Psychotherapy and the Highly Sensitive Person

Improving Outcomes for That Minority of People Who Are the Majority of Clients

Elaine N. Aron

• Publisher: Routledge
• Year: 2011
• Print ISBN:
  9780415800730
• eBook ISBN:
  9781135967550
• Topic: Psychology
• Subtopic: Interpersonal Relations in Psychology
• Index: Psychology

Dr. Elaine Aron's newest book, Psychotherapy and the Highly Sensitive Person, redefines the term "highly sensitive" for the professional researcher and practitioner. She dispels common misconceptions about the relationship between sensitivity and other personality traits, such as introversion and shyness, and further defines the trait for the benefit of both the clinician and patient. Readers will learn to assess for the trait, distinguish it from clinical diagnoses such as panic disorder or avoidant personality disorder, understand how sensitivity may change the presentation of a problem such as depression or shyness, and generally inform, validate, and improve the quality of life for these clients. She pays particular attention to self-esteem issues and helping patients separate effects of their innate temperament from problems due to their personal learning histories. Dr. Aron keeps both patient and practitioner in mind as she suggests ways to adapt treatment for highly sensitive persons and how to deal with the typical issues that arise. Three appendices provide the HSP Scale, a summary of the extensive research on this innate trait, and its relation to DSM diagnoses. Through this helpful guide, therapists will see a marked improvement in their ability to assist highly sensitive clients.

Table of contents

• Cover
• Title Page
• Copyright Page
• Table of Contents
• Preface
• 1 Highly Sensitive Patients: Who They Are, Who They Aren’t, and Why It Matters
• 2 Assessing for High Sensitivity
• 3 Two Issues Arising From Innate Sensitivity: Being Easily Overaroused and Stronger Emotional Reactions
• 4 Three Common Problems: Low Self-Esteem, the Wrong Lifestyle, and Overreactions to Criticism
• 5 Adapting Treatment to the Highly Sensitive Patient
• 6 Helping Them Establish Relationships: Meeting Others, Shyness, and Fears of Commitment
• 7 Helping Long-Term Relationships: Working With Conflicts, Degree of Temperament Similarity, and Sensitive Sexuality
• 8 The Sensitive Person in the Workplace
• 9 Personality Variation in Highly Sensitive Persons
• A The HSP Scale: Are You Highly Sensitive?: A Self-Test
• B Distinguishing Sensitivity From DSM Disorders
• C Overview of Research on the Concept of High Sensitivity
• References
• Index