Highly sensitive people (HSPs)
in Psychology & Therapy ·
Donna Gonzalez5 said:Have you ever been having a perfectly wonderful day, only to cross paths with someone carrying an intense emotional storm—someone who immediately starts dumping their problems on you—and suddenly, you find yourself spiraling right along with them? It’s that strange phenomenon where, instead of just feeling bad for them, you actually start experiencing their struggle as if it were your own burden.
If you’ve had a cup of coffee, have you ever experienced that sudden wave of restlessness, excessive sweating, or a spike in anxiety?
Do you find it incredibly difficult to establish healthy boundaries in your relationships?
Do you tend to swing between extremes when it comes to people—either throwing yourself heart and soul into a relationship or completely shutting down and retreating into your shell the moment you pick up a negative vibe?
Does watching the news or encountering any kind of negative media content cause a significant drop in your mood?
Do you struggle with a sense of belonging—perhaps feeling disconnected from organized religion, your community, or even your own heritage?
In other words, I am curious: are there any highly sensitive individuals here? Have any of you developed specific mechanisms to balance your empathy—essentially, ways to feel less for negative people or to recognize and reject their "emotional downloads"? Is it actually possible to refuse to empathize when listening to someone vent or dealing with negativity? And how can one truly identify when they are absorbing someone else's energy?
Judith Orloff has focused a ton on empaths (she is one herself) and writes a lot about it. Just look into it, there's tons of stuff out there. She even wrote The Empath's Survival Guide : Life strategies for sensitive People.