The relationships between sensory processing sensitivity, alexithymia, autism, depression, and anxiety

The goal of the current investigation was to better understand the relationships between the three recently-developed factors of sensory processing sensitivity (ease of excitation – EOE, low sensory threshold – LST, and aesthetic sensitivity – AES) and alexithymia, autism symptoms, anxiety, and depression. Two hundred and one college students completed the highly sensitive person scale, as well as measures of anxiety, depression, alexithymia, and autism symptoms. EOE and LST were related to autism symptoms, alexithymia, anxiety, and depression. AES was related to attention to details (a symptom of autism) and anxiety but not to depression. It was also negatively related to externally-oriented thinking (a symptom of alexithymia). Results indicate that AES is conceptually distinct from LST and EOE. Furthermore, EOE interacted with difficulty identifying feelings in predicting anxiety, indicating that being both easily excited by stimuli and unable to identify one’s feelings is particularly anxiety provoking.