The Highly Sensitive Person: How to Thrive When the World Overwhelms You

Containers are things, places, people, or ideas that provide a sense of inner safety. For the HSP in particular, containers provide protection against overstimulation. Aron recommends learning to see our body itself and the entire universe as containers, which will provide us a maximum sense of security.

A term borrowed from Swiss psychoanalyst Carl Jung, the “persona” is a public-facing, often consciously crafted self, also sometimes referred to as a “mask” that allows the individual to move freely in society while retaining a degree of privacy. Individuals typically adopt multiple, overlapping personae, switching between them (or emphasizing some traits and deemphasizing others) in different social contexts.

Stimulation is “anything that wakes up the nervous system” (8) and can come either from outside or from the body itself. Simulation can vary in intensity and mean different things to different people. One of the main distinguishing features of HSPs is their sensitivity to stimulation—making them especially susceptible to overstimulation (which Aron alternatively calls “overarousal”).

Another Jungian term, the shadow self is the counterpart of the persona. The shadow self comprises all the elements of the personality that are hidden or repressed because they are considered socially unacceptable. Like Jung, Aron argues that everyone has a shadow self and that repression of the shadow self—while socially necessary—can become harmful if practiced too thoroughly. If the individual ignores or forgets the shadow self, it can resurface in anti-social or self-destructive behaviors. Aron suggests that by consciously reconnecting with their shadow selves, HSPs can achieve greater life satisfaction.

For Aron, shyness is an often misused and misapplied term. She defines it as a temporary feeling of social discomfort, rather than a fixed personality trait. Aron recommends the term “social discomfort” instead of shyness and warns against confusing it with high sensitivity, a fixed personality trait.