Are there any empathics here?

[-Demosthenes-]

Me? I'll go with skeptical.[/quote']I find that hard to believe.

How so?

I don't think you were calling me a liar....

Yes' date=' I'm glad that you don't think that I am. I just can't see why everything you have described can't be easily explained normally.

If you were in my shoes, you would think differently...

That might very well be true.

[HonorableOne]

You all have about 10 billion brain cells. The synapses between them which look like

two toilet plungers pointing at each other, but not touching, transfer impulses from

neuron(brain cell) to neuron in about 1/500,000 of a second using the chemicals

discussed below in the 3 summaries from different websites. Disregarding the telepathic

angle of possibility for unexplained sentences popping in your mind that seem to come

from other people, this idea is also possible. It is possible that the sight of something or someone prompts a sentence in one part of the brain that another part of the brain picks up. The part of the brain that picks up sentences probably thinks it is the only part that makes sentences, hence the problem. I don't know if any of you have

conversations in your dreams, I do. But here again the choice is either you are making

up both sides of the conversation or your dream telepathic, your choice. However, it is not so much that you are making up the conversation as you are simply recalling

out of your 10 billion brain cells a sentence that fits as a response. Probably heard

in some dive late at night years ago, or possibly pieced together from a kindergarten

teacher when you were five. Who knows where words come from outta nowhere come from?

One thing for sure, when you think you thought a sentence you didn't want to think,

you are stressed. Me......I'm stressed when I can't think of something to think back to the part of my brain that thunk when I didn't ask for its' opinion. lol.

 

 

Here are 3 summaries and website links to back up the idea stress is fun.

 

This website has info on the basic chemicals in the brain which cause

the fun and happy feelings. "Phenylethylamine, dopamine and norepinephrine

affect our brains, giving us the feelings of "chemistry". Phenylethylamine

is found in chocolate. There is another important chemical related to

people connecting with each other, called endorphin. Endorphins are

also studied for their pain-relieving qualities. They are large

molecule neurotransmitters, formed from combinations of many amino

acids, called peptides. Scientists have learned these chemicals

strengthen the immune system, protect against cancer and help people

live longer."

http://www.americanchemistry.com/chemmag.nsf/WebMagazineArticle?ReadForm&mfik-4tkmh4

 

what chemicals in the brain cause anger

my question on this following summary is does cortisol cause stress

first or does it get created as a result of stress first?

"Cortisol, a hormone that the body produces in response to stress,

anger, or fear. In normal people the level of cortisol in the

bloodstream peaks in the morning, then decreases as the day

progresses. In depressed people, however, cortisol peaks earlier in

the morning and does not level off or decrease in the afternoon or

evening. Research data indicate that people suffering from depression

have imbalances of neurotransmitters, natural substances that allow

brain cells to communicate with one another. Two transmitters

implicated in depression are serotonin and norepinephrine. Scientists

think a deficiency in serotonin may cause the sleep problems,

irritability, and anxiety associated with depression. Likewise, a

decreased amount of norepinephrine, which regulates alertness and

arousal, may contribute to the fatigue and depressed mood of the

illness."

http://www.healthyplace.com/communities/depression/causes.asp

 

Catecholamines are chemicals produced by the body that work in nerve

transmission. The three main catecholamines include dopamine,

epinephrine, and norepinephrine. Dopamine raises the heart rate and

blood pressure, epinephrine raises heart rate and opens blood vessels

(lowering blood pressure), and norepinephrine closes blood vessels

(raising blood pressure) (Glaser, Anderson & Anderson, 1992).

Epinephrine and norepinephrine are the catecholamines most commonly

measured in stress experiments, and both increase under stress.

Chronic stress can also lead to plaque buildup in the arteries,

especially if combined with a high-fat diet. This buildup is called

atherosclerosis, and is often responsible for angina or heart attacks,

which are usually brought on by acute stress.

http://www.econ.uiuc.edu/~hanko/Bio/stress.html

 

So neuro transmitters in the brain and catecholamines are the same thing

and one is described as necessary for having fun and the other causes

stress. So I presume that having fun with people causes stress and when

I feel stressed out like right now I am having fun.

 

So the question I have for anyone going to pysch doc is why do they look so depressed?

 

 

 

" I'm crazy hot in here, yo, hook me up with some baby oil!"

 

" Time for me to build a time warp machine and go to the future,

the people these days respond to much and lack original thinking."

[Bettina]

Honorableone.....

 

I have been reading about (the toilet plungers I like to call them) and find them interesting and saw a program about those on NOVA. The first "doctor" I went to said that she believed that when I looked at something that hads emotion, my mind immediately built a picture to fit and a story to suit, then it made me believe it to be true in a short matter of time. Something to that effect.

 

She had no answer to the other part of why I see myself drawn into the other person. The "doctor" I'm with now...does...look depressed which depresses me. Maybe he is thinking of the nice day outside that he isn't part of. When I look at him, I see nothing. He is cold, so maybe the first physco was on to something.

 

Thanks a lot for those links. I added them to my collection to read....and hope.

 

Bettina

[Nicholas]

If your seeing a psychiatrist you otta have your head examined!!!

[The Spith]

Forgive me for not reading the whole thread but there are many pages...

 

I think we all go through a stage of being very empathic when we are quite young. I remember when I was 8 or so and whenever I saw someone doing something very embarrassing I would turn red and become even more embarassed. If it was something I saw on TV I would have to change the channel because I felt the emotion so strong.

 

Then I had an incident where I was made to feel deeply ashamed and since then I have let go of emotion altogether.

 

It might have something to do with my love of science. View the universe (including yourself) as something which obeys physical laws. I believe everything can be explained through maths, and in the future even the workings of the human mind will be reduced to formulas.

 

Most people I meet tend to find my views very cold hearted and deep down simply can't 'connect' with me, so I wear a mask and pretend to be interested in their day to affairs, and the meaningless drivel they find important.

 

The way I see it - in a thousand years we will all be dead with no trace of lives. It will be as if you never existed at all. So relax, chill out. At the end of the day it doesn't realy mean anything

 

Originally Posted by Martin

it may sound like i am treating it lightly (because we are probably extremely different in POV) but i am not treating it lightly

 

here's my answer. I stopped watching TV (especially news) 20 years ago

and I wont listen to commercial pop music.

 

commerical pop debases our empathic responses and exploits them to make a buck

 

classic stuff like the soprano arias in the moz cminor do evoke, but they enoble and focus and resolve the feelings

(instead of debasing and dispersing and ultimately deadening, just to make a buck)

 

we live in a commerce driven culture where kids are influenced by whatever sells the most, you have to make allowances and adjust for that

 

you have to be selective about what you expose your empathy to, if you have enough empathy for it to be a problem.

 

WELL that is just my reaction. but your idea of a support group sounds reasonable enough.

 

 

Sorry martin, but I disagree, you have your personal taste in music, you can rationalise being a fogey,(err I mean liking classical music), all you want, but you cannot blame modern entertainment culture for the problems of society.

 

I'm with Martin here. I strongly believe that the majority of modern culture dumbs us down, reduces our imagination and fuels our desire for material goods, making us no more than animals

 

I follow Frank Herbert's view of what it means to be human:

 

"The animal when trapped, would gnaw off it's own leg to escape. The human would bear the pain and feign death in order to kill the trapper and remove a threat to its kind"

 

That's probably not word for word as I'm quoting from memory, but the intent is still there - act in the greater good of the species, rather than following animal desires

[Psion]

Yeah I'm an empath, its stressful isnt it...

 

Yes, it's so cold.

[beautyundone]

if you're looking for help in shielding yourself from these emotions or simply learning to control your abilities, a great site to visit is:

http://www.psipog.net

 

i hope this helps you out. i am greatly intrigued by empathy, as i have recently realized i possess the ability as well. if you would like to discuss it with me, my AIM is brokenmirror65

[knowaboutU]

there is much we do not yet know about the nanostructures that are found in each braincell. That they use quantum effects is very likely. We are only just beginning to delve into the abilities of individual quantum particles to comunicate at faster than light speeds over any distance. Synchronicity is an example of mass empathy between simularly tuned minds over great distances.

Spith beware. Indifference is the route to Narcissism. Your self description gives me deja vu. I realised my partial death and learned to conciously access instincts, emotions, intuitions from the quantum void we all share and would not go back.

Feel free to be indifferent to trivialities some others are obsessed with. This is often narcissism on their part anyway.

[muhali3]

i did not read the whole thread because it was too long. but basing on what was said from the first few pages, i do not think being an "empath" is actually a problem. I do the same thing, i always try to go in to another person's perspective when watching a movie and i know how they feel, by i do this by my own voluntary will, its not uncontrollable, i do it on purpose because i want to know what it actually feels like for them, and how being in a certain scenario would feel like.

[mike90]

no offense Muhali but you don't get it. What your describing IS normal, what we have, not so much. it seems like the major point of confusion for most non empathics is confusing sympathy with empathy. Sympathy is imagining what its like to be in someone elses shoes, empathy is actually experiencing others thoughts/feelings, and is often difficult or impossible to control. In trying to learn to block out harmful emotions, ive come to a point of having almost no emotions of my own, i feel like a robot most of the time, and when i dont feel like that im depressed.Ive resorted to drugs/alcohol on occasion to try to blunt the depression, which predictably only leaves me feeling worse. hope you other empaths out there are fairing better. Its all I can do to get up every day, and if i didnt have others relying on me maybe i wouldnt. Comparing having this to normal emotions is missing it by a mile

[YT2095]

have you considered seeking medical advice?

 

it`s quite possible that your condition is know of and treatable

[Bettina]

Sympathy is imagining what its like to be in someone elses shoes, empathy is actually experiencing others thoughts/feelings, and is often difficult or impossible to control.

Thats it exactly. Thus my major problem.

In trying to learn to block out harmful emotions' date=' ive come to a point of having almost no emotions of my own, i feel like a robot most of the time, and when i dont feel like that im depressed.Ive resorted to drugs/alcohol on occasion to try to blunt the depression, which predictably only leaves me feeling worse.[/quote']

I haven't been able to stop emotion like you say you have. I don't do drugs, and won't, because I know thats not the answer as you have confirmed for me.

hope you other empaths out there are fairing better. Its all I can do to get up every day' date=' and if i didnt have others relying on me maybe i wouldnt. Comparing having this to normal emotions is missing it by a mile[/quote']

 

I'm not fairing any better than you are. In fact, this month has been the worst of the year. I "sympathize" with your (our) problem and, I for one, am still visiting this shrink who still has done nothing for me. I have to continue with him due to my dads "orders" so I'm stuck until I can convince him otherwise.

 

Do you get any "flashbacks"? The one's that hurt you inside? When "it" happens, how "deep" do you get drawn into the other person or thing. Do you get sick? I would like to know these parts. I get what I call mini-flashbacks that don't bother me because they don't stay. The major flashbacks get me sick.

 

One thing I know, is that if I stay extremely active, I don't get any episodes.

It's when I am not doing anything for days that the chances are higher.

 

Please....get off the booze and drugs.

 

Bettina

[mike90]

Ok i was very depressed when i wrote that so i guess i should explain some things so i dont sound too melodramatic. im not an addict, but when I have bad days sometimes i pick up a 12 pack or stop by a friends house and smoke some pot. Its just to try to dull the pain i fell when its more than i can take. I have talked to doctors, plenty of em after my suicide attempts when i was 20. they told me 1: i was very intelligent and 2: fairly crazy. well not in so many words obviously but i do have a variety of depression/anxiety probs. They didnt really do anything but give me a boatload of drugs that made me fell like some kind of android. They then promptly threw me back into the world to fend for myself. Since i didnt have money, they didnt concern themxelves long. If not for my considerable self will and support from a couple friends I wouldnt have made it. As far as your questions Bettina mine doesnt work quite like yours, with mine i just look at people sometimes and pick up their emotional state or surface thoughhts, the latter to a very limited degree. Because of the very heightened emotional sensitivity i have its hard for me to maintain relationships with "normals" at all because they seem so shallow and occupied by the material. As for shutting my empathy down, i dont know how I did it, I think it was a mental barrier my mind put up on its own because of some traumatic things that happened to me through my empathy. maybe next time i can detail some of those experiences, this post is long enough as is. As a final note, i 100% do not advocate suicide or substance abuse to deal with this. not ever. I know better, but sometimes the pain is so deep i get desperate, but im commited to surviving and finding some way to finally be happy for once in my life

[mike90]

haven't seen any posts from you in a bit. How are you doing?

[CPL.Luke]

empathy is something everyone feels, there is actually a part of the brain that controls it. This has been documented in the scientific community.

 

Go see my posts in the thread telepathy on the subject (its alot more indepth)

 

or go to http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Empathy

[Bettina]

haven't seen any posts from you in a bit. How are you doing?

 

Assuming you mean me, I've been swimming a lot and keeping myself active. My summer park job comes to an end in a few more weeks, then its back to school. I really liked that job.

 

My problems were bad this month especially when I read what the BTK killer did to that little girl. That got me a little sick, but not like the others. I made sure not to go back and read it again. I also have a "pillow speaker" that plays music while I sleep then it turns off.

 

I'm still nowhere.

 

Bettina

[Thomas Kirby]

That is good news for me, Bettina. You have the right to defend yourself from these occurences. Never forget that. Whatever you decide to believe, whatever you decide to do with it, you have the right to defend yourself from negative feelings.

[mike90]

Yeah Bettina i was asking about you. For some reason i forgot to specify who i meant before i posted it lol. I'm glad to hear you're working out some ways to minimize the side effects. I wish i could offer more helpful advice, but i suck at dealing with this. Hang in there and let us know if you figure anything else out. I'll do the same

[mike90]

oh god am i having a bad day. im falling apart and i cant seem to pull myself together. The sad thing is im on here cause i have nowhere else to go

[DahVid]

Everyone gets 'empathy.' Of course many people have told you that. It just seems like yours was amplified according to your environment (Probably). Why? That's the question I am trying to figure out.

 

You not having a mother for the majority of your life is one problem.

 

What else has gone wrong?

 

For what I've seen in my life (Alot of grossly cruel things) I have to cry when I see someone in pain, I cry watching many movies. Maybe it's the same for you.

 

Also Mike, my life is based around the internet. I feel this is the only place with no racial discrimination, or discrimination based on other attributes. (Well, not there is quite a bit, but nothing in comparison to real life)

 

Unless I'm at school or work I'm here, browsing forums or talking to my buddies. (I do go out once and a while.)

 

It's normal, it's a lifestyle.

[mike90]

I was having a really horrible week when i posted that, and was rather depressed that i had no one i could call and talk to. My current theory is that the empathy is tied into emotional trauma in some way, but im not sure of how it all works yet

[Bettina]

I was having a really horrible week when i posted that, and was rather depressed that i had no one i could call and talk to. My current theory is that the empathy is tied into emotional trauma in some way, but im not sure of how it all works yet

 

In my case, the trauma I went thru relating to what my mother did to me when I was young no longer bothers me. The physco still thinks it does and is wasting my time because he doesn't understand anything else. I think he was schooled in just one thing and is sticking to it.

 

I know I have normal emotions, but becoming what I am viewing is what I want stopped. Very simple equation.....emotion plus whatever.....just needs to be separated. Now that its getting dark earlier, I will have more time to read the data I've collected.

 

Bettina

[DahVid]

It no longer bothers you. Maybe not directly, maybe they could be somewhat indirectly related.

[Thomas Kirby]

Psychologists like to dig for buried trauma. Isn't the trauma actually buried in the same places where we keep the memories that make us feel good? Whatever you ask a part of your mind to do, it will do. It will express itself the way you tell it to. If you ask it to reveal trauma, it will. If you ask it to reveal joy, it will. Maybe revealing hidden trauma is therapeutic, but isn't it true that the mind needs to spend time in comfort and more positive emotional states to recover from that? We need to spend a lot more time becoming who and what we want to be and a lot less time scratching away at ourselves trying to purge ourselves of these things, at least in my opinion.

[mike90]

Some examples of physical/mental side effects of my empathy to contrast to the ones bettina's mentioned: voilent shaking, almost like a seizure, loss of physical or mental energy, leaving me feeling exhausted or having difficulty concentrating, severe spikes of depression, vague images in my mind of faces or names(rare). Also once experienced something i don't quite know hotw to describe, but I'll try since it was the most moving experience of my life. Something like a " mind meld" effect, leaving you feeling like you and the person you experience it with are melded into one entity. Probably the happiest experience of my entire life. Complete feeling of emotonal security and peace.Also i can almost always tell other empathics from other people. They have something different about them you can just feel from the "energy" of a "normal" person.