Why You Should Always Rule Out Potential Disorders

A child can be ‘simply’ highly sensitive, but it is also possible to be highly sensitive and have a disorder. It can also be that your child ticks all the boxes on a checklist for highly sensitive people, but a disorder actually explains the traits. The message is therefore, be aware of potential disorders and rule them out.

The Reason for Caution

I was contacted a couple of weeks ago by a mother who told me she was leaving the Happy Sensitive Kids group. Whilst her child was indeed highly sensitive, it turned out that these traits were merely the tip of the iceberg. The discovery that her child was highly sensitive had been the end of the road, satisfied that the mystery around certain traits had been solved. Years later, armed with multiple other diagnoses, this mother was angry that she had settled for the idea of her child being highly sensitive, citing Aron’s ideas around highly sensitive as dangerous.

Important to Rule Other Diagnoses Out

My answer to her was this:

“You are absolutely correct, everything should be considered and ruled out before a child is labelled as ‘just’ highly sensitive. This is something Aron also advocates. There are characteristics that overlap between neurodivergent children and high sensitivity, and professional advice is definitely wise. It’s the reason why some HSCs are misdiagnosed as autistic. And it can certainly work the other way round too. Being highly sensitive certainly doesn’t rule out other avenues to explore.”

Read: Sensory vs. Autistic Children and How to Deal with Them

I have written on the blog about HSCs commonly being misdiagnosed with disorders, or at least being put through a battery of tests to rule out disorders. My son went through this process at a very young age – all tests ruled out any other diagnosis and the professional opinion was that he was ‘just’ highly sensitive. And this is important. Don’t just fill in Aron’s (or similar) questionnaires, come to the conclusion that you or your child is highly sensitive and leave it at that if there are traits that worry you or there are behaviours that impact normal daily life.

Being highly sensitive doesn’t rule out other disorders. A HSC can suffer with anxiety or depression, for example, as can a HSP. A HSC can be on the autism scale – and likewise a child can be wrongly assumed to be a HSC as they match the checkboxes on a questionnaire. 

Read: When to Consider Therapy for Your Highly Sensitive Child and What to Expect

OCD

This blog post was the subject of the October 2024 HSK newsletter. In response, I received the following email from Lourdes Viado, which is absolutely worth sharing with you.

I wanted to add another very important diagnosis, and that is OCD.

As a therapist who works w/ OCD, and as the parent of a HSP w/ OCD and anxiety, and the spouse of someone who is an adult HSP w/ OCD, I can attest to how often OCD is missed and/or misdiagnosed or perceived as bad behavior, manipulation, etc.  

OCD is potentially debilitating and is the #1 mental heath diagnosis when people apply for disability.  The good news is that it is highly treatable, there are research-based, effective treatments for OCD, and early intervention is key.  The longer OCD goes untreated, the bigger it gets.  So intervening in the elementary years is critical.  Depending on the study, people have OCD for 10-15+ years before diagnosis.

So, once again:

if your child displays traits that concern you, or traits that impact their functioning in daily activities, seek professional guidance. It is better to rule out potential disorders than to leave disorders undiagnosed.