What Does It Mean To Have ‘Thin Skin’?

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People with ‘thin skin’, or ‘thin boundary’ are more sensitive than those with thick
boundaries. Their bodies and brains absorb and feel more signals from their
surroundings. They react strongly to sensory stimuli and can become irritated by
things like bright lights, loud sounds, particular aromas, tastes or textures.

‘I am often told that I should grow a thicker skin. I’m too sensitive. I let things get to me too much.’

Thick/ Thin Skin?

The Boundaries in the mind concept, developed by Ernest Hartmann, offers an angle from
which we can understand individual differences in sensitivity.

Boundaries in the mind is a concept that characterises the way a person operates in the
world, particularly how that person handles energies and feeling tone of his or her
surroundings: To what extent are stimuli “let in” or “kept out”? How are a person’s feelings
processed internally?

Quoting Hartmann’s words:

“There are people who strike us as very solid and well organized; they keep everything in its place.
They are well defended. They seem rigid, even armoured; we sometimes speak of them as “thick-
skinned.

At the other extreme are people who are especially sensitive, open, or vulnerable. In their minds,
things are relatively fluid… such people have particularly thin boundaries.”

To recap, people with thin boundary are highly sensitive, and may demonstrate the
following from an early age:

Reacting more strongly to sensory stimuli and can become agitated due to bright
lights, loud sounds, particular aromas, tastes or textures.

Responding more strongly to physical and emotional pain in themselves as well as in

others.

Becoming stressed or fatigued due to an overload of sensory or emotional input.

Be more allergic and have immune systems that are more reactive.

Be more deeply affected by events during childhood.

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People with thick boundaries, in contrast, are often described as stolid or thick skinned, they
may have tendency to:

Brush aside upsetting emotions, in order to solve the problems at hand or to get
practical matters in order.

Have less apparent mood swings, are slower to recognise how and what they are
feeling.

Less sensitive towards subtle changes or nuances in their environment.

May experience an ongoing sense of detachment and sometimes emptiness.

It is worth pointing out that people with thick boundaries experiences are affected by
feelings as much as people with thin boundaries. This was indicated by bodily signals
such as heart rates, blood pressure, hand temperature and tension in experiments.

Who has thick/thin boundaries?

Since its discovery in the 1980s, at least 5,000 people have taken Hartmann’s Boundary
Questionnaire (BQ) and more than 100 published papers have referenced it. Research is
mounting to build a picture of issues and symptoms that are associated with the ‘thickness’
of mind-boundaries.

Interestingly, significantly thinner boundaries were found in the following population:

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– art students (Beal, 1989, Hartmann, 1991)

– music students

– mixed groups of creative persons (Beal, 1989)

– frequent dream recallers (Hartmann, 1991, Hartmann Elkin, & Garg 1991)

– adults and adolescents with nightmares (Hartmann, 1991, Levin, Galin, & Zywiak 1991;
Galvin, 1993)

– male and female fashion models (Ryan 2000)

– persons with unusual mystical experiences (Krippner,, Wickramasekera, Wickramasekera,

& Winstead, 1998),

– persons with a diagnosis of Borderline Personality Disorder, Schizoid Personality Disorder

or Schizotypal Personality Disorder (Hartmann, 1991).

On the other hand, groups that score significantly “thicker” on the inventories include:

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– naval officers

– salespersons

– lawyers

– persons with a diagnosis of Obsessive-compulsive Personality Disorder

– persons suffering from “Alexythymia” (Hartmann, 1991)

– patients with a diagnosis of Sleep Apnea (Hartmann, 1992).

The concept of mind-boundaries is unique in that it also ties in with impact on physical
health. It was found that thick boundary people are more prone to hypertension, chronic
fatigue syndrome, and ulcers; whereas thin boundary people are more susceptible to
migraine, irritable bowel syndrome, and allergies. There also appears to be a relationship
between thin boundaries and multiple chemical sensitivities (Jawer, 2001).

In their work ‘Your Emotional Type’, Dr. M. Jawer and M. Micozzi pointed out that being
aware of your emotional type (where you are on the mind-boundary spectrum) would allow
you to access the kind of support that is more likely to benefit you.

Interestingly, a survey suggests that people with thin boundaries are more likely to value
psychotherapy, to have been involved in psychotherapy, and to have benefited from
psychotherapy (Hartmann, 1996). In other words, people with thin boundaries likely make
up majority of therapy clients. Despite its limitations (lack of quantitative data, inevitable
generalisations), the idea of mind-boundaries offer a unique framework that can enhance
therapy effectiveness by valuing individual differences.

Have I got thick/thin boundaries?

For a quick reference, here are a few items listed on the boundary inventory. For further
information please refer to ‘The Emotional Type’ developed by Dr. M. Jawer and M. Micozzi :

My feelings blend into one another.

I am easily hurt.

I spend a lot of time daydreaming, fantasizing or in reverie.

Sometimes it’s scary when one gets too involved with another person.

A good parent has to be a bit of a child, too.

I can easily imagine myself as an animal or what it might be like to be an animal.

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 When something happens to someone close to me, it is almost as if it happened to
me.

In my dreams, people merge into each other or become other people.

There are no sharp dividing lines between normal people, people with problems and
people who are considered psychotic or crazy.

I am far from a down-to-earth, no nonsense kind of person.

I have had the experience of someone calling me or speaking my name and not being
sure whether it was really happening or whether I was imagining it.

It would appear that the difficulties and woundings experienced by a person with thin
boundaries are not dis-similar to that experienced by others with heightened emotional
sensitivities. Without awareness and understanding, one can imagine how sensitive people
might have been plagued with misunderstanding and confusion for many years.

Awareness and information about individual differences are invaluable in that they can help
you make sense of your life history. By reviewing events and difficulties that you have
experienced through a new perspective, you can realise where many of the old hurtful,
uninvited commentary might have come from, and be liberated to embark on a journey of
true self-discovery.

“I’ve never gotten thick skin. If you close yourself off and you get this protective armor, there is a
price you pay with that – of not feeling. And feeling is important when you are a songwriter.” –
Taylor Swift

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Being Highly Sensitive

Being an Empath

Being Emotionally Gifted

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