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When Mental Illness Makes You Oversensitive

Here's what's happening on the HealthyPlace site this week:

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.

Related Articles Dealing with Mental Illness and Oversensitivity

Your Thoughts

Today's Question: If you catch yourself being oversensitive, what do you do to regulate your thoughts, emotions, actions, or physical sensations? We invite you to participate by commenting and sharing your feelings, experiences and knowledge on the HealthyPlace Facebook page.

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From the HealthyPlace Mental Health Blogs

On all our blogs, your comments and observations are welcomed.

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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Most Popular HealthyPlace Articles Shared by Facebook Fans

Here are the top 3 mental health articles HealthyPlace Facebook fans are recommending you read:

  1. Anxiety and Overthinking Everything
  2. Stop Comparing Yourself to Others to Improve Self-Esteem
  3. 6 Ways to Reduce PTSD Stress During the Holidays

If you're not already, I hope you'll join us/like us on Facebook too. There are a lot of wonderful, supportive people there.

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Mental Health Quote

"It's sad, actually, because my anxiety keeps me from enjoying things as much as I should at this age" - Amanda Seyfried

Read more anxiety quotes.

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That's it for now. If you know of anyone who can benefit from this newsletter or the HealthyPlace.com site, I hope you'll pass this onto them. Please share the newsletter on any social network you belong to. For updates throughout the week, follow us on Twitter, like us on Facebook, subscribe to our YouTube channel, and follow us on Instagram.

Thank you,
Deborah

Community Partner Team
HealthyPlace.com - America's Mental Health Channel
"When you're at HealthyPlace.com, you're never alone."
http://www.healthyplace.com

APA Reference
Peterson, T. (2017, January 31). When Mental Illness Makes You Oversensitive, HealthyPlace. Retrieved on 2024, March 28 from https://www.healthyplace.com/other-info/mental-health-newsletter/when-mental-illness-makes-you-oversensitive

Last Updated: March 28, 2024
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Medically reviewed by Harry Croft, MD

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