Actor and musician Mandy Moore has experienced emotional challenges including depression, and has made comments indicating she may be among the 20% of us with the personality trait of high sensitivity.
In an article years ago, she commented:
“A few months ago I felt really low, really sad. Depressed for no reason. I’m a very positive person, and I’ve always been glass-half-full.
“So it was like someone flipped a switch in me.”
Moore, 22 at the time, also spoke of some of the existential issues she was exploring:
“I’ve been going through this really crazy time in my life – it’s what I imagine people fresh out of college go through.
“I’m asking myself life-altering questions, like Who am I? Where do I fit in this world? What am I doing, what do I want to do? Am I living to my full potential?” [Jane magazine, Feb 2007]
She says her split with Zach Braff “added to what I was going through, but it’s not the complete reason. It definitely doesn’t help if you’re already in that place.”
Gifted and talented people are more likely to ask those kinds of questions, and may experience feelings discussed in the article “Existential Depression in Gifted Individuals”, by James T. Webb, Ph.D. — see quotes and link in my post Gifted, Sensitive, In Need Of Meaning: Existential Depression.
As he notes, “existential depression arises when an individual confronts certain basic issues of existence.. [such as] death, freedom, isolation and meaninglessness.”
(Photo of Moore at top is from her Facebook page.)
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Mandy Moore has also commented in interviews about her sensitivity:
“I’ll cry at anything, even a tissue commercial. I’m overly sensitive. It’s so easy to hurt my feelings.” [allstarz.org/~mandymoore/]
“I’m extremely-extremely sensitive. I can cry at the drop of a hat. I’m such a girl when it comes to that.
“Anything upsets me. I cry all the time. I cry when I’m happy too.” [absolutely.net]
“I’m really overly sensitive. I get my feelings hurt very easily, and sometimes I just cry for no reason, and I hate that.” [malaya.com March 21 2004]
Crying easily is one of the qualities of our personality trait of high sensitivity (sensory processing sensitivity), a trait of many artists) – see comments by psychologist Elaine Aron below.
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Being exceptional
Asked by an interviewer, ‘What’s extraordinary about you?’, she replied,
“I’m still figuring it out. To me, [my album “Wild Hope“] was my way and my mantra and anthem to find those things about myself that I love and to celebrate them and not feel the need to deflect or apologize if someone pays me a compliment.
“Because I’m pretty bad about that. I’m pretty shy. It’s hard for me to say, “This is what I love about myself!” out loud. I think I can say it to myself and enjoy it, but it’s a little difficult still.”
From post: Ready to be extraordinary.
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Artists are highly sensitive and need skills to use their emotions safely
“Creating art has always been a way to channel emotional intensity.”
Psychologist Cheryl Arutt adds, “If you are an artist, you are your instrument. The greater access you maintain to yourself, the richer and broader your array of creative tools.”
In this short excerpt from our longer interview, she comments about high sensitivity and regulating disruptive feelings with self-care.
Hear longer excerpt in my podcast episode, in article Psychologist Cheryl Arutt on Emotional Health and Creative People.
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Elaine N. Aron, Ph.D., one of the leading writers and researchers on the personality trait of high sensitivity (sensory processing sensitivity).
She declares that HSPs (highly sensitive persons) “do cry more readily than others. It was a strong finding in our research.”
From post: Crying and our high sensitivity personality.
Many people may equate high sensitivity with giftedness / exceptional ability.
But in her article The Highly Sensitive Child (and Adults, Too): Is Sensitivity the Same as Being Gifted?, Elaine Aron writes that in her experience, “not all highly sensitive people are gifted. That is, at least as adults, many HSPs are not expressing some talent in a way that others would recognize as outstanding.”
She also notes high sensitivity occurs in 15 to 20 percent of the population, but a smaller percentage are considered gifted.
High sensitivity is a trait shared by many highly talented, if not technically gifted, actors and other artists, and may be part of what makes them so creative and successful as creators or performers.
See many examples in my article Introverted, Shy or Highly Sensitive in the Arts.
Related post: Using Your High Sensitivity Personality As an Actor.
Related page: Existential dread.
Article: Growing Up Gifted Is Not Easy – by Elaine Aron, PhD.
Highly Sensitive site
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