The Link Between High Sensitivity and Narcissism

How aware are you of the events and experiences transpiring around you right now? Do you find it hard to concentrate on what you’re supposed to be doing because you can’t tune out the noise of the air vent in the room? How about the behavior of the other people in your surroundings? Do you imagine that they’re looking at you even if they seem to have their attention turned elsewhere?

According to a new study by Medical University of Graz’s Emanuel Jauk and colleagues (2023), being so plugged in to external stimulation can be both a blessing and a curse. The “highly sensitive person (HSP),” with their “high sensory processing sensitivity (SPS),” has what the authors refer to as a “two-sided gift” (p. 229). On the plus side, they may feel they have "superpowers" in being so attuned to their environment. However, balancing out this strength is the possibility that complex situations can become overwhelming to them. They may also resent the so-called “non-” HSPs who don’t respect or understand the extent of their distress in such circumstances.

Highly Sensitive Persons and the Potential for Narcissism

This combination of feeling “special” along with the belief that others don’t treat them right could, Jauk et al. maintain, be seen as similar to self-importance and entitlement, two central features of narcissism. More specifically, the type of narcissism that may be involved is of the vulnerable variety, which they refer to as narcissism’s “introverted and neurotic” manifestation. The overlap between the HSP’s and vulnerable narcissist’s tendencies can be seen in items from the scale known as the “Hypersensitive Narcissism Scale (HSNS)”: “I can become entirely absorbed in thinking about my personal affairs, my cares or my relations to others,” and “I feel that I am temperamentally different from most people.” As such, the HSNS taps into what the Austrian authors refer to as a “shy type” of narcissism.

You might be able to imagine someone with these qualities from your own life. Perhaps you have an acquaintance whom you would describe as “fragile” and, as a result, constantly expects to be treated with the softest of kid gloves. You tiptoe around this person, afraid to upset them by placing too many demands on them. Rather than being upset at themselves for their ultra-sensitivity, though, they seem to take pride in having this unique attribute that they believe allows them to enjoy a richer inner life than the average person.

Testing the Hypersensitivity–Narcissism Connection

Jauk and his colleagues suggest that understanding HSP's relation to narcissism could provide useful insights into the nature of both qualities. They also maintain that seeking this connection shouldn’t be seen as “pathologizing” the HSP, but as identifying its problematic as well as its adaptive features in relation to the vulnerable form of narcissism.

To test this possible association, the U. Graz researchers conducted two studies—one on an online sample obtained through a faculty member’s participant pool (average age 30 years) and one on a more representative sample (average age 45 years) obtained through an online recruitment Web site. In addition to measuring personality traits via scales of hypersensitivity (HSPS) and hypersensitive narcissism (HSNS), the authors also included a Five Factor Model personality trait scale and a brief self-esteem questionnaire. Additionally, the authors tested the possible “symptom load” of these qualities with a standard psychological symptom index. The authors took a nomological network approach in their analyses, meaning that they sought to portray the entire constellation of traits that could potentially connect these two aspects of hypersensitivity.

As predicted, high sensitivity and both HSNS and vulnerable narcissism scores were strongly correlated. A second pattern established the connection between low sensory threshold (high sensory sensitivity) and what’s called “vulnerable-based entitlement,” or “entitlement justified by misfortune.”

One finding that did not emerge as consistent with prediction was that items on the HSPS did not form so-called common factors with narcissism. Instead, the narrower quality within the HSPS known as ease of excitation (being readily aroused by stimuli) was associated with HSNS. This ease of excitation dimension appeared to underlie both the irritability that highly sensitive people can experience along with their belief in their own uniqueness.

Among the personality traits found to lie within the nomological network were neuroticism and introversion, but there was no evidence for a unique role of agreeableness. High sensitivity could be associated with “entitlement rage,” then (p. 246) but not with overt antagonism.

The findings also revealed that the lives of those with high HSP-HSNS scores do seem to suffer, as indicated by their lower levels of self-esteem, higher symptom load, and higher likelihood for a psychological disorder diagnosis. Those with hypersensitive narcissism appeared particularly vulnerable to experiencing these forms of distress.

How to Manage the Hypersensitive Narcissist

The findings from the Jauk et al. study suggest that a certain form of vulnerable narcissism can emerge in people who become overly excited by the stimuli around them, particularly if they start to put this hypersensitivity on a pedestal when they think about themselves. Rather than serving as a source of pride, however, their belief in their own fragility can, as the authors note, “ignite feedback loops” (p. 249) in which one negative experience sets off another one. Rather than change the course of this pattern, these experiences only serve to create a mindset that, while “self-caring,” is potentially “self-harming” in the long run.

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Being in the middle of this set of events with someone you know can lead you to become increasingly frustrated as you try to penetrate this solidifying belief system. Why should you have to put up with so much (a) hypersensitivity and (b) entitlement?

By understanding the path that led the individual to this point, however, you can gain greater insight while also finding strategies to set them onto a less maladaptive course in their lives. The authors suggest that questioning the mindset of high sensitivity could be a valuable first step. Showing that being so easily excited is backfiring could help the individual look more realistically at how much stimulation they actually could manage. Working against a lifetime of everyone conceding to their supposed fragility might take time, but it appears to be the only viable strategy, at least in the recommendation of the authors.

To sum up, helping the hypersensitive individual tone down their internal volume may take some effort, but, by breaking up a lifetime of maladaptive beliefs, it could promote a more fulfilling, if less sensitive, course in life.

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