Modern Wisdom

Podbit · Modern Wisdom

The Hidden Psychology Of Highly Sensitive People - Dr Sasha Hamdani - #1147

Explore episode Sep 7, 2026

Where this was said

Why Social Rejection Hurts So Much

At 5:41 · chapter starts 5:40

The conversation draws a careful distinction between two overlapping but distinct concepts. The Highly Sensitive Person (HSP) label — a non-clinical term — describes sensitivity across all sensory channels: light, sound, emotional data, and chaos. RSD by contrast is specifically an emotional phenomenon, sitting at the more intense end of a sensitivity spectrum. Dr. Hamdani explains that the term was coined by Dr. William Dodson after observing that patients consistently had the most profound emotional responses to rejection and criticism specifically. She argues the field now needs to expand its language toward 'emotional sensitivity' more broadly, because that framing creates a better bridge into understanding emotional dysregulation in ADHD and anxiety.

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