Unbridled empathy can lead to concentrations of the stress hormone cortisol, making it difficult to release the emotions. Taking on other people's feelings so that you live their experience can make you susceptible to feelings of depression or hopelessness.
It would be tough to overdo kindness or compassion, but when you feel deeply for others, it can put a tremendous amount of stress on you. Experiencing your own tension as well as the pain, anxiety or trauma of others can be extreme. And it can compromise your own health—and also degrade your ability to give.
The signs of hyper empathy
struggling to say no to others and put your own needs last. allowing others be unkind to you because you 'feel sorry for them' emotional responses that are out of proportion (bawling at a photo of an animal being hurt, feeling rage when a mother chastises a child in public)
Toxic empathy, also called hyper-empathy syndrome, is a type of empathy disorder where one struggles to regulate their emotions and empathizes with others so much it impacts their well-being. This contrasts empathy deficit disorder (EDD), where one lacks the ability to empathize with others.
People with high empathy, or empaths, are more likely to feel, recognize, and mirror another person's emotions or movements. This mirroring can be both beneficial and disadvantageous, so it is important for empaths to take time for themselves as well as helping others.
Empaths are individuals who are extremely perceptive of the feelings and emotions of people around them, which typically comes through some intuitive abilities.
The study points out that some have posited a “Dark” side to Emotional Intelligence, meaning that empathy can facilitate emotional manipulation, deceit and other antisocial behaviors.
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.
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.
An estimated one in five people is considered highly sensitive, and many of these folks are empaths, too. Yet, being an empath is not a diagnosis found in the DSM-5, the consummate guide to psychiatric disorders, so “it's often misdiagnosed as social anxiety,” Dr. Orloff says.
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.
Narcissistic personality disorder (NPD) is associated with an assortment of characteristics that undermine interpersonal functioning. A lack of empathy is often cited as the primary distinguishing feature of NPD.
Compared to someone who is highly sensitive (empathetic vs. empathic), an empath has a greater sensory awareness and feels extremely emotional about others, their surroundings, and the visual images or media they're exposed to. (You'll often hear empaths say even TV commercials can elicit spontaneous crying).
As empaths, we are more in tune with our own energetic bodies and tend to feel emotions at a deeper level. In fact, we also have the tendency to absorb others' energy. When we are under a lot of stress in our own lives or there is a lot of stress around us, we can feel sadder or even depressed.
An empath is a particularly sensitive person, someone who is able to feel and experience exactly what others do. While empaths can make wonderful caring friends, in a romantic relationship they can often find it difficult because they tend to quickly become very intense.
Some babies enter the world with more sensitivity than others—an inborn temperament. You can see it when they come out of the womb. They're much more responsive to light, smells, touch, movement, temperature, and sound. These infants seem to be empaths from the start.
Can Someone Be an Empath and a Narcissist? No. Someone can think that they're an empath, but in reality, they're narcissistic—and narcissists can be empathetic at times.
Perhaps you have always had the ability to feel the emotions and physical symptoms of others as if they were your own. If this rings true in your life, you may be an “empath.” Only 1 to 2 percent of the population experience this type of sensitivity, having the ability to feel and absorb the emotions surrounding them.
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.