“A dark empath uses the emotions another person exhibits and turns that into manipulation,” says Dr. Hafeez. “The dark empath will guilt trip you into thinking you're at fault for something you're not. They often crave attention but do not gain pleasure from social rewards and desire to have a sense of power.”
A dark empath is a term that describes someone who exploits their ability to understand how other people think and feel. They can recognize another person's perspective while also showing signs of psychopathy, narcissism and Machiavellianism.
You ask questions about their likes/dislikes, hobbies, etc. A dark empath gives “…a surgical almost razor-precision focus on another person to understand what would make them tick..”. (Natftulin, 2022). They gather all of that intel and file it away for a rainy day (when it can benefit them).
As every emotion is intense for an Empath, if they are not careful they can end up going "numb." When an Empath goes numb, they have a hard time distinguishing between the feeling they get from an emotion and what that emotion actually is.
When an empath has taken on too heavy a dose of lower vibration emotions, he or she will begin to mirror and embody these emotions, often resulting in bouts of depression or anxiety.
They found four profiles. The two most common profiles were the “typicals” (34.4%;) and the empaths (33.3%). However, dark empaths (those who demonstrated a cluster of dark personality traits combined with elevated levels of empathy) did make up 19.3% of their sample.
Dark empaths can be loving and give us the relationship goals we've always wanted. Yet, under the surface, their actions are designed to manipulate us — not so that we can have what we've always wanted but so that they can achieve their own ends.
What is the INFP personality type (The Empath)? People with an INFP personality type tend to be reserved, idealistic, and adaptable in their behavior. They are curious people, often lost in thought.
If your energy radiates red, you often react strongly to the situations of others. Above, Dougall Fraser explains the compassion, warmth and caring that people with this energy emit.
Despite being highly attuned to the feelings of others, many empaths find it difficult to relate to others. Others might not understand why you become exhausted and stressed so quickly. You might struggle to understand the emotions and feelings you absorb or feel like you aren't “normal.”
Empaths are the opposite of narcissists. While people with narcissistic personality disorder have no empathy, and thrive on the need for admiration, empaths are highly sensitive and in tune with other people's emotions. Empaths are "emotional sponges," who can absorb feelings from other people very easily.
Narcissists and dark empaths are no strangers to lying and being in control. Their absence of guilt and hunger for power makes them masters of manipulation. When a narcissist and a dark empath meet, they may immediately try to bring each other down through passive-aggressive means.
Empaths can understand the depth of emotional suffering and are great at listening and offering advice. Therapists can work in private practices, clinics, hospitals, rehab facilities and mental health centers.
People who score high in "dark triad" personality traits are able to empathize.
"Dating an empath can be both challenging and rewarding. They are highly intuitive and often have a great sense of understanding and compassion for others. This can make them excellent partners who are supportive and nurturing.
The new study has three important results. First, it found that how empathetic we are is partly due to genetics. Indeed, a tenth of this variation is due to genetic factors. This confirms previous research examining empathy in identical versus non-identical twins.
What attracts the psychopath to the empath is the sweet, kind and full of life and willingness to give qualities of an empath in which none of these traits exist in a psychopath. The psychopath's way of dealing with their childhood trauma is to suck the life from others because they themselves feel hollow inside.
This low vibration state is what the empath fights against. In their plutonic state, an empath thus becomes a narcissist's narcissist. Mirroring them, the empath becomes devoid of empathy for the narcissist, turning extremely cold and aiming to destroy their fragile egos.
Sensory overwhelm
An emotionally charged situation is a source of too many stimuli, which means that it can lead an empath to overload in no time. That's why they choose to shut down and withdraw from the situation that is so overwhelming.
Yet in recent years, researchers have found that misplaced empathy can be bad for you and others, leading to exhaustion and apathy, and preventing you from helping the very people you need to. Worse, people's empathetic tendencies can even be harnessed to manipulate them into aggression and cruelty.