Very Unrelated Question

MyChocolateDiet

i think empathic and empathetic are two different things. i think i am one of them. or at least recent experience of the twilight zone variety made me feel that way.

MyChocolateDiet

if people don't report feelling safe with me but horny with me am i a hornpath? also let's do homeopath next.

harderpa

I am. It started after my son was born. Damn hormones. I do it a lot in movies to

MyChocolateDiet

Uh, having empathy qualifies a person to be differentiated from the general public as an "Empath"?

LACK of empathy is often a marker for a personality disorder. I really hope we're not getting to a point where people who don't have personality disorders are special.

You mean something like..oh I don't know... seeing someone ask if people have empathy for others and responding with a series of dumb gifs?

Excuse you? Deanna Troi is the premier Empath of the Federation. I'm not sure how much more relevant to the topic she could be.

She's an actress not a real empath!

Deanna Troi is not an actress.


The woman who played her in that series however...anyway. The word you're searching for is 'character' but even so she's an example of an empath and might help people hone in on what exactly you're asking (or seemed to be asking) because she's an easily identified character with empathic abilities. You know, beyond the general trait most humans have to empathize. Because humans.

I must add, the use of a non verbal or textual medium (the animated gif) to emphasise the distinction of the term empath from the likely to follow confusion with the term empathetic, to me seemed an IDEAL way to emphasize the difference in a very very germane way....via a non verbal signal.

MyChocolateDiet

I am. It started after my son was born. Damn hormones. I do it a lot in movies to

lolwut?

MyChocolateDiet

I'm a highly empathic person who is susceptible to emotional contagion.
On the down-side, it means that I'm a little more emotionally malleable than I would prefer to be. It drives me toward social isolation and creates feelings of anxiety in large crowds.
On the up-side, I am more perceptive than average when relating to people and can from time to time discern their motives or desires because of their unexpressed but nonetheless existent feelings.

i wish there were an applaud smiley.

MyChocolateDiet

You know all those times when you think/feel something and then later learn that something happened to someone somewhere? You remember those times.

What you don't remember are the other 99% of the times when you thought/felt something and never gave it a second thought/feel.

It's like when people say the phone always rings when they're in the shower. Statistically, it doesn't...but when it does, you note it.

Human beings are remarkably adept at finding causation and pattern where none exists.

yeah except sometimes the thing really only happens the one time. never before and never since. sometimes.

MyChocolateDiet

i spent the first, oh, 25 or so ys of my life a socially anxious, introverted loner/wallflower. so basically i did nothing in social situations but listen to other ppl. i was aware of my situation and smart enough to use it for its advantages: thus i developed quite naturally into an extraordinary listener. i learned a lot about ppl that way. mostly i learned that the world is full of ppl who suck at listening, and everyone likes to be listened to. ppl would (and still do) gravitate toward me because i shut my mouth, look them in the eye, and pay attention when they speak. it's not rocket science. on the one hand, this has served to develop my innate empathetic bent; on the other it has served to warp me into a bit of sociopath because i've learned how easy it is to passively manipulate ppl with very little effort. (it's really fuqin easy) :indifferent:

IN for manipulation!

sorry, ladies only...that's why it's called MANipulation.

MyChocolateDiet

oops i MUSt stop answering to every post when reading a full thread. lmfao.

jofjltncb6

I'm not trolling. Just deeply disappointed.

Dude, you've really changed.

Everything okay?

BinaryPulsar

I'm just responding, so I don't lose track of this thread because I want to read more of it later. I sure hope it doesn't go away.

jlapey

I think I know what you are getting at. There are times when I've felt especially anxious or depressed for seemingly no apparent reason and then I'll get a call from my daughter (80 miles away) wanting to talk about something that has her feeling anxious or depressed. I've also experienced pain for no reason and coincidentally my daughter will have hurt herself. It's sort of a running joke with us now. I'm constantly telling her to keep her crazy emotions and ailments to herself. This only happens with my daughter, however. No one else.

If you possess this type of skill, you can make a million dollars easily:
http://www.randi.org/site/index.php/1m-challenge.html

Also, if the mechanism behind it could be understood, it would be a huge advance for humankind. You could have a great positive effect on the lives of billions or even trillions of human beings.

no, thank you. I prefer to think of this as a special bond between myself and my daughter. No doubt, it is purely coincidental, but it happens often enough to make me wonder.

MissSaturday

Def I am not Empathic. I just don't give a damn!! :laugh: :laugh: