A research team from the Department of Clinical Psychology and Health is conducting a study on high sensitivity, i.e., why some people are more permeable to stimuli, and how social and genetic factors can influence this. A large number of participants is needed for the study to work and for that reason, the team has called on the university community to participate.
Some people are more sensitive than others to their surroundings. Not only to external, physical stimuli, such as sounds and smells, but also to the internal thoughts and emotions and their relationships with others. Sensitivity is a basic human trait that describes our ability to perceive and process the information surrounding us. Everyone is sensitive to some degree, but research shows that approximately 30% of the population can be considered highly sensitive.
Being highly sensitive does not imply psychological problems, but simply means that the person is more permeable to the stimuli encountered. Highly sensitive people may be more affected by negative events, but at the same time make more use of the good and positive things happening around them and can benefit from them.
"We could say that they are like orchids, flowers that more than others need very specific environmental and climate conditions to blossom, but once they do, they are particularly beautiful", explains Neus Barrantes-Vidal, professor in the Department of Clinical Psychology and Health.
What type of flowers do we resemble?
Professor Barrantes-Vidal and the research team she directs, Interacció Persona-Ambient en el Risc i la Resiliència en Salut Mental, are conducting a study funded by the Spanish Ministry for Science and Innovation (PID2020-119211RB-I00) on sensitivity, personality and mental health, as well as the role favourable and unfavourable social factors, as well as genetic characteristics may have in conferring this sensitivity to the environment.
