When an empath or a highly sensitive person witnesses others suffering, they automatically go back to the traumatic moment that made them feel unsafe and powerless. Therefore, a wounded empath finds it easier to shut down and not deal with the mess that's going on in their soul.
There is no way for an Empath to stop being an Empath. But they can learn to manage their empathy and the anxiety and depression it can bring so it doesn't debilitate them.
“Over time, we start to see people experiencing a sense of numbness and distancing or difficulty continuing to care.” Empathy fatigue is a defense mechanism, she continues. It's your body's way of telling you to pay attention and to take a step back to care for yourself.
The signs of empath burnout can differ from regular burnout but usually include feeling overwhelmed or unable to cope with disconnection from others' emotions and emotional exhaustion.
When empaths are exposed to early trauma or abuse their young nervous system may develop without healing making them hypervigilant. They can become exquisitely attuned to their environment to ward off threats and ensure they are safe or enter a state of hyperarousal.
But empathy can have a dark side. Some people, known as dark empaths, understand the feelings of others but don't feel these feelings themselves. They might act like they care, but deep down, they don't feel sympathy for you or have a desire to help. They use their understanding of your feelings to manipulate you.
Because empaths quite literally feel what their friends are going through, they can become overwhelmed by painful emotions, such as anxiety or anger. Empaths have a tendency to take on the problems of others as their own.
The symptoms of empathy fatigue are feeling overwhelmed or emotionally drained, difficulty sleeping, difficulty concentrating, physical exhaustion, apathy, irritability, and/or feeling emotionally disconnected or numb.
Empathy burnout is common when individuals spend so much of their emotional strength relating deeply to the problems and stress of others that they forget to care for themselves.
"A challenge of being an empath is to practice boundaries between the physical and emotional experiences of others and yourself," Villegas says. "It can be easy for empaths to take on, and even physically experience, someone else's discomfort or exuberance."
Empaths can pick up on these energy fields and translate them into a strong sensory experience. Other people's joy, pain, or frustration will dramatically affect an empath and leave them riding out others' emotional rollercoasters.
Spiers tells us, “With depression, an empath may feel overwhelmed by the pain and suffering of others. This may lead them to withdraw from their usual routine as a means of self-protection, but by isolating themselves and breaking links with their families and friends, the depression can then be exacerbated.
Empathetic Reactivity – When too much empathy is bad
Unbridled empathy can lead to concentrations of the stress hormone cortisol, making it difficult to release the emotions. Taking on other people's feelings so that you live their experience can make you susceptible to feelings of depression or hopelessness.
Having healthy boundaries is important for all of us, but if you're an empath it can be particularly useful. Empaths often feel so full of other people's emotions that they lose track of their own needs. Learning to say 'no' more, knowing when to step away from situations, and prioritising self-care, is key.
A constant state of fear can lead to trauma and a hypervigilant state. Hypervigilance can make the empath feel like they are observant of unseen dangers, whether from people or their environment. However, many times, in a hypervigilant state, the threats we perceive are not real.
For empaths, all that “feeling into” the experiences of others means that you dissociate: You leave your body or “shuttle” out of direct experience as a matter of course. You're vulnerable to emotional contagion.
When overwhelmed with stressful emotions, empaths can experience anxiety, panic attacks, depression, and fatigue and may even show physical symptoms such as an increased heart rate and headache. This is because they internalize the feelings and pain of others without the ability to distinguish it from their own.
No noise, bright lights, phone calls, texts, emails, internet, television, or conversations. It's sometimes important to just feel your own energy without anyone else around. You are being your own best friend, which is a way to nurture yourself. By decreasing external stimulation, it's also easier to clear negativity.
Empaths need to be around people who accept their beautifully in-tune nature instead of trying to change them. Those people see how giving, open, and caring empaths are. They recognize that empaths can be amazing friends, partners, and confidants, and they don't take that for granted.
Myth #1: Empaths do not get angry.
Although many empaths are typically good-natured and, thus, uncomfortable with their anger, it is an important emotion. In some situations, the heightened anger experienced by an empathic individual is data that something unfair is occurring in a relationship.