Meet Maya: A Human Story of Breakdown
To understand how this model applies in real life, let’s look at the story of Maya — a highly sensitive young woman whose journey mirrors that of many.
Maya wasn’t “sick” in childhood. She was bright, thoughtful, and emotionally intense. Loud sounds startled her. Crowded rooms drained her. She was deeply affected by things others barely noticed.
As she grew up, life became more demanding. In university, Maya juggled academic stress, social anxiety, family expectations, and chronic sleep disruption. Eventually, something snapped. She started hearing voices, panicking without reason, and feeling like her brain was breaking.
Doctors gave her a diagnosis. But they didn’t explain the cause. And so, Maya blamed herself.
A New Lens: The Sensitivity Threshold Model
The Sensitivity Threshold Model (STM) reframes Maya’s story—not as a chemical imbalance, but as a system overload. It proposes that highly sensitive individuals, when pushed beyond their processing threshold by chronic stress, eventually experience breakdown. And that breakdown can be reversed.
Maya wasn’t weak. Her brain was overloaded.
STM explains how, why, and when this happens—and how we can help people like Maya recover.