49 pages • 1-hour read
The Highly Sensitive Person: How to Thrive When the World Overwhelms You
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Key Figures
Elaine N. Aron
Born in 1944, Elaine Aron is a psychologist and author best known for her study of highly sensitive persons (HSPs), a term that she coined. After graduating Phi Beta Kappa from the University of California, Berkeley, Aron went on to earn an MA in clinical psychology at York University in Toronto, and a PhD in clinical depth psychology at Pacifica Graduate Institute. Aron interned at the C. G. Jung Institute in San Francisco, a training program for mental health professionals specializing in the modes of psychology pioneered by early-20th-century Swiss psychoanalyst Carl Jung. Jungian influences are reflected in The Highly Sensitive Person, particularly in Aron’s emphasis on the tension between the “persona,” or the public-facing self, and the “shadow self,” or those aspects of the personality that are hidden or repressed.
In 1991, Aron began to study the trait of high sensitivity; her research gained wide notoriety and resulted in several books, including The Highly Sensitive Person, The Highly Sensitive Parent, The Highly Sensitive Person in Love, and The Undervalued Self. In addition, Aron has joined with her husband, Dr. Arthur Aron, in studying the psychology of love and relationships, often using functional magnetic resonance imaging. Originally appearing in 1996, and since revised and republished several times, The Highly Sensitive Person has become an international bestseller and a widely read resource on the psychology of sensitivity. Dr. Aron and her husband live and practice psychotherapy in Mill Valley, California.
Carl Jung
Best known for his development of analytical psychology, the Swiss psychologist Carl Jung was one of the 20th century’s most influential thinkers. Born in Kesswil, Switzerland in 1875, Jung trained in medicine at the University of Basel and eventually concentrated on psychiatric medicine, which he considered the ideal intersection between biology and spirituality. Throughout his career as a psychologist, Jung was much interested in the world of dreams, which he studied scientifically as indicative of the “collective unconscious.” Jung continued to write about many aspects of human psychology until his death in 1961, and his influence continues to the present.
Jung’s approach to psychology was more spiritual than that of his colleague Sigmund Freud, and he believed that the unconscious had great creative power in society. Aron cites this particular aspect of Jung as relevant for HSPs. A highly sensitive person himself, Jung wrote extensively about sensitive, introverted, and intuitive personality types in very positive terms. Thus, Jung’s work forms an important background to Aron’s arguments. Notably, Aron’s concept of the two leading groups in society reflects Jung’s idea of archetypes, while Jung’s idea of the power of dreams (including synchronicity, or meaningfully connected experiences) plays a role in Chapter 10.
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