When Mental Illness Makes You Oversensitive

Tanya J. Peterson

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When Mental Illness Makes You Oversensitive
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Does your mental illness make you oversensitive, or highly sensitive, to emotional or physical things around you? Get helpful tips on HealthyPlace.

When Mental Illness Makes You Oversensitive

There are many different types of mental illness, and they all share some common features. They are life-disruptive, and they affect someone's whole being: body, thoughts, feelings, and behaviors. Also, mental illnesses can make people oversensitive.

Mental illness can make people oversensitive in many different ways. For example, people living with mental illness can

become overstimulated by sounds, lights, crowds of people, and more
be bothered by physical sensations such as touch, irritation from fabrics, etc.
be easily overwhelmed by strong emotions, their own as well as others'
be overpowered and distracted by racing thoughts.

It's not uncommon for someone living with a mental illness to feel totally overwhelmed due to this oversensitivity. When that happens to you, try the following tips:

find a dim, quiet place
breathe deeply and slowly without trying to control your thoughts or feelings; just be
do something rhythmic, such as running the forefinger of one hand up and down the fingers of your other hand and then switching hands
put space between your thoughts/feelings and your true self; acknowledge the fact that you feel or think a certain way, and also acknowledge that it doesn't represent who you are

Separate yourself from situations, thoughts, and feelings to keep oversensitivity from crushing you.

From the HealthyPlace Mental Health Blogs

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Feel free to share your thoughts and comments at the bottom of any blog post. And visit the mental health blogs homepage for the latest posts.

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From HealthyPlace YouTube Channel

Why People Don't Talk About Mental Health

Why is it so hard to talk about mental health? Why is it so hard to come forward with a diagnosis of bipolar disorder, depression or anxiety? These are reasonable questions with a reasonable answer. .

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