An extravert is a person who gains energy from being around people. They are often the last to leave a party because they need to suck the life from everyone around them. I am an extravert. The larger the group of people (as long as they aren't too close together) the more hyper and animated I get. When I am by myself I have almost no energy.

An introvert is someone who can be social for a few hours, but after that they feel exhausted and often feel like they had the life sucked out of them... The smaller and more intimate the group is, the longer an introvert can last before breaking.

Some people are on the line between the two, but the majority tend to be clearly extraverts or introverts.

I am a bit on the odd side being Hypersentive to almost everything and also being an extravert. I need a lot of accommodations at parties so that my SPD doesn't make me run away. I don't want to run away, but sometimes sensory wise I have no choice. I went to an awards dinner recently. There was a cocktail hour before the dinner. There were over a hundred people in an echoing tiny hallway. Additionally, there was a piano and flute playing. It was noisy, crowded, and the sound of flutes make me irrationally angry. Even though it would have been a great professional opportunity for me to socialize, I just couldn't. I had to escape to another room until the dinner started. I was mostly OK with the crowd (noise, perfume, and accidental light touches all beating down on me) until the flute started.

On talking to people, that is a skill that requires a lot of practice. I learned how to do it at a young age from my father. He would just walk into a crowd of strangers, introduce himself, and then meet everyone in that crowd by the end of the day. Until my sensory problems got so bad, I used to be able to do that to. I still can usually meet at least 10 new people per party before sensory wise I have to back off. If you want to improve your skill, tell your anxiety to "go to hell" and just go up to a stranger and say "Hi, my name is [insert name]. I noticed that you have some great [insert item]. I was wondering where you found it." Use the item (not a body part) as the thing that drew your eye to them in the first place. Inserting yourself into an ongoing conversation is trickier, but can be done with practice.

OCD can be a sensory protection skill. My husband has OCD and utilizes it to protect him from some mild sensory issues. I try to never make fun of him when his OCD is activated just try to get out of the way while he gets rid of the trigger. Dirty smelly dishes make him hysterical for example until they are cleaned. I am best getting out of the way and letting him clean the dishes.

When my husband's sensory problems activate he HAS to fix the problem. When my sensory problems activate, I completely shut down to the point of catatonia until someone else fixes the problem. I would much rather have to and be able to fix the problem than shut down so completely that people have a hard time telling if I am alive.