Therapy for Highly Sensitive People in Sacramento, CA
Thrive Therapy & Counseling was built around Highly Sensitive People. If you have spent your life being told you are too much or too sensitive, you are in the right place.
What We Offer Highly Sensitive People in Sacramento
We offer individual therapy for HSPs in person at our Midtown Sacramento office and online across California. Sessions are tailored to how Highly Sensitive People actually process — we go at the pace you need, we do not rush toward conclusions, and we do not ask you to minimize what you are experiencing.
What HSP Clients in Sacramento Come to Thrive For
Anxiety therapy for Highly Sensitive People — the overthinking, anticipatory worry, and exhaustion that come from processing everything more intensely than those around you
Burnout therapy for HSPs — from years of pushing yourself to function in environments that do not fit how you are wired
Childhood Emotional Neglect (CEN) therapy — for HSPs who grew up in homes that could not meet the emotional attunement they needed, and feel the effects today
Depression therapy for Highly Sensitive People — particularly depression that develops when the nervous system has been in chronic mismatch with its environment
Grief counseling for HSPs in Sacramento — HSPs grieve more deeply and often longer, and frequently in ways their environment does not make space for
Trauma therapy for Highly Sensitive People — including relational trauma and the accumulated impact of environments that were too loud, too critical, or too emotionally unavailable
Self-esteem and identity therapy for HSPs — rebuilding a relationship with yourself that is not shaped by years of being told your sensitivity is a flaw
People-pleasing and perfectionism therapy — both common adaptive strategies in HSPs who learned early that their needs were too much
Our Sacramento HSP Therapists
Ileana Arganda-Stevens, LMFT — Program Manager and Clinical Supervisor. Specializes in Complex PTSD, Childhood Emotional Neglect, and Highly Sensitive People. Works with young adults and anxiety.
Megan Bell, LMFT — Specializes in Highly Sensitive People, low self-esteem, anxiety, and ADHD. Also trained in Brainspotting and Expressive Arts.
Other therapists on the Thrive team also work with HSP clients. When you reach out, we match you with the therapist whose background fits your specific situation.
Therapy Approaches That Work Well for Highly Sensitive People
Our HSP therapists in Sacramento draw on:
Acceptance and Commitment Therapy (ACT) — building a different relationship with difficult internal experiences
Psychodynamic therapy — understanding the roots of patterns that developed in earlier environments
Somatic approaches — working with the body, where HSPs often hold a great deal
Brainspotting — for trauma or deeply held experiences that have not been reachable through talk therapy alone
wondering what it really means to be a highly sensitive person (hsP)?
Being highly sensitive is not a diagnosis. You’ll find no mention of it in the Diagnostic and Statistical Manual V (DSM-V), which is the professional resource for diagnosing mental health concerns. Sensitivity, instead, is becoming increasingly recognized as a personality trait and as part of a person’s innate temperament, much like being naturally extraverted, even-tempered, or independent.
While this trait of sensitivity can look a little different for everyone, it includes some fundamental elements. People who are highly sensitive notice A LOT about the world around them, including:
The 5 senses - You truly enjoy your sensory experiences, and you are sometimes very overstimulated by light, sound, smell, touch/texture and taste.
Strong emotions - You may feel an abundance of joy or excitement, and you can be equally consumed by sadness or disappointment. In fact, sensitive folks report more frequent and more intense emotional experiences.
Other people - You’re very empathetic and tend to be especially attuned to the mood in a room, other peoples’ feelings, or even noticing subtle changes in a friend or coworker, like recognizing their half-hearted smile or slumped shoulders reflecting their rough day.
Yourself - You may be a perfectionist who worries a lot about how you’re performing and whether you’re disappointing other people. You may even perform more poorly when you are being closely observed due to your heightened sensitivity to such observation.
While these characteristics can add so much richness and complexity to life on the one hand, they can leave you feeling stressed, overwhelmed, and like you want to hide from the world.
If you’re tired of feeling overwhelmed and frustrated and are ready to find some peace, we'd love to support you.
A brief history of sensitivity
Historically, being highly sensitive may have been referred to as being neurotic or “hysterical.” Thankfully, we’ve gotten away from these horrible words! Believe it or not, sensitivity can be a great strength. While a lot of research on the trait of sensitivity is still emerging, we now know that as much as -
20-30% OF THE GLOBAL POPULATION has been identified as highly sensitive.
There are a LOT of us! So,
YOU’RE NOT ALONE.
YOU EXIST FOR A REASON.
Things don’t happen this commonly by accident. We have evolved to be sensitive. We serve an evolutionary purpose in the survival of the human species.
Let that sink in for a moment.
Consider why. Having people in a group who were especially observant about changes, whether it be a shift in weather or building tension among a group, could help prevent and resolve problems before they got out of hand. Likewise, in modern day, the trait of sensitivity can be incredibly beneficial to businesses, organizations, individuals and even our own family, friends, and communities.
common struggles for hsps
Anxiety
It’s no surprise that our deeply thinking brains can be pretty skilled at worrying. All of that overanalyzing can come out in the form of:
What if . . .?
Did I do that right?
Are they mad, disappointed, upset with me?
Am I in trouble?
Did I hurt their feelings?
This worrying may wake you up at 3am, may have the butterflies feeling like they’re going to fly right your of our stomach, or have your whole body feeling so tense that you get even more frequent headaches or body aches and pains.
Childhood Emotional Neglect (CEN)
From research, we know that highly sensitive people who experience a positive environment are more likely to experienced heightened positive effects from that environment. We also know that the opposite is true - hsps who experience a negative environment are likely to be even more negatively impacted.
Since CEN is about not having gotten your emotional needs met most of the time in the family you grew up in - and let’s be honest, as a sensitive person, you’ve got more emotional needs and ups and downs - it makes sense that sensitive folks can really struggle with the fallout from CEN.
Overwhelm, exhaustion, and burnout
Who among us HASN’T struggled with feeling bone-tired, beat down, worn out, and like you had nothing left to give? This kind of overwhelm and burnout is sooo common for highly sensitive people, especially if we get loosey-goosey with our boundaries, self-care, rest, and supports. It’s no wonder that overwhelm is so frequent for sensitive folks.
Depression
All that exhaustion and burnout can turn right into full-on depression. Other factors like your biology, genetic predisposition, or a tough environment you’re in like a toxic workplace may also trigger depression.
Toss in a personal history of not growing up in the most supportive family and being impacted by what your family couldn’t offer. Then, add how you’re a sensitive person witnessing all sorts of global problems on the daily (and sometimes minute-by-minute - argh the blessings and curses of technology). It’s no surprise that depression is a common struggle for sensitive people.
Relationship issues
As a highly sensitive person or empath, you care a lot about other people, and you give a lot in your relationships. But, you may struggle to be assertive, to communicate clearly, in setting and holding boundaries, with not speaking up for what you need, maybe even ignoring what you need until you can’t take it anymore. It’s pretty common that sensitive folks need to work on “turning up the volume” to help you honor your needs and communicate clearly with other people.
Self-esteem and identity
With all those negative messages you’ve probably spent your entire life hearing in mainstream U.S. culture, it’s no wonder you don’t feel so good about you are! Because you’re already a sensitive person, you deeply internalize your experiences and absorb what others tell you . . . sometimes even if those messages turn out to be really wrong. We’d love to help you rewrite this story and embrace all of you.
Trauma
Most of us understand how trauma can impact anyone, regardless of your background or demographics, and how trauma can come in the form of something major like a natural disaster or in the form of more frequent, maybe less apparent stressors like moving frequently or being bullied at work.
What we may not think about is how trauma can uniquely affect highly sensitive people - especially when you recall how we’re more impacted by negative experiences. We’d be honored to support your healing by honoring all of who you are.
Frequently Asked Questions
How do I know if I am a Highly Sensitive Person?
HSPs typically feel things more intensely than those around them, become overstimulated easily in busy or loud environments, process experiences deeply, and have often been told they are too sensitive or too emotional. The trait is innate and present in roughly 15 to 20 percent of the population. If this resonates, it is worth exploring in therapy.
Is being a Highly Sensitive Person a diagnosis?
No. High sensitivity is a personality trait, not a disorder or diagnosis. It is not something to be fixed — but it does shape how therapy needs to work, which is why working with a therapist who understands the trait makes a meaningful difference.
What do Highly Sensitive People most commonly come to Thrive for?
The most common presenting concerns among HSP clients at Thrive are anxiety, burnout, people-pleasing, low self-esteem, grief, depression, and the effects of Childhood Emotional Neglect. These often overlap and are addressed together rather than in isolation.
Which therapists at Thrive specialize in HSP therapy in Sacramento?
Ileana Arganda-Stevens, LMFT and Megan Bell, LMFT both specialize in Highly Sensitive People. Ileana focuses on Complex PTSD, Childhood Emotional Neglect, and HSP therapy. Megan specializes in HSPs, low self-esteem, anxiety, and ADHD. Both accept new clients depending on availability.
Is HSP therapy in Sacramento available online?
Yes. All HSP therapy at Thrive is available via secure video to anyone in California, with no difference in approach or quality compared to in-person sessions at our Sacramento office.
you don’t have to face these challenges alone.
We’d love to support you.
You do not have to navigate this alone. Schedule a Thrive Call.