Empathy is a conscious or unconscious connection of the psyche (feeling) to the current emotional state of another person without losing the sense of the external origin of this experience.
There are a lot of rumors and speculation about empathy. Some consider it to be something like extrasensory perception, others compare empathy with empathy for loved ones.
While this actually unlocks the empathic ability, high sensitivity and the ability to empathize.
If you explain empathy in your own words, then this is the ability not only to understand a person and sympathize with him, but also to fully penetrate his inner world and feel a specific situation for yourself. It is a rare gift to look at the world through someone else's eyes and take someone else's point of view.
Empathy is an understanding of the mental and emotional state of another person, that is, the ability to perceive the feelings of the interlocutor, while being aware that these are the emotions of another person.
An empath can very subtly distinguish between bouquets of feelings, emotions, relationships, which is not available to many people. People, most of all, can hardly determine what feeling fills them in this moment. An empath feels all shades of feelings and not only those that the person himself is clearly aware of, the empath sees several “levels” of the existence of which the person himself does not even suspect, although no, everyone has heard about the subconscious, it is also accessible to the empath.
If a person perceives the emotions of a partner as his own, then this is no longer called empathy, but identification with the interlocutor. Identification is an empath's tool, with its help he can understand a person in more detail.
There is a theory that mirror neurons, discovered in 1990 by a group of Italian scientists, are responsible for empathy, but this hypothesis has not been fully studied. Remarkably, mirror neurons were originally found in the frontal cortex of monkeys.
Real empathy is not reading the mood of the interlocutor by his gestures, facial expressions, tone of voice. In order to master this method of reading the emotions of the interlocutor, you just need to read a well-written book on sign language.
And still, you will not be able to accurately understand the degree of despair, joy or excitement of your interlocutor. A strong empath does not need to see the gestures and facial expressions of a person, you can just look at the photo, although this is not always necessary.
“Unfortunately, there are no specific methods that would allow you to learn empathy in a week or a month. Many world psychologists believe that it cannot be learned consciously at all. Empathy is something that appears as a result of experienced sorrows and problems. This is one's own bitter experience, which becomes a pass to understanding the suffering. In principle, charity, helping the elderly, children and animals help, over time, to develop deep and strong sympathy in your soul, that is, empathy.
To some extent, these words are true, but another empath who has already passed this path can help to master the ability to empathize inherent in a person. You probably won't be able to learn from a book, practical exercises are needed.
The empathic way of communicating with another person has several facets. It implies entering into the personal world of another and staying in it "at home". It involves a constant sensitivity to the changing experiences of the other - to fear, or anger, or emotion, or embarrassment, in a word, to everything that he or she experiences.
This means a temporary life in another life, a delicate stay in it without evaluation and condemnation. This means capturing what the other is barely aware of. But at the same time, there are no attempts to open completely unconscious feelings, since they can be traumatic. This includes communicating your impressions of the other's inner world by looking with a fresh and calm eye at those elements of it that excite or frighten your interlocutor.
That means frequent treatment to another to check their impressions and listen carefully to the answers they receive. You are a confidant for another. By pointing out the possible meanings of another's experiences, you help them experience more fully and constructively.
Being with another in this way means putting aside your points of view and values for a while, in order to enter the other's world without prejudice. In a sense, this means that you are leaving your "I". This can only be done by people who feel secure enough in a certain sense: they know that they will not lose themselves in the sometimes strange or bizarre world of the other and that they can successfully return to their world when they want to.
Maybe this description makes it clear that being empathic is difficult. It means being responsible, active, strong and at the same time subtle and sensitive.
Classification. Types of empathy
Strange as it may seem, empaths can be classified. Divide your kind into empath levels. After all, we were all born with a wonderful gift - to feel, to empathize. But over time, in the family, society, life, the level of empathy has changed. Someone developed intensively, while someone, on the contrary, suppressed all living things in himself, which can arouse sympathy.
There are 4 types of empaths:
1. Not empaths
Everything is immediately clear here. Non-empaths are those people who have completely closed their empathic abilities. It is possible that these abilities have atrophied themselves, as they were never used. Such people intentionally close themselves off from emotional information (for example, they cannot recognize verbal and non-verbal emotional signals). If empathic abilities are not used, they disappear.
2. Weak empaths
This type of empathy is possessed by most of the population of our Earth. They have retained the basic filters for receiving emotional information, but due to the fact that they cannot control this, emotional overload often occurs. Especially if the weak empath is going through an emotional upheaval or is in a crowded place. Such people are often in a state of constant stress, as if the whole weight of the world, emotions, problems, fears, fell on their shoulders. If compared physically, they feel tired, headaches, and so on.
3. Functional empaths
These are the most developed empaths who easily adapt to emotional information and can easily control emotions without suppressing them. Rarely does anyone really know how to do this. Outwardly, these people are no different from ordinary people.
4. Professional empaths
Such empaths are easily able to recognize any emotions, moreover, the most complex emotional streams of information that are hidden in the depths of our soul. Such people can manage other people's emotions well. Good healers, as they see hidden energy channels. There are few such empaths, in pure form rarely meet. It happens that an empath heals well, but for some reason or his own fear, he does not know how to control other people's emotions.
A professional empath will be able to cheer up a person who is in pain and help get rid of pain. During the period of grief, forget about sadness. Believe in yourself when there is no more hope. Can you do the same?
How do you know if you're an empath?
I can feel, feel another person's feelings just by looking at their faces.
Maybe I'm an empath? You often ask yourself a similar question when you cannot explain what is happening to you.
In this article I want to tell you how to determine that you are an empath.
Empathy is the ability to feel people's emotions as if they were your own.
It could be a gift or a curse, because who wants to feel sad with a sad stranger on the road? Who wants to have physical pain if someone is in pain because they fell. How and what do you really feel? But on the other hand, you can use this empathy as an opportunity to help people and develop the ability for yourself.
Here are some factors that will help determine if you are an empath. But if you're still in doubt, you can take our empathy test, it certainly won't lie.
So, for business...
1. Feel someone's emotions. This is the most frequent factor who says you are an empath. Look at passers-by, on the street, if you feel happiness, love, sadness, bitterness, pain in their faces, then you are definitely an empath. You can just as easily merge with them, do the same thing, what they want. For example, you are thirsty or you urgently want to go home for no good reason. Mood swings, and sharp
2. You feel tired when you are in a crowded place. Since you feel the emotions of other people, you can get tired of all this. You become angry and irritable, which causes rapid mood swings. Many empaths don't like places where there are a lot of people, they immediately feel empty.
3. You can clearly tell when a person is lying... It's a kind of gift to know if a loved one or a loved one is telling you that she loves you. To determine whether a person is experiencing true feelings is only able to recognize a real empath. The idea of an empath is impossible to deceive, because he knows how you feel.
There are several ways to tell if you are an empath. Someone can see the aura of people, some can read people as if open book. But being an empath is more difficult, because constantly feeling a bunch of emotions in yourself and experiencing them as if it were your own can drive you crazy!
Developing empathy, how to develop empathy?
People are divided into those who are already empaths and those who want to become empaths. We already know that there are several levels of empathy, and in order to teach someone, to develop empathy, he needs to master one of the levels of empathy.
In fact, real empathy is harder to learn, especially for those who have never used it. You can not turn the world upside down and say that I have changed, and began to feel everything. It will take a long time to break down your beliefs and learn empathy.
Empathy is not just someone's feelings and experience, it is a complete understanding and awareness that you feel it, as if it is happening to you. This is very thin world completely different life. Not everyone wants to feel the emotions and desires of another person unnecessarily, but why does he need all this? But let's not get into real empathy, but let's talk about the psychological component of empathy. About the empathy that is written about in the textbooks of psychology and business. This empathy differs in that you have to anticipate your opponent's actions and know what he wants from you through emotional reactions - this is much easier to train. You will not feel everything on yourself, but you will be able to clearly understand what is happening to a person and empathize with him.
Therefore, we will divide this blog into two parts: real empaths who subtly feel a person, and they develop anyone and those who learn this. There will be a big difference between these empaths, since the first empaths can feel emotions on themselves without visual contact, and the second most likely will never be able to do this.
So how do you develop empathy?
1. Level of study
When communicating with a person, you must highlight emotional notes, gestures. For example, have you ever watched the series Lie Theory (Lie to me)? If not, then look, this series clearly shows how with the help of facial expressions, gestures, reactions, tone of voice, you can determine what state a person is in, that is, what he feels. When you can focus correctly, without mistakes, your attention on such trifles, you can see the emotional state of a person. But until you can shift it to yourself.
Practice on the street, on friends, acquaintances. Notice any little things: slovenliness, a hair on a jacket, hair, makeup on the face, all this can tell a lot more about a person than you think. Master this skill.
2. Level of study
So, now that you have certain skills, you can know what is happening to a person. And they should clearly know, but it doesn’t seem to me that this is happening to him. No one seems to hone your skills, let it take years or months, but you should not be mistaken.
The second level of training is more difficult, since at this stage you must transfer those sensations, habits, voice timbre, body movements to yourself. As if you are the object that you feel. To make it easier for you to get into character, you need a strong emotional reaction. Watch the person carefully, imagine that he is you, if you have completely merged with him, are part of his life, you know in advance what he will do and how he will act in this or that situation. It is as if you are living his life without judging it and without thinking what is wrong.
You are one. You are comfortable in this body and life. If he is in love, you also love, if he feels pain, you also feel it with every cell of your body.
This is much harder to learn. You don’t have to master this skill, but you will never become a true empath until you can feel in your own skin how a person feels. You seem to look into the mirror of someone else's life and see yourself in it. Perhaps you think this is complete nonsense and impossible, you are mistaken. An empath is someone who perceives another person's feelings as if they were their own. And no one said that feelings should always be good.
3. Level of study
This level allows you to become a true empath. After all, empaths do not just feel everything on themselves, they know how to manage this state. The first possibility is to easily take YOURSELF out of any negative emotional state. The second possibility is to bring the OTHER out of the negative emotional state. Influence emotions. This is where the similarity begins, what psychology and business are trying to teach us so much. Controlling emotions and manipulating others through emotional connection.
If you have mastered the first two levels of training and the skills of an empath, it will not be difficult for you to control all this ...
One morning, a woman, as usual, got into the car and went to work, which was ten kilometers from her home. On the way, her imagination played out and she imagined herself the heroine of a grand adventure. She imagined herself as a simple medieval woman, living amidst wars and crusades and famous for her strength and sacrifice. She saved her people and met a powerful and noble prince who fell in love with her.
Her mind was completely occupied with these thoughts, and yet she drove through several streets, stopped at traffic lights a couple of times, signaled appropriately when turning, and safely reached the parking lot located under the windows of her office. When she regained consciousness, she realized that she did not remember at all how she got to her destination. She could not remember a single intersection or turn. Her shocked mind asked, "How could I drive this far without realizing it? Where was my mind? Who was driving while I was dreaming?" But this had happened to her before, and so she threw everything that had happened out of her head and went to her office.
While she was sitting at her desk and making a plan for the day, her work was interrupted by one of her colleagues who burst into the office, threw on the table a memorandum that she had shortly distributed to employees, and made a scandal over some insignificant point, with which he disagreed. She was shocked. Such fury over such a petty cause! What got into him?
He himself, listening to his elevated tone, realized that he was making an elephant out of a fly, was embarrassed, muttered an apology and, backing away, left the office. Returning to his office, he asked himself: "What came over me? Where did it come from in me? Little things, as a rule, do not piss me off. I was not like myself!" He guessed that his anger had nothing to do with the colleague's memorandum, but had been seething in him for a long time, and this insignificant reason was only the last straw, because of which the anger broke out. But where this anger came from, he did not know.
If these people had time to think, they might guess that this morning they felt the presence of the unconscious in their lives. In the endless stream of banal events of everyday life, we are at the most different forms we encounter the unconscious, which operates in and through us.
Sometimes the unconscious works in parallel with the conscious mind and takes over driving while the conscious mind is doing something else. We've all, at least once in our lives, driven a few blocks on "autopilot," as the woman in our example did. The conscious mind is distracted for a short time, and the unconscious takes over the direction of our actions. It stops the car at a red light, pulls off at a green light and enforces the rules traffic until the conscious mind returns to its normal state. This is far from the most safe way driving, but the unconscious really provides us with such a great vital "safety net" built into us that we take this phenomenon for granted.
Sometimes the unconscious produces a fantasy so filled with vivid, symbolic imagery that the fantasy completely dominates our conscious mind and holds our attention for a long time. The fantasies of dangerous adventures, heroism, sacrifice and love that fascinate a woman on her way to work are an excellent example of how the unconscious invades our conscious mind and tries to express itself through imagination, using the symbolic language of emotionally charged images.
Another form of manifestation of the unconscious is an unexpected and strong emotion, inexplicable joy or unreasonable anger, which suddenly invade our conscious mind and completely subjugate it. This influx of feelings is completely incomprehensible to the conscious mind, because the conscious mind did not generate it. The man in our example could not explain to himself the inadequacy of his reaction. He asked, "Where did it come from?" He believed his anger came from somewhere from outside and that for several minutes he "was not himself." But, in fact, this rush of uncontrollable emotions was born in himself, in a place that is so deep within his being that the conscious mind cannot see it. This place is called "unconscious" because it is not visible.
The idea of the unconscious comes from simple observations of everyday human life. Our minds contain material whose presence we are mostly unaware of. It happens that, quite unexpectedly, some memories, pleasant associations, ideals, and beliefs come to life in us. We feel that these elements have been somewhere within us for a long time. But where exactly? Yes, in that unknown part of the soul, which is beyond the reach of the conscious mind.
The unconscious is a wonderful universe, consisting of invisible energies, forces, forms of mind, even individual personalities who all live within us. Most people do not imagine the true dimensions of this great kingdom, which lives its own completely independent life, running parallel to our daily existence. The unconscious is the secret source of most of our thoughts, feelings, and actions. And the power of its influence on us is great also because this influence is imperceptible.
When people hear the term unconscious, most of them intuitively understand what is at stake. We relate this idea to the myriad of events, large and small, that make up the fabric of our daily lives. Each of us had to do something at a time when his thoughts were in "another place", and then look with surprise at the result of his work. Another thing happens - during some kind of conversation, we suddenly begin to get excited and, quite unexpectedly for ourselves, express a sharp point of view, which we did not even suspect we had.
Sometimes we wonder: "Where did this come from? I didn't know I could feel so strongly about this?" When we begin to take such outbursts of energy from the unconscious more seriously, we understand that the question should sound differently: "What a part of me believe in it? Why does this particular topic cause such a strong reaction in this invisible part of my being?
We can learn to treat this problem with more attention. The term "something came over me" implies a sudden intrusion of the energy of the unconscious. If I say that I didn't look like himself, it is only because I do not understand that the concept of "I" includes my unconscious as well. The hidden part of our being has strong feelings and wants to express them. And if we don't learn how to make inner work, this invisible part will remain hidden from our conscious mind.
This hidden personality can be very harmful or violent, and when it comes out, we are in a very awkward position. On the other hand, we may awaken strong and beautiful qualities that we did not even suspect. We activate hidden resources and do things that we would never do in a normal state, we express such wise thoughts that we were not capable of before, we show nobility and tolerance that are completely unexpected for us. And in each case, we are shocked: "I never thought that I could be like that. I have qualities (both positive and negative) that I did not suspect." These qualities lived in the unconscious, where they were inaccessible to "neither sight nor mind."
Each of us is something more than the "I" that he thinks he is. At any given moment, our conscious mind can focus only on a limited sector of our being. Despite our best efforts towards self-knowledge, only a very small part of the vast energy system of the unconscious can be connected to the conscious mind or can function at the level of consciousness. Therefore, we must learn to get to the unconscious and understand the meaning of its messages: this is the only way to comprehend the unknown part of our being.
Approach to the unconscious - conscious or involuntary
The unconscious manifests itself through the language of symbols. We can come into contact with the unconscious not only in the course of involuntary actions. The unconscious can bridge the gap between it and the conscious mind in two ways. One way is dreams; another - imagination. The soul has created these complex communication systems so that the unconscious and consciousness can communicate with each other and work together.
The unconscious has invented a special language that is used in dreams and imagination: the language of symbolism. As we shall see later, inner work requires, first of all, an understanding of this symbolic language of the unconscious. Therefore, we must devote most of our time to working with dreams, imagination and symbolism.
Many attempts by the unconscious to contact our minds end in failure. The unconscious will surface in dreams, but very few people have the information needed to take their dreams seriously and understand their language. The results of the activity of the unconscious are also clearly visible in the flights of our imagination: fantasy, like a geyser, appears on the surface of our conscious mind, but we hardly notice it; many people do not even notice the whole streams of fantasy, which, like rivers, often run along the edge of their minds. We think we are "thinking" or we think we are "planning", but more often than not, we are just daydreaming, immersed in a river of fantasy for a few minutes. Well, then we get back to the "land", that is, we return to the physical situation, to urgent work, to the people with whom we are talking.
To understand what we really are, to become more complete and whole human beings, we must go to the unconscious and connect with it. The unconscious contains a significant part of our "I" and many determinants of our character. Only by approaching the unconscious do we get a chance to become truly thinking, full-fledged, whole human beings. Jung proved that living a fuller and rich life is possible only if one approaches the unconscious and understands its symbolic language. We enter into a partnership with the unconscious instead of constantly at war with it or surrendering to its mercy.
However, most people approach the unconscious not of their own free will. They become aware of the existence of the unconscious only when they have problems with it. Modern people so detached from the inner world that they encounter it, mainly as a result of stress. For example, a woman who thinks she has everything under control can fall into a terrible depression and at the same time can neither shake off this state, nor understand what is happening to her. Or a man may suddenly find that the life he leads has come into complete conflict with the ideals lurking in that part of his being that he has never looked into. He will feel oppressive anxiety, but he will not be able to determine the cause.
When we feel an inexplicable contradiction that we cannot resolve; when we get caught up in irrational, primitive, or destructive emotions; when neurosis strikes us, because our consciousness comes into conflict with our instinct, then we begin to understand that the unconscious really has a place in our life and we need to meet it "face to face".
Historically, Jung and Freud rediscovered the existence of the unconscious through some kind of pathological and psychological suffering of patients in whom the connection between the level of consciousness and the level of the unconscious had broken down.
Do you perceive other people very closely, as if they were your own? Perhaps you have awakened empathy! Find out how to test it!
What is empathy and how does it arise?
Empathy (empathy)¹ - the ability to subtly feel the emotions of another as your own. People who can do this are called empaths. An empath is someone who feels the emotions and feelings of others. Sometimes empathy is accompanied by ability.
in a natural way people acquire this ability in two cases:
1. They are born empaths.
2. This gift awakens on its own during maturation and socialization.
Empathy is a great gift if you know how to use it properly. Not all empaths are able to control the ability consciously - in most cases this happens unconsciously.
Many people sometimes "catch" the sensations of other people. In most cases, the gift of empathy is not recognized: such manifestations are explained by the logical mind as ordinary psychology or spontaneous NLP².
Signs of having superpowers
If something like this happened in your life, and you suddenly felt emotions unusual for yourself, it is quite possible that it was a feeling received from another person - empathy manifests itself!
Until you learn to manage and control it, you will absorb other people's emotions and experience them as your own.
There are several signs that a person is an empath:
1. Empaths feel the suffering in the world on a massive scale and want to do something to help the world.
2. They find it difficult to look at someone else's pain because it feels like their own.
3. People with this ability have a hard time watching disturbing news: they feel all the suffering and then can’t for a very long time recover.
For example, it is enough to watch a news report about a disaster or some kind of catastrophe anywhere in the world, and such a person can feel pain (psychological, and sometimes physical) from this event.
4. Empaths have a hard time finding themselves and being fully aware of their own feelings.
For example, during a conversation with another person, people with the gift of empathyfeel his emotions and feelings. Often, they know the answers to their life questions, but at the same time they do not find the answer to their own.
5. Often empathy can make a person shy because he knows very well how the other feels and what he wants.
6. If a person does not know how to control his ability, he may lose critical perception. Such people always say “yes” to all requests and demands, without thinking about whether they need it, whether they really want it.
An empath becomes so immersed in the other person's experience, knowing what they need, that they can't say no. And only then he realizes that he did not think about himself and his desires.
7. People with empathy help others at their own expense.
8. Empaths love from a distance, just as if they were close by.
9. They feel a deep affinity with nature, animals and plants.
Such people are able to feel not only people, but also animals, for example, meeting a dog or a cat along the street.
10. An empath feels responsible for how other people feel and tries to help them feel better.
11. Such people are very sensitive: relationships and friendships can be taken too close to the heart.
12. Because of empathy and the inability to manage it, they often become an outlet for other people to dump their emotions on them.
13. While reading a book or watching a movie, an empath experiences events very emotionally, almost completely identifies with the characters.
14. Due constant load people with this gift forget what it is to have fun and enjoy life.
15. Empaths tend to be deeply spiritual people: the gift of empathyallows you to feel the unity of all being.
If many of the above signs are close to you, it means that the ability to empathize lives in you!
Answer the following questions:
- Can you control this gift?
- Are you able to share your own and others' experiences?
- Are you able to manage your gift, "turning on" it only when you need it?
If you answered yes, then you yourself have learned to control your gift of empathy; otherwise, you need to learn how to manage empathy: in the notes to this article there is a link to useful material on developing control over empathy.
Notes and feature articles for a deeper understanding of the material
¹ Empathy - conscious empathy with the current emotional state of another person without losing a sense of the external origin of this experience (Wikipedia).
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Even as adults, we always hope that fate will give us a person who will understand us perfectly. Such a person who will share with us our joys and sorrows as his own. This wonderful feeling that allows you to emotionally feel into your interlocutor is called Empathy.
Other people's emotions - as their own
The ability to consciously empathize with other people's emotions, unfortunately, is very rare today. The term "Empathy" in psychology was one of the first to be mentioned in the works of Sigmund Freud, who argued that psychoanalyst for the implementation effective work with the patient it is necessary to take into account his emotional state. The psychoanalyst enters this state, after which he gains the ability to understand it by comparing it with his own feelings.
Today, the concept of "Empathy" means a lot. First of all, empathy is a conscious empathy for a person, his emotional state, without losing a sense of external control over such a state. In medicine and psychology, empathy is often equated with empathic listening - demonstrating that the specialist correctly understands the emotional state of the patient. In forensic science, having the skill of empathic listening means the ability to gather information about the feelings and thoughts of the subject.
For psychics, empathy is considered a special feeling, available only to some people. The significance of this ability in extrasensory perception is great: it serves as a tool for perceiving the emotional states of other people "directly", as well as broadcasting one's emotions, while the lack of direct contact with a person is not a hindrance. Such a feeling is equated with the concept of emotional telepathy.
The manifestations of empathy are very different: from total immersion into the feelings of a communication partner (emotional or affective empathy), to an objective understanding of the experiences of a communication partner without strong emotional involvement. In this case, the following types of empathy are distinguished:
- sympathy - emotional responsiveness, the need to provide assistance;
- empathy - a person experiences the same emotions as a communication partner;
- sympathy - a very friendly and warm attitude towards a person.
Empathy is not associated with the perception of any specific emotions (as with compassion). This feeling is used to indicate empathy for any state. There are many professions in which empathic listening is not only desirable, but even necessary. These professions include almost all professions focused on communication with people: 
- psychologists, psychotherapists;
- doctors;
- teachers;
- personnel managers;
- leaders;
- detectives;
- officials;
- sellers;
- hairdressers and others.
As you can see, the application of this amazing property our psyche can be found anywhere. People with the ability to empathize are called empaths.
Can you become an empath?
You can often hear: "He is a born psychologist." Often such a phrase indicates a person's ability to emotionally empathize without special professional skills. Can you become an empath? Is empathy an innate or acquired ability? What are its signs?
According to biology, brain activity, which reflects the actions and state of other individuals, directly depends on the activity of mirror neurons. Biologists suggest that the strength of empathy depends on their activity.
An indirect confirmation of this is that people suffering from alexithymia do not have the ability to empathize, since their neurophysiological problems do not allow them to distinguish even their own emotions.
Modern experts believe that empathy is an innate and genetic property, but life experience strengthens or weakens it. The strength of empathy depends on the presence of rich life experience, accuracy of perception, and developed skills in empathic communication. Initially more developed ability women are empathic, especially those who have children.
Provided that at least the rudiments of empathy are innate, its development can be accelerated by various training methods and special exercises who develop skills effective application this ability in professional and personal communication. If you want to learn to understand the emotions and feelings of others, it is useful to practice such artistic studies, such as "Memorizing Faces", "How Others See Me", "Reincarnation". They also develop the ability to empathize and sympathize with any fortune-telling, the game "Association". Helps develop empathy general development emotionality through dance, watching movies, listening to music, and other methods of art therapy.
To identify the level of empathy in people, as well as certain aspects of this ability, there are various methods and techniques. The most reliable diagnostic aimed at determining the level of empathy is called "Empathy Quotient", for Russian-speaking users there is an adaptation of it called "Empathy Level".
Pros and cons
Empathy is a real gift that not everyone knows how to use for its intended purpose. Often this property of the psyche brings suffering to a person, because people do not always experience only joy, happiness, love and other positive states. What for one person seems to be the ultimate dream, for another is a heavy burden.
The ability to empathize and sympathize implies that a person has developed personality because the immature mind is unable to cope with the flurry of other people's emotions. Having decided to develop empathy, it is not superfluous to evaluate the pros and cons of such a decision.
| pros | Minuses |
|---|---|
| Inexhaustible possibilities for the development of fantasy. | Man is not capable of healthy aggression and competition. |
| Effective assistance in many professions. | Hypersensitivity, as a result of this - emotional burnout. |
| This state produces many original solutions. | Easy onset of anxiety and fear, a high percentage of mental illness. |
| The ability to help other people, give them support and acceptance. | There is a high probability of a relationship of the “one-sided game” type, when a person only gives without receiving anything in return. |
| An empath cannot be deceived. | An empath is easily offended and hurt. |
Develop or get rid of?
Each person must decide for himself what level of empathy he needs for a comfortable life. There are 4 types of empaths in total:
Non-empaths: have completely closed their empathy channels (consciously or under the influence of trauma). These people cannot recognize non-verbal and verbal cues.
Ordinary empaths: constantly in a state of stress and emotional overload, acutely experiencing other people's problems. They often suffer from headaches. The ability to empathize is not controlled by them.
Conscious empaths: manage their ability to empathize, easily adapt to other people's emotions, knowing how not to let them through themselves.
Professional Empaths: They have great control over their ability, often using it for professional purposes. They can control any other people's emotions, change a person's mood, relieve mental and physical pain.
If fate endowed you with a developed ability to empathize, maybe it’s still worth developing it? At least in order to fulfill its purpose - to help other people.
However, a strong capacity for empathy and empathy often comes at a cost. Empaths quite often enter into asymmetric relationships without getting enough support from the partner. Such people feel uncomfortable in conflict, are not inclined to compete and defend their interests.
They often suffer from depression as well anxiety disorders. Empaths have a hard time overcoming fear, so it is possible panic attacks. The ability to feel the pain of others leads to what psychologists call empathic stress.
For effective work with people, the presence of developed empathy is a real find. But empaths often have problems with personal relationships. They are so sensitive that it is impossible to hide anything from them, and any negative emotions the partner is literally “hit on the head”. Therefore, the partner of an empath must be a kind, faithful and non-conflict person.