What is The H.I.S.S. of the A.S.P.?

It's a book about the full spectrum and entire range of human sensitivities - physiological, cognitive, emotional, altered states of consciousness and transpersonal (metaphysical or psychic) sensitivities. The focus of the book is on understanding why some people have transpersonal experiences and others don't. People who score above a certain level on the "Holistic Inventory of Stimulus Sensitivities (HISS)" questionnaire are spoken of as "Anomalously Sensitive Persons (ASPs)."

Are you saying that not all people have transpersonal experiences, whether religious or otherwise?

According to data from the HISS questionnaire with 295 subjects, the vast majority of people report having very few or no transpersonal experiences. I emphasize the word report, because it's much the same situation as with reports of dreaming. Some people report having no dreams, but sleep researchers tell us that everybody dreams, it's just that some people don't remember their dreams.

What can you tell us about your 295 subjects?

In most of the social sciences, a sample is one of convenience rather than a true sample of the general population, and the HISS is no exception. Most such studies are conducted by university professors who end up using sophomore psychology students as their subjects. The sample for the HISS was developed through a network of friends and acquaintances that filled out the questionnaire and then got others to fill it out as well. Since participation wasn't mandatory, one issue that immediately arises is that the sample is skewed toward people who will voluntarily spend an hour of their time on such a task. The sample is not a perfect one, but then not many samples are. In the HISS sample, for example, women, people in human services occupations, and those who are highly educated are over-represented, whereas minorities are under-represented.

What kinds of sensitivities do these "Anomalously Sensitive Persons (ASPs)" exhibit?

The study arose out of my work as a clinical hypnotherapist where I found that clients coming to me with reports of things like past lives, alien abductions, mediumship experiences and such (which I refer to collectively as "transpersonal experiences") seemingly often had immune system disorders and/or had learning difficulties. These people were good hypnotic subjects - in other words, they were sensitive to altered states of consciousness - so it occurred to me that in addition to a connection between altered states of consciousness sensitivity and transpersonal experience sensitivity, there might also be a connection between altered states of consciousness sensitivity and physiological, cognitive and emotional sensitivities. It turns out there is.

What conclusions can be drawn from the data?

The most important conclusion, I believe, is that if an individual is highly sensitive in one realm, she/he is very likely to be highly sensitive in all the other realms. For example, if a person is sensitive to transpersonal experiences, they may very well have immune system sensitivities. Or they may have learning disorders, such as dyslexia, or attention deficit disorder and the like ...and they will probably be emotionally sensitive as well. Conversely, if they're not sensitive to transpersonal experiences, it's very likely that they're not sensitive in the other realms.

What is an "ASP?"

An "ASP" is an "Anomalously Sensitive Person," "anomalously" meaning "unusually or highly." Specifically, in order to qualify as an ASP statistically, a person has to be in roughly the top two percent of the population being tested with the HISS questionnaire in terms of both their reported sensitivities and their reported predispositions (nature/nurture/personality) toward being sensitive.

How would we know if somebody is an ASP?

The only way to know for certain is to see that person's scores on the HISS questionnaire. Otherwise, you wouldn't be able to positively identify an ASP ...but if someone strikes you as being very sensitive, and if they are non-right-handed, hypopigmented, have an other than conventionally heterosexual orientation, are one of a multiple birth and if they are an artist, there's a very good chance that they are an ASP. All of those factors are correlated with ASPness.

They need not possess all of those traits, but the more they possess, the more likely they are to be an ASP.

Are ASPs generally able to function in society on a day-to-day basis?

Just as with any other group of people, some are and some aren't.

ASPs are by definition unusual in that they are persons who are highly sensitive - specifically in the top two percent of the population. In our society, anyone who is unusual is going to be marginalized and perhaps discriminated against. If somebody were to report to a psychiatrist that they had various psychic experiences, because such experiences are highly unusual the psychiatrist, whether as a result of her/his training or personal bias, may label that person as dysfunctional. "Schizotypal Personality Disorder" is frequently the diagnosis given.

Might an ASP have been motivated to seek clinical help because she/he already thought there was something wrong with her/him?

Yes. If you're unusual, you generally know that you're unusual, and in our society, "unusual" generally means "dysfunctional," given the way the labels are applied. This person presumably has had people tell her/him time and again how messed up and weird she/he is, so the feedback from society alone may be enough to create psychological difficulties.

If one becomes convinced, both by self-perception and the opinions of others, that they need to seek psychiatric help, will they then automatically be diagnosed in psychiatric terms?

Often, the act of seeking psychiatric help, in and of itself, is marginalized, denigrated and pathologized. Look at what happens when politicians admit to it.

Recognize, though, that these ASPs are likely to have a number of general medical conditions and will frequently be seeing regular medical doctors. These conditions they have are often not run-of-the-mill, but rather are unusual things such as Chronic Fatigue Syndrome, chronic Epstein - Barr virus, Wilson's Syndrome and so on. Often the doctors won't be able to figure out what the problem is, and may tell the patient "It's all in your head, so you'd better go see a psychiatrist."

If a doctor refers a patient to a psychiatrist, such a referral alone has pretty much already labeled the patient as having psychological problems that are causing the symptoms. In the psychiatric setting, the diagnosis is likely to be one of the "Somatoform Disorders."

A diagnosis of a personality disorder is also commonplace. ASPs tend to be highly creative, and Sigmund Freud spoke of creativity in pathological terms saying, "Creativity is nothing more than regression in service of the ego." That bias has influenced the psychiatric community for quite a long time. Freud also suggested that spirituality and religious beliefs are indicators of psychopathology.

There is a great irony at play here. Because ASPs are unique and have the potential for great creativity, society doesn't know how to deal with them and they are pushed into psychotherapy. That automatically leads to them being labeled with a diagnosis of psychopathology, the symptoms of which are treated either through talk therapy or psychopharmacological interventions...

...both of which are designed to suppress the symptoms. If those symptoms are creative or spiritual in nature, neither of which are much rewarded or respected in our society, then suppression of the symptoms will deprive the individual and society of a great deal.

If somebody is highly creative or highly spiritual they are probably going to be considered to be eccentric. Society says, "What do you do with eccentrics? Well, you marginalize them" ...and if they are sufficiently eccentric, you hospitalize them.

Can we say that all highly creative people and/or all eccentrics are ASPs?

Absolutely not! We can never use the word "all" ...ever. I would certainly think, however, that a highly creative person or a highly eccentric person is much more likely than the norm to be an ASP.

I'm inclined to think that creative/eccentric people utilize the services of psychotherapists more than do non-creative/non-eccentric people. That may have nothing to do with psychopathology, but may have a lot to do with self-exploration, self-understanding, growing and expanding in creative or spiritual ways, or with finding a way to better fit into society.

So psychotherapy holds both good and bad prospects for the ASP. It can help an ASP function better in society, but it can also thwart creativity and spirituality.

If the psychotherapist understands the concept of anomalous sensitivity, yes, psychotherapy could help in adjusting to society. If the psychotherapist does not understand the concepts related to anomalous sensitivity, then woe is to the poor client. As I mentioned before, the psychotherapist is likely to diagnose psychopathology and then address that "psychopathology" with treatment designed to suppress the symptoms. In some cases, the "symptoms" may truly be nothing more than the client's being "unusually" creative or "unusually" spiritual.

It must be remembered that ASPs are individuals who have extreme traits. Many psychotherapists have been trained to believe that an extreme, because it "deviates" far beyond the norm, must be indicative of something being wrong. The so-called "norms" are seldom examined.

Let's talk for a moment about Attention Deficit Disorder (ADD). It used to be considered a childhood disorder only, right?

The diagnosis of Attention Deficit Disorder (ADD) is being more and more frequently applied to all age groups. It used to be considered a childhood disorder, but it's now been recognized that ADD often continues into adulthood, and that the individuals have simply developed coping skills that make it less apparent.

The standard treatment for ADD is the administration of the drug Ritalin. It appears to help the ADD sufferer settle down.

An ASP is likely, as part of her/his creativity, to bounce around from one thing to another and to see the connections between different things in new ways. That's what creativity is all about. At an extreme level, that behavior ends up being labeled as ADD. If a youngster is pumped full of Ritalin, she/he may well be able to settle down enough to do the logical, linear, sequential tasks and learning that is expected in our educational system, but she/he may simultaneously lose the ability to see things in new ways.

It is true, of course, that if an individual bounces around too much, their thinking becomes so disorganized that, while they may see all sorts of interesting connections, they will not be able to pull them together in constructive or creative ways.

Who are some famous people who were likely to have been ASPs?

They would be history's great humanitarians, artists and thinkers - people like Albert Einstein, Thomas Edison, Pablo Picasso, Eleanor Roosevelt, Mother Theresa, Leonardo da Vinci and Frank Lloyd Wright.

Would an ASP be a good politician?

It's highly unlikely. ASPs tend to be individualistic, introverted, idealistic and iconoclastic - characteristics that are not going to get them elected. Moreover, an ASP would probably not be willing to work within the system.

Does the ASP have the capability of creating new paradigms for society?

"New paradigm" is a phrase that gets bandied about a lot these days - often without much substance or meaning behind it.

What I can say is that ASPs tend to focus on similarities whereas most people tend to focus on differences. ASPs are inclined to closely identify with other people, with animals and with all of nature. They generally think of all things as being interconnected and interdependent. That being the case, their energies are going to be directed toward stewardship rather than toward self-aggrandizement. Now that's something new!

What would be your advice to someone who feels as though she/he may be an ASP?

At the risk of sounding self-serving, my book, The H.I.S.S. of the A.S.P., would be the place to start. It would help them understand what ASPness is all about. Then they would probably want to complete the HISS questionnaire and find out what their scores are. If they have issues related to ASPness with which they feel they would like to have help, there are a number of resources listed in the back of the book.

What is the significance of this study?

It helps people to understand a group of individuals who, historically, have clearly not been well understood. It helps ASPs to understand themselves. It helps open-minded non-ASPs recognize the valuable contributions that ASPs can make to society.