Environmental Sensitivity: A Transdiagnostic Trait?

"Environmental sensitivity (ES), characterized by a heightened degree of sensitivity to physical, emotional, and social stimuli. In other words, some people are highly attuned and reactive to their environment, while others are much more oblivious to it."

"Research supports the notion that sensitivity is a moderately heritable, normally distributed trait, linked to genetic and prenatal/postnatal environmental factors that affect central nervous system sensitivity, and marked by higher activation in brain regions involved in empathy, social processing, and reflective thinking."

Environmental sensitivity (ES) is a trait characterized by heightened reactivity to contextual stimuli, ranging from physical and emotional to social cues. Some individuals are highly attuned to their environment while others remain relatively oblivious. Research since the mid-1990s has established ES as a moderately heritable, normally distributed trait influenced by genetic and prenatal/postnatal environmental factors affecting central nervous system sensitivity. The trait correlates with increased activation in brain regions associated with empathy, social processing, and reflective thinking. Environmental sensitivity has been linked to mental health problems and should be understood as a transdiagnostic risk factor rather than a specific disorder, similar to how personality traits like neuroticism relate to psychopathology.

Read at Psychology Today