Before talking about these five types, let’s first talk about what hypersensitivity is: it is a high reactivity to data, information and stimuli that come from our environment. This means that a hypersensitive person reacts strongly to his surroundings, in different ways depending on his type of hypersensitivity:
Psychomotor
Accumulates an excess of energy and can therefore be agitated, speak quickly, act impulsively or seek strong sensations;
Sensory
Captures more information that comes from his five senses (sight, hearing, smell, taste and touch) and can thus seek out or avoid certain sounds, smells or colors;
Imaginative
Deal with stimuli that will feed their imagination (wandering thoughts, scenarios, waking dreams) and will tend to use metaphors to translate their thoughts;
Intellectual
Responds to information that leads them to analyze data, solve very complex problems and make connections (conceptualization)
emotional
Detects and experiences his own emotions more intensely as well as those of others, which leads him to absorb them and become easily attached to significant people, animals, objects or places.
Of course, in the context of work, these hypersensitivities have strengths and points of vigilance. Here are some examples:
- A person with sensory hypersensitivity who works as a clerk in a big-box store may have headaches from the neon lights and thus have difficulty completing shifts. We can therefore conclude that it is a problem in his environment;
- A 3D animator who exhibits imaginative hypersensitivity can use the latter to create richer and more interesting scenarios, which makes her a strength;
- A social worker with emotional and intellectual hypersensitivity could experience it as a strength since it helps him to better analyze the situation of his clients and to be more empathetic towards them;
- Finally, a secretary-receptionist who experiences psychomotor and imaginative hypersensitivity might have difficulty sitting all day and become restless quickly (difficulty), and at the same time she might use her imagination to fill in the quieter moments (strength ).
In itself, being hypersensitive is neither a strong point nor a point of vigilance. It really depends on the work environment in which you evolve!
Students, if you discover one or more hypersensitivities in your career, I invite you to consider them in your career choices since they are part of you. What areas or jobs could benefit from these hypersensitivities? Which would carry risks?
Employees, I suggest you get to know yourself and see if you might have at least one of these hypersensitivities. If so, how does it manifest? In your environment, what could help you to derive the maximum benefit and the minimum inconvenience?
Employers, I invite you to think about the adaptive measures you could put in place for hypersensitive people in your workplace. Many of them are very inexpensive and simple to apply!
This article is taken from the book Giftedness and career: understanding the gifted adult to better support him.
References
- Dabrowski, Kazimierz. Positive Disintegration. Boston: Little, Brown, & Company, 1964.
- Gendron-Fontaine, Sabrina. Giftedness and career: understanding the gifted adult to better accompany him. Quebec: September publisher, 2022.
- Tomasella, Saverio. “Hypersensitivity: a relationship to the world”. Auxerre: Humanities Editions, 2019.
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