Dr. Sasha Hamdani, a Kansas City psychiatrist, author and mental health content creator, is out with a new book titled "Too Sensitive: Rejection, Resilience and the Science of Feeling Deeply." She will speak about it at a Rainy Day Books event on Tuesday evening.
The book explains that the way people process emotions falls on a spectrum and provides tools to help people navigate those feelings. Some people experience mood changes that are reciprocal to what's happening in their surroundings. Others might experience a typically emotional event and not experience much of an elevated or depreciated mood at all, which Hamdani calls "emotional blunting."
On the opposite end of the spectrum, moods can swing up and down, and even things that may seem small on the surface can cause emotions that feel very robust or intense.
Hamdani wants people to know that there are neurological reasons for that.
"I think a lot of people look at emotional sensitivity as just, you know, a personality quirk: that you're too sensitive or you're too fragile or you have a hard time dealing with difficult conversations," she said on KCUR's Up To Date on Tuesday.
"I counter that with if you look at the research, it is truly that there is a neurological basis for it. People are truly wired differently to process emotions in a different manner."
She points to the amygdala and the prefrontal cortex as key parts of the brain that can impact how people respond emotionally in different situations.
"The amygdala is this tiny almond-shaped structure right in the center of your brain, which is in charge of detecting emotional threat. So it's that emotional center of the brain, and then the second part of the brain is your prefrontal cortex, directly under your forehead, and this is the smartest part of the brain in charge of decision making and processing and judgment," she said.
"So, for people who are highly emotionally sensitive, this amygdala, that emotional threat detector, is hyper responsive, and the prefrontal cortex is under responsive. And to make things even worse, the connection between the two is weak. So when you are dealing with something big and heavy and emotional, these people feel things faster and more deeply and for longer because of that."
- Dr. Sasha Hamdani, psychiatrist and author
Dr. Sasha Hamdani, "Too Sensitive," 7 p.m. Tuesday, Sept. 8, Unity Temple on the Plaza, 707 W. 47th St., Kansas City, Missouri 64112.
