The Highly Sensitive: How to Stop Emotional Overload, Relieve Anxiety, and Eliminate Negative Energy by Judy Dyer

The Highly Sensitive: How to Stop Emotional Overload, Relieve Anxiety, and Eliminate Negative Energy Reviews

• 
  Kate

  3.75. Before reading this, the first time I heard the term HSP(highly sensitive people) was in my therapy sessions, when my therapist told me that even on the sensitivity rale, I was on the extremely sensitive scale, and that it was not a good or bad thing, just the way I was. Never knew it was an "official" term though. After reading this, a lot of things about me make sense. A book that will help many sensitive people overcome anxiety attacks and overall approach the world more calmly. Would recommend to HSPs as it gives helpful solutions a wide variety of situations that may often strike sensitive people.
  
  Notes
  Will write later.
• 
  Sarah Jacques

  Really bland, basic, cookie-cutter, pseudoscience book. Don't waste your time on a teeny book whose info is all available for free on Google.
• 
  Kinjal Pike

  Easy read
  
  She really validated everything I was experiencing. This was a very helpful book that many will relate to. I recommend this book!
• 
  Arastoo

  Good tips, particularly with respect to managing your emotions. However, the amount of knowledge didn't justify the price tag at $25.00 for the book. This is an 80-90 page book and can be read in an hour. It is good to recognize that you're an HSP, and techniques to help you manage your emotions during times of stress. That's pretty much the gist of the book.
• 
  Daniel Triumph

  This is a good place to start your inquiry, but if you already know the basics, you won't get much.
  
  It was on pretty solid footing until she started writing about using crystals to calm yourself, and certain plants to reduce "negative energy."
  
  There is some science here, but anyone who includes this other stuff without any disclaimer is…best avoided—unless that's what you are interested in too.
• 
  Chris

  I learned from this book. I have always been a sensitive person and just made my way through life. In my current retired life, it appears I am using her advice before reading this book. What great validation.
• 
  Ashley Epp

  This book is a collection of pseudo science taken from psychologytoday.com disguised as science. Wasted my time reading this, but now will look into more reputable sources.
• 
  Rachael Maier

  This book was a quick read, and its depth matches its length. It’s set up like an article: skimmable and, frankly, skippable.
  
  Perhaps the way it’s written would be well-suited for children or adolescents? While there are some practical tips in it, they’re all so superficial and it feels like a lot of fluff to get to a few grains of grit.
  
  Disappointing last book of the year, but I’m glad it got me to 18 books! Will aim even higher (and be more discerning) next year.
• 
  Samantha Strong

  For someone who hasn't already thought through everything in the book, this might be helpful. It's mostly common sense advice for mental health, really. But the thing I realized, of course, was that as an HSP, these strategies are required, not optional. And it made me feel better to know I'm not alone.
• 
  Summer

  Amazing read
• 
  Greg Dill

  There is often the assumption that only women are sensitive. While women may be more sensitive than men (its a hormonal thing), I do know that I have always been told by others that I am overly sensitive. Certainly empathetic, compassionate, and I sense other people's feelings and moods, all the time. I'm a crybaby when I watch television shows or movies. Same with at weddings and funerals. I am a bit of a perfectionist. I like small social settings and avoid large ones like the plague. It's a blessing and a curse.
  
  I didn't even know Highly Sensitive Person (HSP) was a thing until I stumbled upon this book on Amazon. I decided to download a sample, and within its first 25 pages this book nailed me to a tee. I purchased the book and read it in its entirety in little less than a week. Sooner if I wasn't reading other books at the same time.
  
  According to Dyer, the signs that you may be a Highly Sensitive Person are:
  
  1. A tendency to feel particularly overwhelmed in noisy environments
  2. A preference for smaller gatherings of people rather than large crowds
  3. A good track record of picking up on other people’s moods and motives
  4. An ability to notice little changes in the environment
  5. A tendency to be easily moved by music, books, films, and other media
  6. Heightened sensitivity to hunger, pain, medication, and caffeine
  7. A need to recharge and relax alone on a regular basis
  8. An appreciation of good manners and politeness
  9. Difficulty in refusing others’ requests for fear of hurting their feelings
  10. Difficulty in forgiving yourself for even the smallest mistakes
  11. Perfectionism and imposter syndrome
  12. Trouble handling conflict and criticism
  
  If most of these identify you, then you are likely a Highly Sensitive Person (HSP). Once you are convinced that you are an HSP then the rest of the book will flow nicely for you. As Dyer jumps into how best to navigate through life as an HSP. Whatever you do, don't think of this as a disability or a mental health illness, because it is neither. It is simply how you are wired. There are probably others who are not sensitive, stoic, and not in tune to other peoples sensitivities.
  
  Dyer goes on to offer ideas on how an HSP can get through life a little bit easier. For example, how to deal with emotional overwhelm and building your emotional intelligence. How to set boundaries and say no. How to filter out toxic people in your life while at the same time not falling in love with others too quickly. Then she goes on to offer ideas on how to eliminate negative energy in our lives (this one was a bit unorthodox), how to deal with depression and anxiety. And, what careers are befitting to those of us who are HSP. How do HSPs parent, and how to detox from social media since we HSPs are so in tune to others.
  
  I can go on. This is a great book through and through. It's not an end all for HSP but it does at the very least offer clear insight into what an HSP is. I highly recommend this as an elementary introduction into Highly Sensitive Person. There are other books out there that expound upon it in much more depth and greater detail. For me, this was all that was needed.
• 
  Cristina Stutz

  A good intro book for sensitive people
  
  I liked how easy this book was to read. I finished it in about 90 minutes. The concepts discussed in the book are all relevant and supported with exercises to help deal with each, which I thought was also good.
  
  Where I feel like the book veers, for me personally, is that the author sometimes uses language like, “you can’t help being this way because of how sensitive you are,” — and for me, that feels disempowering. To say we cannot help but be a certain way, is to give our power away to something outside of ourselves.
  
  Yes, we cannot help but be human—for that is what we are, but even the most sensitive among us is capable of being anything we want to be. To think anything differently feels small, and even if that wasn’t the intent of the author, the language was used often enough for it to stand out to me as being something of a limiting belief about being highly sensitive.
• 
  stephanie suh

  Come and read this book if it’s about you. -
  
  If you feel why life can’t be lived at the same pitch
  Of your mind’s notes written in the heart’s chamber;
  If you find the utter cry of your heart without a hitch
  In a solitary sea of words rolling and heaving under
  A rainbow of vivid imaginations and fleeting emotions;
  And your spirit often rebels and refuges in the ether
  From the detritus of broken promises and shattered dreams,
  
  You're born under the Star of the Highly Sensitive evermore
  Of Fire, Spirit, and Dew in the wondrous alchemy of mystery,
  So beautiful, so wonderful, so delightful that your eyes are lit
  With twinkles of shiny waters, sparkles of diamonds evermore
  That which adonize you with the Supreme One of Beauty.
  
  This is you, and you only, only you, and you alone - Always.
• 
  Nadia Somani

  This book was different than I expected - it felt like I was reading summary notes encompassing brief tips to help HSPs. I was hoping for a more in depth analysis & description, coupled with more concrete examples. If someone’s looking for a brief list of “hacks” or tips then I would recommend this book because it does a good job of surface level descriptions which could be useful to introduce new ideas if you’ve never heard of HSPs before.
• 
  IRONBLEWIS

  Informative Read
  
  I found this book to be very insightful and comforting as an HSP. It helped me to see where I my upbringing has impacted who I am today. HSPs need a special kind of love and attention , and when one doesn't get that, it creates problems with the self in the future. Very good read.
• 
  An Gie

  Easy read
  
  Teaches some idea on how to cope with some unwanted situation especially for highly sensitive people as define in this book as well as for people who knows someone that is sensitive. Its a good beginner book to start if you’re into EQ.
• 
  Jen

  while surely Dyer was good intentioned, I found too much negative language when referring to HSPs. Maybe that’s my sensitivity talking but it was kind of a hard read and while i learned some things, i wouldn’t say it was enjoyable. left me feeling like i had to change, to be honest.
• 
  Jessica Rister

  I'm an Empath
  
  I'm an Empath. I didn't know this classified me as an HSP too. I also had unexplained fears. Now, I know this is from this side of me and how exactly to face it. I can see how this can everyone like us.