New research indicates that the brains of those suffering from anxiety and severe shyness in social situations consistently respond more strongly to stress, and show signs of being anxious even in situations that others find safe.

The UW Department of Psychiatry and HealthEmotions Research Institute has published a new study on brain activity, anxious behaviour, and stress hormones in adolescent rhesus monkeys, which have long been used as a model to understand anxious temperament in human children.

Continued in Once a shy monkey, always a shy monkey?

She discovered her passion for acting in the mid-1950s while studying with famed drama coach Lee Strasberg, who told her she was special and had real talent: “It was like the top of my head came off and birds flew out and the sun came out and my life changed.”

But, she admits, “I didn’t get over my shyness until I was about sixty.” ["Private Screenings," Turner Classic Movies interview by Robert Osborne, Mar 29 2007]

Jane Fonda’s autobiography is My Life So Far

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“I used to not even be able to order pizza on the phone because I was just so shy.

“I think that’s why so much comes out on-screen, because that’s my time to let go in a safe place. When you’re doing that, it’s all written down on paper and it’s total fiction.”

Evan Rachel Wood [imdb.com]

Another quote of hers I really like: “I’ve always had a real fascination with Alice in Wonderland and really related to it in some way. And since I was little, people always nicknamed me Alice, even total strangers. I do know I’m always in Wonderland. And I’m definitely just as curious. I don’t mind being amongst the mad people, I enjoy it.” Evan Rachel Wood  [imdb.com]

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“It was very natural for me to want to disappear into dark theater, I am really very shy.

“That is something that people never seem to fully grasp because, when you are an actor, you are meant to be an exhibitionist.”

Nicole Kidman [imdb.com]

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Shyness is not the same as introversion or high sensitivity, but they seem to me related to each other. There are, of course shy people who may also be extroverted, or introverted people who are not especially shy.

See my post Shyness, Introversion, Sensitivity – What’s the Difference?

“Western civilization today is dominated by the extravert viewpoint. This is because extraverts outnumber introverts 3 to 1, are more vocal than introverts and are more understandable than introverts. However, while introverts are a minority group in society, they form the majority of gifted people.” From article The Gifted Introvert, By Lesley Sword

“When shy people encounter a frightening or unfamiliar situation – meeting someone new, for example – a brain region responsible for negative emotions goes into overdrive. But new research indicates that shy people may be more sensitive to all sorts of stimuli, not just frightening ones.” From article The Rewards of Being Shy, By Michael Hochman (ScienceNOW Daily News)

Many other actors – and other people of course – describe themselves as shy -
see the pages introversion / shyness and Introversion resources articles sites books
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actor book, gifted adult information, gifted and shy, entertainment psychology

On the tv series “Heroes” she plays an assertive FBI agent, and has garnered acclaim for her dynamic acting in the series Carnivale, and many films including 21 Grams, The Laramie Project, and Girl, Interrupted – but Clea DuVall is candid about being introverted and sensitive:

“I’m an only child and I’m just a real loner kind of person, and yeah, kinda dark. But I’m happy. Not sad. I’m just shy and nervous.” [imdb.com]

In an interview [in 2000] about doing publicity for her films But I’m A Cheerleader, and Committed, Clea DuVall admitted, “That was my first photo shoot and I was so nervous. I was just nervous and shy and Matthew Lillard and Mary McCormick are just so outgoing and Brad Rowe and everybody else was getting along so well and I was just shy. I was just watching. I feel like I’ve gotten better and I’m not as in my shell as I used to be. I’ve gotten better at not making people feel uncomfortable with my shyness.” [28th Street, January 2000, posted on CleaDuVall.net]

And she has also said, “I was a loner in high school. I keep to myself, but I love life.” [tv.gen interview, unknown date]

Self-test for high sensitivity

On her site The Highly Sensitive Person, Elaine Aron [listed on the page High sensitivity resources] has a self-test for high sensitivity, which includes a number of items that Duvall and many other talented actors might agree with, such as:

* I have a rich,complex inner life.
* My nervous system sometimes feels so frazzled that I just have to go off by myself.
* I am conscientious.
* I startle easily.
* I notice and enjoy delicate or fine scents, tastes, sounds, works of art.
* I am bothered by intense stimuli, like loud noises or chaotic scenes.
* When I was a child, my parents or teachers seemed to see me as sensitive or shy.

A number of these characteristics seem to be common for many of us who are sensitive – but they are also qualities that can be real assets for actors and other artists.

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Technorati tags: gifted adults . acting . Clea DuVall . highly sensitive . anxiety



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Clea DuVall, actors and shyness, high sensitivity personality, high sensitivity resources

On the excellent Highly Sensitive People dvd by Jim Hallowes, psychologist Pat Allen, PhD, MFT recalls her mother using the phrase “Still waters run deep” to refer to her – something many of us could relate to. I think my own mother used the phrase, as a subtle form of affirmation of my shyness.

“In school, I had to sit at the back of the room,” Allen notes, about being too sensitive to be too close to others. “While other kids were reading ‘Dick and Jane,’ I was reading the Encyclopedia Brittanica…”

Self-sedated

She talks about the issue of self-medication [which I address in my article Gifted, Talented, Addicted]: “I took up drinking at five. I drank my father’s leftovers. I was sedated from five to thirty five; that was my street medicine. But at thirty five, it was destroying me.

“Coming out of alcohol, I had to go on medication, and I was unable to sleep more than two hours a night on and on and on. But in those hours of staying up and staying up, like I was on cocaine, I was being driven mad. My blood pressure was 250 over 148 for much of my adult life.

Just an old HSP

“Now it’s 110 over 70, and I’m much healthier than I ever was when I was young, and it’s because I know, I have always known, that I was different, that I was gifted, that I was brilliant, that I didn’t fit…”

Now, she notes how this high sensitivity serves her career in helping others: “The ability to be sensitive to another person’s vibrations is how I make a living. They say I’m psychic. I’m not psychic; I’m just an old HSP.”

Highly Sensitive People dvd by Jim Hallowes

Her site: drpatallen.com

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Related Talent Development Resources pages:
Intensity / sensitivity
introversion / shyness
Alcohol and talent: teen / young adult
psychic ability

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Technorati tags: gifted adults gifted and talented introversion highly sensitive
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Dr. Pat Allen, hsp dvd, high sensitivity personality, gifted adults