Sensitivity: personality types, their character and relationships

We are all very different. Each person has his own individual traits, which form his character. Usually they are born with character, but much is formed both in childhood and in adolescence. Nevertheless, in psychology there is a division into types of accentuation. Read more about this in our material.

Psychologists have long noticed that it is impossible to approach all people with one measure: what one considers to be normal doesn’t fit into the other’s views at all. Sensitivity is a personality trait that manifests itself in increased sensitivity to certain events., information, experiences peculiar only to this type of personality. Sensitive reference point for each psycho. On the basis of a general idea of ​​the difference in the psychological types of personality, the first typology in the world was created, based on the theory of accentuation. It happened in 1968. The German psychiatrist Karl Leonhard proposed classifying all people according to certain types depending on their sensitivity.

The German specialist claimed that approximately 50% of the population are accentuants, while the second half is normal. Thus, Leonhard considered accentuation to be a certain deviation from the norm, however, in no way preventing a person from living. In 1977, the Soviet psychiatrist Andrei Lichko, based on Leonhard’s typology, created his own typology, which was intended for the diagnosis of psychopathy in adolescence. Modern psychiatry defines accentuation as a variant of the norm, but emphasizes that an individual approach and diagnosis is required in each specific case.

Leonhard identified 12 types of accentuation, such as:

• hyperthymic - people who crave activity and activity, constantly need fresh bright emotions and emotions, great optimists, always focused on achieving success;
• dysthymic - types of inhibited, experiencing, pessimistic, waiting for a trick and failure, often appealing to ethical standards;
• affectively labile - combines the signs of an optimist and a pessimist, they balance each other quite well;
• affective exalted - a sublime person who highly values ​​all sensual, emotional sphere in the first place for them;

• anxious - timid, very timid, not wanting to defend the point of view, humble, pliable;
• emotive - very compassionate, empathic, involved in the experiences of others, gentle and sincere person;
• demonstrative - very self-confident, vain, boastful, often - a liar and flatterer;
• pedantic - a person who is difficult to make decisions, but very conscientious, a person with high ideals, personal strips and requirements;
• stuck - suspicious, touchy, vulnerable, very vain with strong and frequent mood swings;
• excitable - a very quick-tempered man, driven by instincts.

With regard to sensitivity, then sensitive types usually include anxious personality types. Once again look at the presented typology of Leonhard, it will become obvious that sensitive people are very disturbing people who are afraid of the new, are anxiously looking to the future, often shy and very impressionable, long and painfully experiencing failures. These include a stuck, anxious, and partially dysthymic type of personality accentuation. Does this mean that a sensitive person is sick? Not always, he just has a special sensitivity, which under adverse circumstances, however, may well become a disease.

A sensitive person can be recognized as early as childhood: a sensitivity disorder can manifest itself either in the form of its aggravation, or lack of sensitivity. Anything or even a whole complex of factors, such as heredity, possible organic damage to brain structures, educational measures used by parents, as well as certain age stages of life, can affect the formation of sensitivity. Violations can occur at the level of temperament, which, in fact, is only the speed of reactions to the world around, on nerve pathogens. It follows that sensitivity cannot be considered a disease. Melancholic more often than others are sensitive individuals. Their suspiciousness and anxiety are extremely high.

A sensitive person already in childhood has a tendency to low self-esteem, later it can grow into high self-demands (demands on oneself) against the background of a reduced level of aspirations. In most cases, children outgrow this condition without significant consequences. In an extremely pronounced form, sensitivity becomes psychopathy.

A sensitive person is anxious, and one should not forget about this, building relationships with him, taking such a person to work, entrusting him with something important or urgent. Sensitivity tends to manifest itself particularly brightly at certain periods of life, for example, in adolescents. But in the absence of pathology as such, such a person has every chance to get rid of heightened sensitivity over time, which will markedly improve the quality of life for both him and the people around him. If the features of character accentuation (for example, anxiety or the power of negative reaction to events) increase and stabilize, then with a high degree of probability we are still talking not about sensitivity as such, but about personality disorder. There are two degrees of accentuation in general: explicit and hidden. The first is expressed throughout life, not compensated. The second is a variant of the norm, there is a probability of compensation and disappearance of symptoms.

In children, sensitivity is usually observed as early as 2 years and slightly older. Kids with heightened sensitivity are very shy, more shy than their peers, they are incredibly impressionable in the most insignificant, everyday situations, timid. Often, children with sensitivity feel untenable, an inferiority complex begins to emerge. They long experience troubles and sorrows, constantly mentally returning to unpleasant memories. They have psychological barriers in communicating with other people. Often, such children prefer a solitary game to a noisy children's team, they very clearly and quickly feel the mood of others, pay attention even to their small fluctuations in one direction or another.

An adult sensitive person, regardless of gender and age, always evaluates the speech, behavior of another person, he intuitively very subtly feels other people, their mood and state at the current moment. For them, there are no unimportant details — in clothes, hairstyle, work — absolutely in everything, a man and a woman with sensitivity will show special abilities.Nature has given them a rare instinct: they can predict the thoughts and feelings of other people in advance, they often know how another will act in a given situation.

In short, the described model is the norm at which the sensitivity will not exceed the limits of the permissible. If a person is hypersensitive, crying uncontrollably for no apparent reason, hysteria, cannot sleep before an important event, and even after important events he has problems with relaxation and falling asleep, because the nervous system is over-excited, if they are elevated to the category of universal tragedy for any reason need to consult a psychotherapist.

If sensitivity is on the verge of the norm and pathology, it will be very difficult for a person to adapt in society - to get a profession, work in a team, and build personal relationships. People with unusual sensitivity should plan their lives taking into account those personal characteristics that they are characterized by.

Anxious accentuates usually intuitively choose professions in which they will feel most comfortable. They have good qualities that are appreciated by employers: they are responsible and will never take up what they can’t cope with, they will not take risks and put everything on the line, but if they do something, then they will do it painstakingly, pedantically, honestly. In addition, sensitive people are very constant: to change jobs, to go on adventures is not in their spirit. They are generally wary of everything new and unknown. They do not need dizzying career growth, they need stability, even if in one place.

Choosing a profession, you should avoid areas of activity in which teamwork is provided., despite the special flair and mood of colleagues, a sensitive person prefers to work independently. Such people may be unbalanced if something glows to the limit of their nervous system, so you should stay away from professions that require endurance, will and high stress tolerance. Thus, it is better to avoid management, management, work in the rescue service, fire brigade, police, business in key positions, diplomacy and politics.

The system of psychological tests can still reveal in school years the sphere in which a child with hypersensitivity will feel most in demand and useful. It is best to choose technical specialties related to the repair, maintenance and operation of complex technical devices and devices. Sensitive, sensitive young people make very thoughtful engineers with a high degree of responsibility and great analytical skills.

If there is a heightened perception of reality, you can become a famous artist or photographer, cameraman, decorator, writer, poet, actor or art historian, museum curator, archivist. Sensitive people sensitively feel not only other people, but also nature, animalstherefore, such professions as veterinarian, zoo worker, gardener, ecologist, agricultural specialist, biologist, marine biologist, zoologist are suitable for them. Also, sensitive financiers, accountants, translators (texts and books), mathematicians and composers are obtained from sensitive people. The main thing is not to work where you have to deal with a large number of people and emergency situations. They are contraindicated in medicine, pedagogy, insurance, stock exchanges, journalism, military and other areas that require close contact with society and iron nerves.

Self-esteem of sensitive people is often inadequate. They are touchy and very sensitive, which prevents them from becoming leaders, leaders in society.Their perception of reality does not mean adventures and courage, thrills, almost always they do not like alcohol, and also rather timid with the opposite sex. Quite often, such people cannot decide on their own attitude to this or that person, because they have a lot of their own secret experiences, which occupy all their thoughts. They do not like pretense and lies, so it is easier for them to stay away from big companies than to adapt to the rules of the team, flatter, please and try to seem like a “sweetheart”.

However, they will not find out about the relationship with the offender, they prefer to “huddle” offendedly into the far corner of their own apartment in order to “think things over”. However, they tend to fall into depression. The thought that someone could think something bad about them is unbearable for them. Do not assume that you can easily cheer a sensitive person. He may smile at you politely, but he will not dare to sincere joy, or rather, he will be ashamed of its manifestations.

Sensitive people of a melancholic warehouse usually have low or extremely low psychosexual activity, therefore, they are in the courtship courtship, the prospects for building family relationships. But they will gladly take the initiative of the partner in many issues of organizing their own personal lives. There is one important nuance that a sensitive person’s partner should be aware of: with age, he can partially compensate for his hypersensitivity, as mentioned above, but he can begin to lead a “double life”: outside the house, he will be polite, courteous, calm.

But once he is at home, he will immediately throw off the “mask” they are against, and then the partner will have to listen long and patiently to how annoying and annoying everything is, what an imperfect and wrong world, what unpleasant and unfair people are. All that has accumulated because of the "mask" will be a topic of conversation in quiet family evenings. From a spouse, a sensitive person will demand understanding and every kind of sympathy. If, even with a gesture or a glance, the partner shows that he is tired of listening to this or is tired or is not interested in him now, then the insult of a sensitive, sensitive melancholic who is hurt by such a “betrayal” will be global. The reasons for the sufferings and experiences from him immediately increase.

You can try to do it with sanguine persons - representatives of this type of temperament get along quite easily with any other types, it will not be so difficult for them to establish a rather close emotional contact with a sensitive partner. In addition, the Terry Optimist, which is a sanguine person, will gladly share with the sensitive spouse a little bit of confidence, will give him vigor and a bit of faith in himself. However, in the flow of his vitality and optimism, a sanguine person may not notice how he inadvertently offends a sensitive partner, which may be a cause for quarrel and misunderstanding. Two sensitive partners who, in fact, both are melancholic, it will be interesting to be friends, to communicate, but here their family life will resemble a heavy life drama and a very long drawn-out plot. Both will be offended, both will be focused on their experiences, a sensitive family will suffer itself and make everyone who is near suffer.

Quickly forgetting quarrels, sharp and energetic choleric will involuntarily offend the sensitive partner at every step, he can shout, press down, make fun of his spouse (spouse), that will long remain in the soul of the second huge thorn splinter.Good chances of a successful family in a sensitive person with a classic phlegmatic person. In such a union, no one will offend anyone, but there will not be much bright passions and feelings there either. If the partners do not learn to speak and not to delay the conflicts, then everything will be fine. Otherwise, both can sit for a long time in different corners and suffer because of insults; if they accumulate, it will be harder to reconcile.