Episode 22: The Role Trauma Plays in Highly Sensitive People with Dr. Natasha Fallahi
- THA Operations
- 6 days ago
- 4 min read
When Your Sensitivity Feels Like a Curse
You walk into a room and immediately feel overwhelmed by the emotional energy. You can sense tension others don't notice. Loud environments drain you completely. You absorb other people's moods without trying.
Everyone tells you that you're too sensitive and you need thicker skin. You've spent years trying to toughen up, trying to feel less, and trying to be like everyone else.
But being highly sensitive isn't a weakness. It can become your superpower, but first you need to understand what's happening in your nervous system.
Dr. Natasha Fallahi joins me today as a chiropractic functional medicine physician specializing in mind-body medicine. She's highly sensitive herself and has learned to work with it rather than against it.
What Being Highly Sensitive Actually Means
Highly sensitive people and empaths process stimuli more deeply than others. Their nervous systems pick up on subtle cues that most people miss including micro-expressions on faces, shifts in energy in rooms, emotional undercurrents in conversations, and sensory input that others filter out automatically.
This isn't imaginary or weakness. This is biological reality. HSP nervous systems are wired differently with more sensitive mirror neurons, heightened awareness of environmental stimuli, deeper processing of emotional information, and lower thresholds for overwhelm.
Many highly sensitive people have stored trauma, and their sensitivity got amplified by overwhelm their system couldn't process. The two are deeply connected in ways that most practitioners miss.
Your nervous system is reading the environment constantly for everyone, but for HSPs, that reading happens at a heightened level. When trauma is stored in your biology, sensitivity increases even further because your nervous system stays hypervigilant scanning for threats and processing everything as potentially dangerous.
The combination of natural high sensitivity plus stored trauma creates a nervous system that's constantly overwhelmed and rarely able to rest or regulate easily.
Why Sensitivity Becomes Overwhelming
Without understanding your biology, high sensitivity feels like a curse. You're overstimulated by normal environments. You're exhausted from absorbing everyone else's emotions. You're unable to filter enough stimuli to function comfortably. Your capacity gets overwhelmed quickly in situations others handle easily.
Dr. Fallahi explains what's happening biologically in HSPs with stored trauma. Their nervous systems are processing more information while simultaneously running protective trauma responses. They're hyperaware of their environment because of sensitivity and hypervigilant because of unresolved trauma. They absorb emotional energy from others while their own nervous system is already dysregulated.
This creates a perfect storm where sensitivity that could be an asset becomes debilitating. You can't access the gifts of your sensitive nervous system because you're too overwhelmed to use them effectively.
The mind-body medicine approach that Dr. Fallahi uses treats the whole patient by addressing both the stored trauma and the nervous system sensitivity. You can't separate them because they're constantly interacting and amplifying each other.
Turning Sensitivity Into Strength
When you understand and support your sensitive nervous system, it becomes an asset rather than a liability. You read people and situations accurately. You sense what others miss. You pick up on information that gives you advantages in relationships and work. You have access to emotional intelligence that serves you and others.
But this transformation requires specific approaches that honor your unique biology. HSPs need more safety-building than non-HSPs because their nervous systems require more evidence that they're secure. They need more nervous system regulation tools because they get dysregulated more easily. They need slower pacing in trauma work because their systems process everything more deeply. They need practitioners who understand that what works for most people might overwhelm HSPs.
Supporting the HSP nervous system means working with your sensitivity rather than trying to override it. This includes creating environments that don't constantly overwhelm you, building capacity gradually rather than pushing through, honoring your need for downtime and processing, learning to distinguish between your emotions and others', and addressing the stored trauma that amplifies your sensitivity.
Dr. Fallahi shares how she works with her own high sensitivity as both gift and challenge. How understanding the Biology of Trauma® helped her make sense of patterns she'd struggled with for years. How addressing stored trauma changed her relationship with her sensitivity completely.
Your sensitivity isn't the problem. The problem is stored trauma amplifying your natural wiring plus a world that doesn't understand or accommodate sensitive nervous systems. When you address the trauma and learn to support your biology, sensitivity becomes the superpower it was always meant to be.
This Episode Is For:
✓ People who identify as highly sensitive or empathic
✓ Anyone exhausted by constant overstimulation
✓ Practitioners working with HSP clients who need trauma-informed approaches
✓ Those who've been told they're "too sensitive" their whole lives
✓ HSPs who suspect their sensitivity connects to stored trauma
✓ Anyone wanting to transform sensitivity from curse to gift
What You'll Learn
Listen to understand how stored trauma affects highly sensitive people and amplifies their nervous system responses. Discover the biological reality behind high sensitivity. Learn how to turn your sensitivity into strength instead of overwhelm by addressing the Biology of Trauma® underneath.
Your sensitivity is real, biological, and potentially powerful when properly supported.
Disclaimer
This podcast is for educational purposes only and is not a substitute for professional medical or mental health advice, diagnosis, or treatment. The information shared reflects my clinical expertise and research, but every person's biology and healing journey is unique. Always consult with qualified healthcare providers before making changes to your treatment plan or starting new interventions. If you're experiencing a mental health crisis, please contact emergency services or a crisis helpline immediately.
Join the Conversation
I'd love to hear your thoughts on this episode. What resonated with you? What questions came up?
Please keep comments respectful and supportive. This is a community of people committed to healing. We welcome diverse perspectives and honest questions, but we don't tolerate personal attacks, spam, or content that could harm others on their healing journey.
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