I amwas a highly sensitive person and I dodid struggle with situations like this , although not as severely as you describe . There are resources out there if you search for them . Perhaps look for resources under the term ' highly sensitive person ' and see if they will help you . I ' ve found it easier as I ' ve got older and I ' ve developed a thicker skin , so hopefully that will happen for you as well . One thing that does help me is when I find myself tipping over I ' ll mentally remove myself from what is causing me to be overly emotional . I sort of mentally change the subject , if you know what I mean . So I ' ll force myself to think of something different which doesn ' t upset me until the moment passes . It ' s also important I think to accept that there are some situations in which it ' s OK to be emotional . I think that as a society we are a bit harsh on people who cry . So I think that it ' s OK to cry at films , paintings and so on , so perhaps you need to learn to cut yourself a bit of slack in that area ?