A coworker asked me today if I was an empath and I had no idea what that was. I asked her to explain and it was basically “someone who knows what other people are going through.” It’s way off from what I assumed it meant (I thought she said “are you in N-PATH” and I assumed it was a certification program lol). But isn’t this just someone with empathy?
I think it originally meant something like a highly sensitive person in that, due to various trauma, the empath is sensitive to and overly identifies with other people's emotions, to the point that they feel what that person is feeling. The rub is that the "empath" only feels what they think the other person is feeling, which may be and often is disconnected from reality, and often feeling it more than the other person does. So they feel and outwardly show a lot of big emotions almost as a fight/flight/appease response in social settings. An example would be like someone having a breakdown because a coworker broke up with their girlfriend
But then people like Shane Dawson use it about them selves to mean "I feel sad sometimes" and it lost all meaning it had
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For them those are major milestones which are a celebration of years of work. For you they are a weekend party with your family. It’s okay to not be overwhelmed with emotion when you weren’t involved in that day to day struggle.
probably some kind of neurodiverse because i'm similarly wired. maybe we have weird mirror neurons
a cool dude
reasonable
Sounds to me like you are obviously capable of empathy, but you just don't give a damn about "rites of passage" in the imperial core
you just don't identify with your family as strongly as you feel socially expected to. that's a function of your relationship with them, not just of your personal psychology in isolation.
Ngl I feel the same way and empathize with animals being given love or elderly individuals learning a cool skill, I enjoy vibing to peeps enjoying life in small moments
Oh, that's just BPD? (or is it? idk)
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Attachment disorder? Tbh, no one uses "empath" in my circles and I hang around a lot of goths, hippies, and needs. I just feel like there's a clinical term for this.
I honestly don't know enough about it. I asked my therapist if HSP/empath was bullshit. She said no, but it's basically different language to describe how trauma effects various aspects of personality and/or coping skills, like it'd describe a broad presentation that is typically associated with similar trauma but isn't specific enough like c-ptsd, bpd etc. So like my partner might present as an HSP, but they actually have OCPD which makes them highly sensitive to things like perceived criticism or routine changes.
The one person I know for sure that could be an "empath" is also codependent, enmeshed, and either anxious or disorganized attachment. So they may present as an empath, but it's because they fear abandonment and are trying desperately to connect. So yeah, there may be something there too with attachment
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Finding ones one identity in another to the point where ones own identity is lost, also with an inability to not get emotionally involved with that person, see more here
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I always used it in this sense back when I was a teenager, but now I think the term "Rejection Sensitive Dysphoria" is more appropriate, at least for myself.