r/hsp

33K archived posts · May 2011 – Sep 2026

Highly Sensitive People

r/hsp

Come hang out with us on Discord!: https://discord.gg/R5GSyPDwb8 A subreddit for highly sensitive people. Welcome HSP redditors! ___ The concept of HSP was developed by Dr. Elaine Aaron based on her studies described in her book 'The Highly Sensitive Person'. See more in the sidebar at https://old.reddit.com/r/HSP.

Created Apr 8, 2011

76KMembers (last snapshot)

33KArchived posts

A subreddit for highly sensitive people. Welcome HSP redditors!

The concept of HSP was developed by Dr. Elaine Aaron based on her studies described in her book 'The Highly Sensitive Person'.

You can learn more at https://hsperson.com, but the Cliff Notes version of her theory is that for packs of mammals to survive, they developed a macro-evolution where 15% of the pack members have a highly sensitive nervous system and the other 85% not so sensitive. The is the proposed 'ideal' ratio for pack survival, such that if you have too few sensitives, then the pack will figurative plow forward off a cliff like (stereotypical) lemmings, while having too many sensitives means the pack may accomplish very little.

Share your thoughts/questions/theories/experiences/issues/advice on being an HSP or about the concept of HSPs in general here!

Some other relevant links:

Selftest at HSPerson.com
#rHSP at Freenode (IRC chat - info)
A Highly Sensitive Persons Life (With podcast!)
BEnergyAware Podcast
/r/hsp statistics

Some other subreddits that are HSP-related or HSP-adjacent:

r/empaths
r/Hochsensibel (HSP subreddit for German-speakers)
r/weltschmerz
r/hsp_hss
r/Shamanism

From the broader community of coping/wellness/mental health/neurotypical/neurodiverse:

Join us on our Discord server at https://discord.gg/R5GSyPDwb8.

We'd love to be an ear to listen to your experiences as you go through your daily life... or happy to just have a good chat about Dr. Aron's theories and the HSP experience.

Other communities

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