Autism vs. HSP: EVERYTHING You Need to Know | Neurodivergent Magic

Have you heard of something called "The Highly Sensitive Person"? Did you know that the criteria to qualify as an HSP are almost IDENTICAL to the criteria to be diagnosed with autism? In this video, we really break down the similarities and differences between autism and high sensitivity, and why the term Highly Sensitive Person is actually an ableist idea.

*** DISCLAIMER: This video is not my way of diagnosing you with autsim. Rather, this video is my way of encouraging you to look into autism if you relate to the idea of the Highly Sensitive Person. ***

😊 Hi, I'm Megan Griffith, I'm a neurodivergent life coach and content creator on a mission to help neurodivergent folks embrace their strengths, cope with their struggles, and be their true, authentic selves.

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[johannahoneyman]

I’ve always been called ‘over sensitive’ by other people and I describe myself as being a ‘highly sensitive person’. Sometimes I think I’m autistic and sometimes I think I’m imagining it. What really bothers me is how difficult it is to be diagnosed with autism as a female.

[sidhedanu]

I don't think being HSP is the same thing as having autism. I have worked in special education since 2000 (data person in admin) and read a lot about autism, and suspected I may be autistic. Then this year I learned about HSPs and thought "wow, I was wrong". More than that..."I don't feel bad about the self-care measures I take for myself".

I really prefer the term sensory processing sensitivity. I watched a lot of videos of Dr. Aron talking about it, and what I learned is that they have proven this is a thing with scientific studies, such as tests with MRI machines. They also found that 20% of the population being HSP can be applied to all species.

A defining trait that you didn't discuss is attention to detail. It's basically my specialty & why I'm so good at my job (based on praise from the teachers & administrators I bail out on a daily basis). Dr. Aron has a theory that perhaps this subset of the population is the one to learn how to adapt to a new environment (by paying close attention) & the rest of the population survives by learning from them. Caution is another big one that ties into that. Constant analysis of one's situation leads to examining all possible courses of action.

I think the main thing is that HSPs simply need some time alone to process the events of the day so that their body can shut down. A lot of stressful shit happened on Sunday & I ended up only getting 3 hours of sleep because while my brain was tired my nervous system was still amped up and going.

It may be possible to be both, & I may be both (my social IQ is very low). But I really don't think they are the same thing.

[annaguenon]

Hi, first of all, thanks for making content about neurodivergence, that‘s always great. I watched your video and while I agree with you that the traits of HSP are a subgroup of the traits of autism, like you showed, that doesn’t show they are the same. Just because HSP can be seen as having some autism traits, doesn’t mean it‘s enough to have autism as autism is defined by the long list of traits you showed in your video. An HSP for example doesn’t have to stim to be an HSP. Considering the social aspects: people with autism generally have problems inherent to socializing, eg difficulty with eye contact or small talk. HSPs have problems socializing because it drains their energy, resulting in earlier breaks of the conversation or just problems in crowded places, not in general. So, I would be ok with arguing all people with autism are HSPs, not that all HSPs have autism.

[colly]

By the way, I wish being neurodivergent was considered cool when I was growing up in the 80s. It was really hard and so stigmatised. I was always accused of being hypersensitive. I'm glad people are now becoming more accepting.

[pjmackall]

HSPs have different criteria of traits than the ones you named here. Those were just a few of the items you can have, but I don’t have the second one you named and I am HSP. The newer scale is D.O.E.S. with the D (depth of processing) being most important.

As an HSP with autistic family members, the second item you compared is vastly different between us. I don’t have the same deficits in social interactions and appropriateness that they do. It’s a wide chasm. I realize there is a scale with autism, and my autistic family members are high functioning, and still socially somewhat awkward and inappropriate. None of my HSP friends or family have this.

HSP and autism probably have overlap in some individuals, but I don’t believe they are exactly the same thing.

[emar]

I came from the opposite end, thinking that I was autistic for a while, before I discovered giftedness - being a highly sensitive INTP with 142 IQ (sd15). Autism ≠ HSP. You could perfectly be both, but they are not the same thing. Being HSP usually doesn't come with repetitive behaviours like strict adherence to routines, narrow interests and stimming, nor socio-emotional problems related to propospagnosia, alexithymia and cognitive empathy. But it's understandable how the relatively vague wording in Elaine Aron's descriptions of HSPs might be misinterpreted to be the same as autism.

[kellyely]

This is very helpful in understanding the differences, but I do think all autistic people are highly sensitive (their sensory systems, which includes emotional and mental stimuli) but not all HSPs are autistic. I think HSPs that can connect more easily with their nervous system and reregulate it would be non autistic, versus autistic people who can't connect and regulate their nervous systems in highly simulating environments. Which I think explains the need for systematic habits to learn which environments are senorily safe and which are not. I have certain places that I go that are extremely stimulating (work and the gym), but I have learned to calm my nervous system in those environments so that I don't have sensory overload.

[colinrevell]

You can be a highly sensitive person and have neurodiverse conditions too, or without them.
Have you watched the film Highly Sensitive People which Elaine Aron and others in this film clearly states this.
You can also have more than one comordid disability and experience chronic mental health and trauma and pain issues.
We're all unique individuals in our own right.
As myself being a neurodivergent and disabled highly sensitive empath person with chronic comordid mental and trauma issues ( Complex-PTSD) and chronic pain issues ( fibromyalgia) and gastroparesis) I've many years of lived experiences of this.
All these are trauma invoked and induced and being a highly sensitive person we're more susceptible to developing trauma based mental health and physical health issues.
This is due to us having a highly sensitive central nervous system that causes some of us to have vagus nerve dysfunction.
I myself as a highly sensitive empath person also have been blessed with spiritual gifts too and have psychic abilities and skills.
Many Autistic People have these spiritual gifts. Have you read the research from William Stillman and Olga Bogdashina?
Have you watched the videos by Autistamatic?
What do you know about the social model of disability?
❤ Collie ❤
founder of FreeOurPeople Alliance UK at: freeourpeople.co.uk

[rainbownebula]

I went through basically the same process as you, before being officially diagnosed XD

I always felt that there was something wrong with me, I was often called too sensitive, and I suffered eith lots of very aggressive meltdowns that nobody really cared much about (they just blamed me for everything and that was it). So after a while, I decided to research what was all of this that was me XD

First I started with personality tests, maybe it was just my personality you know, got INTP, and that kinda helped me accept myself more for a while. Then found the HSP and wow, that fits a lot with many things that I feel, this helped me even more with my self acceptance. Then I found some people talking about asd, and while I saw similarities, I was taken back by the stereotypes that I had in my head. "I can't possibly be autistic, I'm not crazy about trains, and I have empathy, I always think about other people's feelings when wording what I say, I can also understand sarcasm and stuff, and I like to be with people, etc etc".

Fast forward a feel years later, I start a relationship with my bf, this kind amazing attentive guy, who is neurotypical, but have people with adhd in his family and stuff. Anyway, he starts to point out many things, not out of malice, just cuz it was new to him and he wanted to understand. Plus because of the adhd in his family, he also pointed out that it could be something more.

He noticed all of my stims, things that I would be basically doing 24/7 and remember consciously changing throughout the years to get more subtle, but never rally gave much thought too.

He also noticed that I was really REALLY direct and literal about everything, and thought I could understand more subtle language and read between the lines in some contexts, I would often miss a bunch of stuff that he was trying to convey, and say things literally that he would take the wrong way sometimes.

He also noticed that I was REALLY passionate about some topics, and would have this moments where I would reseach everything I could about them and then share all of this info in monologues to him, where I would not let him speak XD. My main special interest is animals, and a few months into the relationship, I got really interested in ants and antkeeping, which made research and talk about this for months and then get a queen ant and start a ant colony in my home lol.

He also noticed that I would often get VERY dependent on him os social situations, kinda wanting for him to be by my side most of the time, which was the only thing that he really complained about in all of this XD. And well, it's true, I tend to rely on the people that I'm closest with in social gatherings to kinda do part of the socializing for me, and to help me act better by coping their actions: the way the greet everyone, the way the say goodbye, the way they react to what other people say, the way the behave in general. Cuz I often feel VERY lost on how I'm supposed to act, and if I act in my natural way, I basically arrive, don't say hi to anyone, start a conversation out of nowhere with someone without even saying hi first, and then find a isolated spot to hang out doing my thing in silence XD

Saying hi and acting "normally" tends to be a very conscious calculated action for everything I do, and that is what makes it draining. I can pass as a perfectly sociable empathetic person if I put my mind to it, but I will feel so drained afterwards, that It's just not worth it most of the time.

I always felt that I was constantly translating my thoughts into "better sentences" since I was a child. Turns out I'm indeed constantly trying to translate my very literal direct thoughts into more palatable words that NT would not take wrongly, cuz man, they are professionals in putting things that aren't there into your words. And I also have to do the inverse too, that is trying to translate their subtle language with my very direct literal brain that would just say it as it is. And since I feel VERY safe with my bf, I tend to worry less about that, which makes me more prone to lose his subtle messages (which has been less of a problem after my diagnosis, cuz whe he sees that I'm not getting it, he just says things in a more literal and direct way XD)

Anyway, this got pretty long, so I'll stop here '^^

[theapexpredator]

HSP's do not have deficit's in Social-Emotional Reciprocity...

[RLP]

Well, HSP is not really a medical term, so I would be cautious. Self diagnosis is certainly ok, but there's a reason why the diagnostic process of ASD is as complicated as it is. Neuropsychological tests (which may show an uneven IQ profile) are also part of it.

[c-]

My therapist thinks I might be audhd… and I’m really excited to talk to her about this today!

[galespressos]

@NeurodivergentMagic Got assessed as HSP too. The autistic traits were noted as well in high school. However, was empathetic, sensitive in a good way and caring with other people. So considering that I was gifted and due to the way I managed social life well, it was felt that I was okay and autistic traits were maybe not going to be an issue; that I was okay. It hasn’t been okay in adulthood. Additionally EF has been crappy. …. Comment and thought about HSP, if HSP person get harmed, is forced to stay in environments where the6 cannot detox and get damaged or sensory overload, and made dysfunctional in society it may become or be recognised as ASD.

[understandablepodcast]

Beautiful, how confident and self-conscious you explain the things in front of the camera. Thanks for sharing!

[amanikhader]

I've recently come to a diagnosis of autism and a friend told me about the documentary Sensitive on Amazon Prime. The whole time I was watching it I was like "ok so your high functioning..." Glad to see someone saying what I was thinking.

[charleneliburd]

It’s disabling because of the society we live in… wow thank you

[fomalhauto]

I am concerned about High Sensitivity being equated to Autism. Some people are lumping all highly sensitive people under autism. I am seeing people doing it on youtube. I don't agree with this. This type of thinking is endangered of getting people misdiagnosed. I know what it's like to be misdiagnosed.

I am a highly sensitive person, but I am not autistic. I am a neurodivergent with Dyslexia, Dyspraxia, ADHD which are neurodivergent conditions that have high co-morbidity and overlap with Autism. I had auditory therapy, speech therapy, phonics training, and motor skills therapy to correct my Dyslexic and Dyspraxic weaknesses. Now they're mild now.

Many neurodivergents have sensory processing issues, but not all of them are autistic. Many neurodivergents that are highly sensitive are not autistic. I know a lot of people that are highly sensitive people that are into metaphysical subjects and healing arts, and most of them aren't autistic. Some are neurodivergent. I am into metaphysical subjects including especially Astrology. Many neurodivergents are into metaphysical subjects and refer to themselves as Indigos and Crystals.

Elaine Aron's book The Highly Sensitive Child seems to be very similar to books written about the Indigo Children and Crystal Children. I have a couple of books about the Indigo Children and Crystal Children by Doreen Virtue. I did an amazon review of Doreen Virtue's The Care And Feeding Of The Indigo Child, and I pointed that much of what she describes fits with neurodivergence.

The neurodivergent conditions do have significant co-morbidity with Autism. That needs to be considered. Some people might mistake Dyspraxia for Autism because of the overlap in regards speech problems, sensory processing issues, and problems with coordination. They are not the same though. The hallmark of Dyspraxia is problems with planning and coordination.

I don't have problems perceiving/understanding emotional/social cues which is the hallmark of autism. I was reading facial expressions as a baby. At 2 years old, I was creating my own sign language to communicate because people had hard time understanding me. I am quite expressive with my feelings with tone of voice, gestures, facial expressions, and I am easily affected and can be perceptive of tone of voice, gestures, and facial expressions.I can be hypersensitive to emotional/social cues. A person standing up close to me with a mean look on his face could easily make me feel threatened. I will have a strong 'fight or flight' response. I always liked playing with others and was quick to befriend others. I was very clingy with my mother as a little kid.I liked hugging with others when I was a little kid.
I didn't have the social impairments that would define me as autistic. Neurologists that examined me noted that I wasn't autistic. They confirmed my Dyslexia and Dyspraxia.

You can be both autistic and highly sensitive, but being highly sensitive doesn't mean being autistic.

I learned that I was an HSP back in 1999 before I learned that I was a neurodivergent with Dyslexia, Dyspraxia, ADHD in 2003.
I actually created The Highly Sensitive People MSN group back in 1999 after getting Elaine Aron's book The Highly Sensitive Person and going to a Highly Sensitive Person seminar class.

In 2010, I created Developmental Neurodiversity Association (DNA) facebook group.

I am a male that doesn't fit male stereotypes, and I have been mistook for being gay. I just recently found out that I have a rare missense mutation involving Androgen Receptor (AR) gene on Chromosome X. I have index fingers longer than ring fingers which supposedly indicate very feminine finger ratios. I do have high estrogen levels and low testosterone levels.

According to Myers Briggs Personality Test, I am an Intuitive Feeling Perceiver (INFP)

[frejadebeja]

its not the same! overtension goes from the inside with autisme andbovertension goes from the outside with hsp

[AutoEngineerVideos]

I have traits that cover both - even in specific areas that are seemingly mutually exclusive. For instance, I'm very empathic... except when I'm not. I was diagnosed as being an HSP with high sensation seeking nearly a decade ago, and having that information certainly helped me, but it still didn't seem to cover it all. For instance, for me, I have to admit that much of my empathy is learned, and not natural (autistic masking?). However, when I hear of someone getting physically hurt, I often have an undeniable and uncontrollable neurological reaction that makes me react in a way that people would say is my empathy coming out spontaneously. After many years of telling myself that I'm a HSP, and not Autistic, I've recently come to the realisation that I probably am autistic, whether I like it or not.

Thanks for addressing the elephant in the room. While a certain researcher has done a lot of good work that helps a lot of people, she earns a living from it, so whether she realises it or not, she has a vested interest in keeping HSP and ASD as separate conditions. Perhaps HSP is just mild ASD, while not having so much of the visual cue problems (or having masked by working it out so early that it isn't so noticeable - or maybe just noticing things that aren't really there, and as such, swinging the pendulum from one extreme of error to the other). On the other hand, perhaps HSP and ASD are related, but depending on which set of symptoms a person has, they're more to the HSP side, or more to the ASD side.

[studyjunkie]

I don't have sensitivity to lights and sounds
I don't have sensitivity to caffeine and medications
I don't avoid violance on tv or movies
I don't get affected by ppl moods if I'm happy and Confident.
I don't get drained if i don't focus on Negativity