NSFW Anyone else struggle with hyper-empathy?

[Reeincarnation]

It is hard for me to not think about other's suffering and try to analyze it.

When I watch sad news articles or cases, it makes me really sad and brings me down. It almost ruins my day entirely and I have to make big efforts to get the thoughts out of my head or I feel like they consume me.

The other day I watched a video of a guy whose dogs got poisoned by a neighbour and it made my heart drop, it honestly made me cry and everytime I see things like these, I can only try to imagine and think about the suffering they went through. I closed instagram and tried to get my mind off of it because I know how badly this affects me, but days after that video I'm still thinking about it. I cry all the time about news articles like these, or most tragic situations in general. Specially about children or animals.

I read a lot of philosophy, so I also get very sad thinking about the life of some of these philosophers and how lonely/misunderstood they felt. Kafka, Nietzsche, Dostoevsky. The same happens to me with historical figures, Napoleon and his devoted love for Josephine that ended up destroying him after finding out she cheated on him, etc.

Point being that whenever I can sense or understand a suffering situation for anyone I dwell on it too much and it genuinely ruins my mood, it's almost as if I obsess with it. Not in a psychopatic way, but because I feel for them and their situation just imagining how they must have felt. Maybe this sounds like rubbish and non-sense for a lot of people specially with these super specific examples like Napoleon. I'm not sure.

 

[Passenger4224]

It is hard for me to not think about other's suffering and try to analyze it.

When I watch sad news articles or cases, it makes me really sad and brings me down. It almost ruins my day entirely and I have to make big efforts to get the thoughts out of my head or I feel like they consume me.

The other day I watched a video of a guy whose dogs got poisoned by a neighbour and it made my heart drop, it honestly made me cry and everytime I see things like these, I can only try to imagine and think about the suffering they went through. I closed instagram and tried to get my mind off of it because I know how badly this affects me, but days after that video I'm still thinking about it. I cry all the time about news articles like these, or most tragic situations in general. Specially about children or animals.

I read a lot of philosophy, so I also get very sad thinking about the life of some of these philosophers and how lonely/misunderstood they felt. Kafka, Nietzsche, Dostoevsky. The same happens to me with historical figures, Napoleon and his devoted love for Josephine that ended up destroying him after finding out she cheated on him, etc.

Point being that whenever I can sense or understand a suffering situation for anyone I dwell on it too much and it genuinely ruins my mood, it's almost as if I obsess with it. Not in a psychopatic way, but because I feel for them and their situation just imagining how they must have felt. Maybe this sounds like rubbish and non-sense for a lot of people specially with these super specific examples like Napoleon. I'm not sure.

It feels reassuring reading a post about hyper-empathy, as I've always struggled with it as well.

Like for example, if I hear one of my friends is having a very terrible day then I become miserable. Pretty sure most people are like "aw that's sad" and continue about their day. I get totally dejected.

In general I feel empathy very often and very intensely.

Your case seems different than mine tho. Feeling empathy for people you read about must get tiring :/ Have you found any tricks that help with these feelings?

 

[Reeincarnation]

@Passenger4224

I completely understand you, yes. When people close to me go through something, I feel very maternal for them and try my best to help/support. I think a lot of my sadness comes from knowing I can't do anything about it, I can't be there to let someone know they are not alone or that I empathize with their feelings. But also I just hate the thought of any living being suffering.

I haven't found any tricks so far regarding the empathy I feel for people I read about. I try to get my mind off it a bit and distract myself. It does get exhausting but when it happens to me I think less about myself and more about others. Maybe I have a high sense of justice and nurture.

Thank you for your reply, for a moment writing this I felt I almost sounded silly or crazy, it certainly is reassuring to know others relate.