Can you feel other people's emotions?

Question

I know that it is suposed to be a gift called empathy that only certain people may have. I have it and I was wondering, if you do have it, is there a way to deal with the emotions of sadness? They go away after a while, but while you are in the presence of someone sad, how do you deal with that?

As to what I have seen as an aswer, I think it is kind of funny that there are really no ways to lie to an empath.

Answer 1

I sometimes feel like I can feel other peoples emotions. If I am around someone that is feeling a negative emotion I try to change the feeling of the mood. I think that once someone feels down if you don't try to change the way they feel that they are going to have everyone else feeling that same way.

Answer 2

Yes, I do and it sucks. I just deal with it by helping to get the person's mind off it, if they are someone I know, or get away from them a bit if I don't know them.
The great part about being the way we are is empathic pleasure. I feel the excitement and joy of the person I give a perfect gift to (and we usually give awesome gifts because we know what will please the recipient most). And of course, sexually, wow that is so much more fun for people like us. To be able to experience the pleasure we give our partners is too cool.
You know what I'm talking about, right?

Answer 3

Yes. I'm empathic, and I suspect most people are, unless they've shut down or are biologically or chemically incapable.

I have to constantly pray to have others' feelings removed from me, but it's only recently that I've learned to do this. Up until that point, I believed that everybody else's feelings were actually my own (especially those close to me). I would try to solve problems that I didn't have, which is dangerous and eff-ed up. That way depression lies.

If you're around someone sad, you can feel their sadness and try to help them, or just listen to them if that's what they need, and then remove their feelings from you when you separate from them. You have to. Otherwise you carry their sorrow around with you all the time and it's not your burden to carry.

Answer 4

Yes, I am empathic...I handle that by attempting to cheer the person up (if it is a friend or someone I know) if that is not feasible I try to ignore it to the best of my ability or concentrate on other things...after awhile I learned to somewhat control the empathy....tuning it in and out....works most of the time.

Answer 5

Yes, I have this ability, or maybe better to say curse. Hell, I'm 6'2" tall and it's difficult being a male and feeling other's emotions in a society that puts so much emphasis on men being "macho". I noticed that no one else seems to have a problem with being cold to other people, so I've taught myself how to shut off the empathy sense. I've learned how to turn it off, but I feel like I'm being cold and uncaring when I do it.

Answer 6

Letting go of any unplesant emotion is very easy. All you have to do is seperate yourself from it and put it in perspective. Everyone has negative amd emotional experiences, I think we all fall into it. It is in the act of dwelling on anything where it becomes unhealthy. I kind of play mental tricks on my own mind.

meditations like actually taking a kitten by the scruff of the neck and picking it up and placing it down away from what it is scratching at. Little things like that to take you out of the moment that are mental psychological and symbolic. They are a distraction from the effects of the emotion of the moment.

I do not believe we are meant to be spock like ( although I am trying and have been for years) but it is also good to have a cry. Just learn to take it and put it where it belongs when the time comes.

It is like allowing a child to run amuck... You wouldent do that either would you? You have got to take control of yourself by mental catagorization and perspective. Detachment seems cold to some, but it is a survival technique that is quite necessary especially in these... the saddest and most unfortunate times to date in the history of the world.

As far as actually feeling anyone else goes... We are essentially all the same and all of us experience all of the full spectrum of emotion and the act of acting on all of them either in the mind or in the flesh. We all have the potential to be anyone else at any given moment. Predijuce is one way of avoiding it and hatred is another. a feeling of superioroty is often necessary wrong or right for human beings to be able to catagorize and distinguish themselves from what is wrong in society. But we are all attached, all the same... Think about someone you hate and then think about why you hate them... If you are honest with yourself, you will learn things about yourself you might not want to have to deal with. Hatred is only a wall between us and what we fear becomming. and sadness, well that is a reactory effect of outter stimuli. COntrol it, distance and seperate yourself from it, but I always suggest getting down and dirty and all up into it before letting it go. It is good to feel... everything in perspective. It is how we learn.

I suggest pretending you are Neitzsche Freud or Jung observing a subject, next time you freak out or get sad. Seperate yourself from the emotion and observe it from a detached objective place to learn from it and halt the effects of it. It can actually be fun! pretending is how we survive and emoting is how we learn.

Answer 7

everyone can yes to a certain degree
some more than others though
but it can be developed
there are ways to stop this and that comes with the development
you have to acknowledge that what you feel is not yours and be pretty certain that you can take control of your own feelings
some people do little ritual exercises to stop this such as imagining yourself being zipped up in a sleeping bag or surrounding yourself with white light to protect yourself ..
i don't feel this is necessary after a while but good to practise until you feel in control of what is happening

Answer 8

Think I also Have that. To me, its terrible as I cannot control my own feelings sometimes. I'm fine with sensing others being sad as i can comfort them. However, I can see through what some of my friends selfishness and hidden motives. Got very upset every now and then.

Answer 9

I think I suffer of empathy - because really, I don't want to feel others' emotions.

Sometimes I suffer because of others' emotions, like I am unwillingly synchronised to their confusing emotions, and I feel pain because of this, because this contradicts my real nature inside.

I think that empathy is a nightmare, and I absolutely reject others' emotions from inside of me.

I think it is also why I feel like sticked in "religion & spirituality"-section of yahoo...

How to deal with that? Reinforce your roots: human body, the place you live in.

Well, I don't really know how to be freed from this empathy stuff...

Answer 10

yes, I have it. Everyone used to say I was oversensitive and a cry baby, but I TRULY feel what people around me are feeling. I never realized that anyone else had this. I have learned to deal with it through therapy. It is hard, and i still "take on" others feelings. It is hard. Good luck to you my brother.

Answer 11

Yeah, although I have friends who have better tuned it, I know what you mean. You need to learn about shielding. Sometimes it's okay to be feeling and empathizing, but if it gets to be too much, you need to put up/strengthen your personal shielding so you can get away from it.