Having said that, I’ll offer a caveat: no one uses only their five senses or only their spirit. HSP’s and burden bearers use both to attune themselves to others. But each has a tendency to use one more than the other. And there are some persons who are fully an HSP and fully a burden bearer. As children, most HSP’s withdrew from overstimulation and were seen by parents or teachers as shy or sensitive introverts (But some are extroverts who learned to crave the excitement of overstimulation.) HSP’s can feel overly disturbed by violent movies and TV shows or news about brutal acts against animals or people. They feel the need to avoid these, since their heightened senses (what they see and hear in violent movies) and their imagination (what they picture about violent news stories) intensify their displeasure. HSPs' heightened senses enable them to feel intense enjoyment of fine meals, delicate scents, tastes, and sounds and to be deeply moved by the beauty of nature, works of art, and music.

HSP’s, with their heightened ability to observe the outward signs of others’ pain, often to try to be as perfect as possible to make others happy. HSP’s are empathetic and often feel emotionally exhausted from being acutely aware of what subtle facial expressions, body language, and tone of voice tell them about others’ feelings. They also tend to picture and think a lot about the details of situations that cause others pain. Burden bearers have the same issues, but it is what they sense in the hearts of others who praise, criticize, or conflict with them that magnifies the joy and the pain.

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HSP’s are seen as perceptive and insightful because, through their heightened five senses, they notice what others miss. Even as children they may have been seen this way. For burden bearers, perfectionism and the desire to make others happy is more a reaction to the pain their spirit senses in others.

HSP’s thrive on praise and sink under criticism, and they often avoid conflict. Conflict may even make them physically ill. Their intense awareness of body language, tone of voice, etc. magnify both the joy and the pain of interactions with others. Many burden bearers can easily handle violent movies or disturbing news. Since the persons they view onscreen or read about are not present, there is nothing for their spirit to sense. However, some burden bearers feel overly disturbed by these things because they have sensed others' pain so often that they have come to the point where they can't stand to even see it portrayed or to hear about it. Burden bearers also have a rich inner life, but it tends to come more from ruminating (sometimes without words) on impressions and feelings that arise out of what they sense in their spirit. Since they don’t always know where what they sense comes from, this can also lead to obsessive, anxious overthinking.Burden bearers are empathetic and get exhausted, but more through sensing in their spirit what others are feeling. Unlike HSP’s, this often happens even when not in the presence of the persons whose feelings they sense. HSP’s have a rich and complex inner life. They are deep thinkers with an incredible ability to process information, reflecting a lot on the details of emotional experiences. This can dispose them toward negative overthinking and anxiously replaying events in their mind. HSP’s often feel the need to withdraw to a private place such as their bed or a dark room for relief from overstimulation.