suppose you suspect that you may be an HSP or an empath. In that case, you can seek guidance from a mental health professional or individual counseling who can provide a more in-depth assessment and support in managing your sensitivity and empathy healthily. Empathy and high sensitivity are all valuable, advantageous traits. The human species does best with a diverse population with many different perspectives. 

During individual counseling, we seek to address your problems and help you figure out ways to cope. Counseling helps us identify our automatic thinking and learn new skills to solve problems rather than avoid them; for more information about individual counseling in Overland Park, KS, contact Take Charge, Inc. at (913) 239-8255