Empaths and sensitive people often experience some level of post-traumatic stress. This is, in part, because they're on sensory overload for so many years that their systems are flooded with adrenaline.
Trauma. Childhood neglect or abuse can affect your sensitivity levels as an adult. A portion of empaths I've treated have experienced early trauma such as emotional or physical abuse, or they were raised by alcoholic, depressed or narcissistic parents.
While this may not be true for everyone, the strong desire to be empathetic can be a trauma response. If your struggles were dismissed when you were growing up, you may overcompensate by paying extreme attention to other people's emotional states instead.
“Empaths not only feel for others, but absorb those feelings in their own system,” says Orloff, whose private practice is in Santa Monica, California. Additionally, empaths are often able to pick up on unspoken feelings as well, drawing on subtle energy fields that emanate around other people's bodies.
Fearing intimacy and getting closer.
Some empaths may avoid dating or romantic commitment because they fear being overwhelmed by a partner's energies and emotions.
In fact, empathy is often a personality trait among people driven to help others. Sometimes, however, having the ability to understand what someone else is going through may be used for personal gain or as a manipulation tactic. This is what some people refer to as “dark empathy. “
Personality types ENFP, ENFJ, INFJ, and INFPs are natural empaths per the MBTI Personality types. Empaths are also called Idealists & Diplomats. Highly Sensitive People belong to these MBTI types. Intuitive Feelers or Empaths are only 20% of the population.
When empaths are exposed to early trauma or abuse their young nervous system may develop without healing making them hypervigilant. They can become exquisitely attuned to their environment to ward off threats and ensure they are safe or enter a state of hyperarousal.
Empath Healing
But they can learn to manage their empathy and the anxiety and depression it can bring so it doesn't debilitate them. The way for the Empath to manage this is to become completely aware of their own wounding, their own traumas, their own pain, and perceived setbacks, and care for themselves.
A portion of empaths I've treated have experienced early trauma such as emotional or physical abuse, or they were raised by alcoholic, depressed or narcissistic parents. This could potentially wear down the usual healthy defenses that a child with nurturing parents develops.
In fact, some people with ADHD have trouble reining in their empathy. They might call themselves empaths, as I explain below. Stimulant medication often helps them, too. It's all about the self-regulation: not over-doing, not under-doing, but finding the middle ground.
Because empaths quite literally feel what their friends are going through, they can become overwhelmed by painful emotions, such as anxiety or anger. Empaths have a tendency to take on the problems of others as their own.
And when they were struggling — it was my fault. Studies show that empaths make excellent parents. I believe it's our attuned attention. We notice ALL aspects of our child's life, not just the ones that impact us — that makes all the difference.
When overwhelmed with stressful emotions, empaths can experience anxiety, panic attacks, depression, and fatigue and may even show physical symptoms such as an increased heart rate and headache. This is because they internalize the feelings and pain of others without the ability to distinguish it from their own.
Empaths tend to excel in creative roles where it's important to evoke emotion, such as artists, writers, musicians and designers. Jobs with intense emotional challenges, such as nurses, teachers and veterinarians, may be too emotionally draining for more sensitive empaths.
Although empathy is a relatively common human ability, empaths are people with higher-than-normal sensitivity that only make up around 2% of the population.
Those who are extroverted, sensing, feeling, and judging are often identified as one of the kindest types by experts. "ESFJs have extroverted feeling as a dominant cognitive function," Gonzalez-Berrios says. "This makes them rule by their hearts. They are kind, polite, friendly, and sensitive."
Being an empath is not something you can control; it is something that you are born with. It is a wonderful gift to be so in tune with your and other people's emotions, but it can become difficult. You are not alone.
Scorpio. Scorpios are passionate and intense individuals, known for their emotional depth and sensitivity. This water sign experiences emotions on a profound level and is unafraid to delve into the depths of its own psyche. They possess a keen intuition and can easily detect emotional undercurrents in any situation.
The empath concept is controversial. Opinion is divided on whether empaths actually exist. There is also debate around some abilities associated with empaths. For instance, empaths are thought to have special skills in reading others, detecting lying, and healing.
Watching violent news; being around sarcastic, critical, or narcissistic people; or spending days at an amusement park are not things empaths enjoy. To feel their best, empaths need to minimize or avoid situations like this unless they want to end up feeling exhausted, drained, used, or anxious.
But research has come across a specific group of cells called “mirror neurons,” which may help individuals mirror others' emotions. Research also indicates that some people may have a larger number of mirror neurons than others, potentially explaining empaths' abilities.