I agree with Dr Elaine Aron that the book is more about HSPs – the highly sensitive person – than it is about introverts. That said, I loved some of the descriptions of the Highly Sensitive Person in Quiet.

What is an Highly Sensitive Person?

Like most lists of diagnostic criteria, you may be a Highly Sensitive Person if you have SOME of these characteristics. You don’t necessarily have to have all of them and probably won’t.

- You prefer one on one interactions rather than groups.

- You need a lot of downtime away from people.

- You have difficulty filtering some types of incoming stimulation.

You might have difficulty filtering social stimuli e.g., the TV news, news about people who have cancer who you don’t know very well, other people’s moods.

Or, you might have difficulty filtering sensory stimuli e.g., background noise such as music playing at a cafe, or lots of people talking.

- You can’t fake emotions very well e.g., you can give a talk about a topic you’re passionate about to 300 people, but you can’t fake being passionate about something if you’re not.

- You like to research things thoroughly.

- You take your mistakes seriously and feel things deeply.

- You get intensely cranky when you get overaroused (by social or sensory stimuli. I mean overaroused in a neuropsych sense, not in a sexual sense).

- You like to talk about serious topics (e.g., the meaning of life, religion, relationships) and might feel uncomfortable talking about everyday topics like chit chat about movies. You may feel more comfortable talking about serious topics compared to small talk, whereas non-HSPs might find it uncomfortable to talk about some of the topics that are your preference.

What’s the difference between Highly Sensitive People and Introverts?

About 70% of highly sensitive people are introverts but 30% are extroverts.

When people have a lot of stress – their time, energy, and thoughts often get consumed by those problems. As people spend more time and energy thinking about their problems, they spend less time and energy pursuing their interests.

What are your unique interests? The things that give you pleasure?

To have positive mood, it’s important to do activities that give you a sense of pleasure (as well as activities that give you a sense of accomplishment).

It’s common for people to struggle to think of fun things to do when they’re bored and depressed. So, I’ve made a big list. The goal is to stimulate your own thinking about pleasure activities you’d like to do more of.

You can purchase the list for $4.99 (This price is in USD, you’ll be able to pay in your own currency when you click through to the purchase page).

Buy Now (the list will be delivered to you by email as a pdf).

Intended for individuals or for therapists to use when doing CBT/behavioral activation with clients.

Looking for Humor Boost? Go to Humor Boost!

Positive Psychology Project by Dr Alice Boyes

If you’re reading this in email, you might need to click to see the video. Likely to be suitable for people who are mildly depressed or anxious.