Sensitivity, Anxiety, and Chronic Pain - What is the link? Do you identify as a sensitive person?

Why some people are more sensitive than others is still somewhat of a mystery, but there are some clues into why some people have this trait and others do not.  There may be some degree of it being an inherent personality trait, and some degree of early life experiences. 

In Hakomi Somatic Therapy, we learn about the character strategies that people develop to be able to function in the world with core psychological wounds.  These strategies are essentially deeply rooted coping mechanisms that are usually unconscious because they are developed at such a young age as a brilliant protective mechanism that the child’s nervous system erects when the child has no tools or understanding for how to cope with not getting some kind of essential emotional need met. 

The first strategies that develop from an embryonic stage until approximately 6 months of age are the sensitive withdrawn and sensitive emotional strategies.  An infant has no degree of conscious awareness that the outside world is differentiated from their internal world. 

To an infant, their inner sensations are one continuous experience to their external environment, with no consciousness dividing the two.  The experience that occurs in infanthood is “If something is wrong outside of me, then something is wrong inside of me.”  Of course, the reverse is also true, and this experience is not a conscious thought, it is a very basic felt sense.

If you are a sensitive person, you may have at least one or more of these core beliefs:

·        There is something wrong with me

·        The world is unwelcoming and dangerous

·        I am not safe

·        I am not normal

·        I do not belong anywhere.  I am not welcome.

In order to manage the powerlessness and overwhelm if wounding occurs during this stage of development, two primary responses will occur.  The first is the sensitive withdrawn strategy which will contract inward physically and psychologically.  The experience can be that of the outer world not feeling safe, and the inner world not feeling safe.  What occurs here is that the body physically contracts, and core energetics go upward into the mind, where the infant can find refuge.

Some of the core experiences of a sensitive withdrawn person may be one or more of the following:

·        Generalized anxiety

·        Difficulty resting

·        Chronic tension in the body

·        Avoidance of social situations

·        Not feeling much in the body at all

·        Most relaxed and connected when alone

·        Ability to deeply engage in mental activity, creativity, and/or spirituality

·        Intellectual brilliance and innovative thinking

The other wing of this sensitive spectrum is known as the sensitive emotional strategy.  Someone in this strategy carries the same core beliefs about safety and belonging as the sensitive withdrawn, however, they usually have the core energetic tendency to reach for something outside of themselves to help anchor them. 

The infant may be more emotionally temperamental, and as an adult the experience can be more of an internal chaotic feeling with a heavy amount of autonomic dysregulation in the nervous system that can present very similarly to symptoms of trauma.  The focus is outward with a desire for connection with others, but having a hard time trusting that connection when potential for connection with another arrives.*

Some of the core experiences of a sensitive emotional person may be one or more of the following:

·        Fear, terror, panic attacks

·        A lot of intense feelings and yet difficulty cultivating insight

·        Difficulty concentrating

·        Strong ability to track the emotional needs of a group

·        Devotion to caring for others

·        Ability to easily make connections with others

·        Longing for intimacy and simultaneous challenge with taking it in

·        Ability to empathize deeply

The emotional strategies, along with the other strategies developed later in childhood are not bad.  As you can see from these lists, there are many strengths that sensitive people carry, along with the challenges.  What is most challenging about being a sensitive person is that these strategies were developed so early in life, and it requires an incredible amount of inner work to begin to see the water you are swimming in. 

Often this process of awakening to the core wounds of the sensitive strategy is one of immense confusion and overwhelm.  However, once realized, I truly believe that highly sensitive people are some of the most insightful, soulful, creative people on the planet.  They are usually the healers, artists, and innovators who can experience things on a much deeper level than the average person. 

If you believe that you fall into one of these categories, and you need help making sense of your experience, I would love to help you with that process. 

On another note, folks who struggle with chronic pain are often people who are highly sensitive because a sensitized nervous system sets the foundation for developing chronic pain.  Adverse childhood experiences and/or chronic oppressive or stressful experiences can put the brain and nervous system on high alert. 

A child will always override their internal sensitivity in order to get their needs met from the caregivers or the world around them.  The same goes for anyone who is marginalized.  If they learn that certain emotions or needs are not safe to express, they will numb that emotion or need in order to belong or conform.  Because for a child or marginalized person who is so dependent on the outside world for safety, belonging is vital to survival.

 Repression of emotions works momentarily, but overtime, this wreaks havoc on many systems of the body, and leaves a person in a chronic state of hypervigilance or shutdown.

Chronic pain can develop when the brain and nervous system perceives internal sensations as dangerous.  When chronic physical symptoms develop and there is no rhyme or reason for them, then most of the time we can interpret this as neuroplastic pain, meaning that the brain and nervous system are creating or heightening sensations of pain when there is no physical cause.

Neuroplastic pain develops when the brain misinterprets safe signals from the body as dangerous, and sends out pain signals when you are not actually in danger, such as being in pain long after an initial injury has healed.  It is a safety mechanism brilliantly administered from brain to body through the nervous system, letting us know that there is something dangerous, and to act accordingly, even when there is no danger.  

It is like your brain is misinterpreting incoming sensations from your body as if the brain being thrown a hand grenade when it is actually a softball.  The brain then sends out danger signals (pain) to alert you that there is danger when there is none.  Pain is always a protection response evoked from the brain whether or not the pain is physically caused such as putting your hand on a hot stove, or emotionally caused such as growing up in a neglectful or abusive environment. 

If you struggle with a chronic pain condition, I would be honored to support you in the process of untangling your fear patterns from your symptoms. Please see my services page, or my comprehensive program to support you with chronic pain.