Empaths

Are you wondering: What is a true empath? What are the signs of empathy? In this post, we will go over a few telling signs plus more about how empathy actually feels.

Highly sensitive people are often referred to as empaths.

This is a person who can feel other people’s emotions at such a deep level that it actually upsets their own soul.

You love to help and give but you often end up in a caretaking relationship.

What is an empath? According to Merriam-Webster, the empath definition is: 'One who experiences the emotions of others: a person who has empathy for others.'

Empathy is the ability to compassionately feel others' feelings and empathize with them.

While empathy can be wonderful, it can also cause empaths to make big mistakes that can hurt their romantic relationship and lead to toxic love. 

One of these mistakes is caretaking. 

Here is a professional definition of what an empath is, provided by Dr. Judith Orloff, a psychiatrist and writer and author of the book The Empath’s Survival Guide: Life Strategies for Sensitive People:

"Empaths are highly sensitive, finely tuned instruments when it comes to emotions. They feel everything, sometimes to an extreme, and are less apt to intellectualize feelings. Intuition is the filter through which they experience the world. Empaths are naturally giving, spiritually attuned, and good listeners. If you want heart, empaths have got it. Through thick and thin, they’re there for you, world-class nurturers."

People who are very receptive to the emotions of others are known as empaths.

Because they are also sensitive to noise, smell, and being around people, they are likely to feel overwhelmed in crowds and exhausted in social situations.

Judith Orloff, a psychiatrist who identifies as an empath, works with others to help them with the challenges.

Empathy is the ability to understand the way someone else is feeling. Most people who do not have antisocial or narcissistic personality disorders feel empathy on some level.

But some people are more empathetic than others, and those very high up on the scale are known as empaths. 

Lindsay Dodgson

Behold the website for empath David Sauvage. 

I'm an empath. 

I close my eyes, open myself up, and feel your emotions in my own body. Together, we discover what’s happening with you on the deepest level. I guide you back to yourself. It’s an experience.

I do intuitive readings as performance art. In art galleries, in Virtual Reality, on Youtube and in the middle of Times Square. I just did a one-man play in NYC. Check out my events page and like my Facebook page to see the latest. 

What is empathic guilt?
As an empath, we may find ourselves in a dilemma. Others may want to be around us and soak up our positive energy, but we may feel drained when we do so. Do we choose them or us?

So many of us choose them. We feel like we’re being unreasonable or being a bad friend if we don’t spend time with this person. In many cases, there is no logical reason that we should want to stay away from them; we simply don’t like how they make us feel. We don’t like feeling worse after spending time with them. Or we may enjoy them in small doses while they may want to see more of us. When we say ‘no’ to their requests to talk or spend more time, we may experience empathic guilt.

But empathic guilt is detrimental to empath health. It is never a good idea to let other people’s needs override our own, but for empaths it can be even more harmful.

It's very strong intuition," says Dr. Judith Orloff, an assistant clinical professor of psychiatry at UCLA. Empaths enjoy many advantages. "You can have strong connections with people and love deeply," she says. "You value friendships and relationships.

You love nature. You can give to others, help others and make a contribution to the world. You really enjoy that. That's part of your spirit and your nature," according to Orloff, author of the "The Empath's Survival Guide: Life Strategies for Sensitive People," published in 2017.

[See: What Only Your Partner Knows About Your Health.]

Orloff, who is an empath herself, leads an online support community with more than 13,000 members. Several shared their perspectives on life as an empath with U.S. News. Excerpts from their written responses include:

And as each day passes, it seems more and more people are identifying empaths. It’s an increasingly popular tag on Tumblr and Instagram. Psychiatrist Judith Orloff, author of The Empath’s Survival Guide, moderates a Facebook support group for empaths: she defines an empath as someone who absorbs other people’s emotions to the point of feeling oppressed by them.

Around 80% of her clients are female. “But you know what’s interesting? I’m finding now that even the non-empaths are becoming more like empaths,” she tells me. “The social media news environment creates a sort of sensory overload. You can’t help but feel all the time. and ultimately it leaves you with this helplessness.”

Empathic illnesses are those in which you manifest symptoms that are not your own. Many patients have come to me labeled “agoraphobic” with panic disorders, chronic depression, fatigue, pain, or mysterious ailments that respond only partially to medications or psychotherapy.

Some were nearly housebound or ill for years. They’d all say, “I dread being in crowds. Other people’s anger, stress, and pain drain me, and I need a lot of alone time to refuel my energy.” When I took a close history of all these patients I found that they were what I call “physical empaths:” people whose bodies are so porous they absorb the symptoms of others.

I relate because I am one. Physical empaths do not have the defenses that others have to screen things out. As a psychiatrist, knowing this significantly changed how I treated these patients. My job became teaching them to center and protect themselves, set healthy boundaries, and let go of energy they picked up from others.