Rejection sensitivity style

This personality style is characterised by a tendency to worry about being rejected or abandoned by others. Key characteristics include being acutely tuned in to others' emotional needs and prone to feeling rejected. People with features of this personality style also tend to base their self-worth on others' perceptions of them and worry about the quality of their relationships with others. Although they may recognise that they tend to ‘lose themselves’ in relationships and become too attached, they are generally unable to prevent such pathological types of attachments from forming. As a direct result of their fears of abandonment, people with characteristics of the rejection sensitivity personality style may act in ways to please others at the expense of their own emotional health. Often, they may engage in and persist with abusive or dangerous relationships with others rather than leave the relationship altogether.

Key features of the Rejection Sensitivity Personality Style (derived from our Temperament and Personality Questionnaire):

• Worries about the quality of their relationships.

• Worries about being rejected or abandoned by others.

• Fears that their relationships may end.

• Feels as if their emotions are not reciprocated in relationships.

• Worries about what others think.

• Distressed about being alone.

When they experience difficulties in their relationships, such individuals may report feelings of intense emptiness and despair.