Characteristics of Psychic People

Updated November 18, 2009:   In an effort to learn more about psychic people I have created a survey which I hope you will take the time to fill out.  The Survey for Psychic People.

I’m moving this blog post to a permanent page because of its continuing popularity. The general lack of information on this subject has moved my article to the top of Google searches on this topic. I will update this as more information becomes known. You can contact me about anything you find or your personal impressions by e-mailing me at craigatweilerdotcom.

If you’re experiencing stress and anxiety I have two posts on this subject as well: Stress and Anxiety in Psychic People, Psychics and Depression.

Other Related Posts:
Some In’s and Out’s of Psychic Ability
When Do You Help? What are the Ethics of Psychic Ability
That Pressure in the Head
Smorgasbord Religion: The Psychic Person’s Way
The Path to Answering the Great Question: Is It Real?
It’s Also About the Joy and Happiness
Alone in a Strange World
As Much as I Hate Doing It, I Admit That I’m Really Different
A Psychic’s Life
The Anger Within
Relationships for Psychics
The Gift of Feeling . . .Insulted?
Stumbling on Psychic-ness
Surviving in an Insensitive World
The Susceptibility of Psychic Ability to Emotional States
Things I Don’t Tell People
Other People’s Emotions: How Do I Get a +5 Spell of Protection?

We are definitely different physiologically. No doubt about it. The traits I’m listing here will no doubt vary from person to person and I hope everyone understands that I have no formal studies to back this up. I am culling information from a variety of sources, but it is certainly not definitive by any stretch of the imagination so keep that in mind. It is entirely possible for this list to be wrong in some areas and I have no way of knowing. I’m doing the best that I can with what’s available, and that isn’t much. Here goes:

First on the list is a love of animals. Rupert Sheldrake did telephone surveys in a number of geographical areas and found that people who reported psychic abilities were significantly more likely to have pet(s).

My own experience is that psychic people, if they can accommodate them, have multiple pets, often of different species. We have seven cats, four pet mice and a snake.

Update: I have now heard from several psychic people that they experience hypersexuality. (I suppose I fit in this category, I don’t really know for sure.) I take this to mean that they have a stronger than normal sexual drive. I do know that I, um, relieve this tension regularly with or without the help of my wife otherwise my brain is constantly filled with sexual fantasies. Whether this makes me a normal guy or not I can’t say. However, some of the people commenting on this are women, where this sexual overdrive would more likely stand out so perhaps there is something to this.

What part of sensitive don’t you understand?

It is well known in scientific circles that psychic ability can be affected by the researcher. A person who is an absolute die hard skeptic will have a huge negative effect on the ability of psychics to perform and in those rare cases where they actually do research, their tests almost always come up empty, thus confirming their beliefs. In paraspychology, this is known as the Wiseman Effect. Named after Dr. Richard Wiseman, a die hard skepic, whose experiments could only detect psi if he wasn’t involved in them.

Why does this effect exist? Because psychic people are far more sensitive emotionally than most people realize. Kyra Mesich, outlines 10 traits that describe this sensitivity in this article:

1. Emotionally sensitive people feel emotions often and deeply. They feel as if they “wear their emotions on their sleeves.”

2. They are keenly aware of the emotions of people around them.

3. Sensitive people are easily hurt or upset. An insult or unkind remark will affect them deeply.

4. In a similar vein, sensitive people strive to avoid conflicts. They dread arguments and other types of confrontations because the negativity affects them so much.

5. Sensitive people are not able to shake off emotions easily. Once they are saddened or upset by something, they cannot just switch gears and forget it.

6. Sensitive people are greatly affected by emotions they witness. They feel deeply for others’ suffering. Many sensitive people avoid sad movies or watching the news because they cannot bear the weighty emotions that would drive to their core and stick with them afterwards.

7. Sensitive people are prone to suffer from recurrent depression, anxiety or other psychological disorders.

8. One the positive side, sensitive people are also keenly aware of and affected by beauty in art, music and nature. They are the world’s greatest artists and art appreciators.

9. Sensitive people are prone to stimulus overload. That is, they can’t stand large crowds, loud noise, or hectic environments. They feel overwhelmed and depleted by too much stimuli.

10. Sensitive people are born that way. They were sensitive children.

There are a couple different responses kids have to their sensitivity. One type of sensitive child is the stereotypical kid who gets picked on by bullies, and is a well-behaved, good student because she cannot stand the thought of getting into trouble. The other type of sensitive child more often experiences the stimulus overload mentioned in the previous paragraph. These children are thus over stimulated and have difficulty focusing, which causes them problems in school.

Sensitive people typically exhibit all or nearly all of the above descriptors.

One of the sure signs of a truly sensitive person is that he feels animosity toward his sensitive nature. Most sensitive people whole-heartedly wish they were tougher and more thick-skinned. They feel like their sensitivity is a weakness. They wish things didn’t bother them so much.

You can search this by the initials HSP, which means highly sensitive person. Ms. Mesich goes on to say that this emotional sensitivity is linked to psychic ability. This link between emotional sensitivity and psychic ability is well known and has been well documented by others as well.

We are not Muggles

In addition to to this sensitivity, there is apparently some interesting brain wiring going on, something that researcher Dean Radin mentions in his book Entangled Minds.

It appears that people with psychic ability can form habits, just like everyone else, but have more difficulty holding on to them. That is to say, the habits don’t “stick” as well as with less psychic people. I’ve noticed this myself with some of the most ingrained habits I have. I’ll forget which shoe I normally put on first, or I’ll suddenly put a sock and a shoe on before I start on the other foot. I will do it normally a thousand times in a row, but then the next time is different. Improvising, on the other hand, comes easily to me.

For her book Your Sixth Sense, Belleruth Naparstek interviewed 43 professional psychics to find out what traits they shared. She did her homework and the results were interesting . . .

Traits that popped out were bilateral dominance (some degree of two-handedness or two-sidedness as opposed to leading strictly with the right or left side.), the presence of some talent and experience in the arts, usually in more than one area.

She referred to a tendency towards minor dyslexia, but this could be the trait mentioned above.

They showed a powerful need to spend time alone and time in nature on a regular basis.

They showed a tendency to be a night owl and sleep very little, with frequent interruptions in sleep. (More than what can be accounted for by aging. and menopause.). She goes on to say that all of us are wired for psi from birth, but some are more wired than others.

Other traits include inborn right brainedness; imaginativeness, spontaneity and strong spiritual leanings from a very early age. Most people can point to one or two family members who also had exceptional psychic abilities.

Puberty accelerates psi expansion and for women, pregnancy and menopause do as well.

One thing I have in common with another psychic guy my age is that it has been hard to focus on just one career. Boredom is a killer and I left many jobs because of it, or they left me when I lost interest in them. Now I work for myself as a handyman. I am ideally suited to this because the randomness of the jobs and not knowing what is going to come next is not only not stressful for me, it is a comfort. I suppose there are probably other psychic guys out there with similar experiences.

And another thing . . .

Clearly, there are some unique, identifiable traits showing up that pertain almost exclusively to psychic people. The distinctness is a clue that psychic ability is much more than just something people do. It involves specific differences in physiology for the people who possess the talent in abundance.

I’m of the opinion that this really should be looked into by health professionals. I did a poll recently and found that 60% of highly sensitive people felt that they had an unusually high tolerance to physical pain. I read somewhere that psychic people tend to avoid hallucinogens and of course, love their barbiturates. (Alcohol.) But, and this is purely my own subjective observation, psychic people seem to avoid addiction rather easily. I’m sure there are prescription drug related differences as well . It would be useful to identify these differences to provide us with health care more specific to our bodies and minds.: