Aspies As Empaths: Fifteen Signs You Might Be an Empath 2025-07-24

[Coxhere]

Coxhere submitted a new resource:

Aspies As Empaths: Fifteen Signs You Might Be an Empath - This resource describes who the Empath is and how Empaths can take care of themselves.

Here is a link that takes one to a definition of who an Empath is: What Is an Empath and How Do You Know If You Are One?. It gives fifteen signs that one might be an Empath. The article gives suggestions as to how to cope with being an Empath.

Read more about this resource...

 

[Neonatal RRT]

From this description, I am an empath...with one important exception that pretty much makes me NOT, and that is...cognitive empathy...which, like many of us (not all) with an ASD, we are missing. Those 15 qualifiers pretty much explain much of the autism experience...except for cognitive empathy. Many of us having difficulties with understanding another person's mental state, non-verbal language, intent, indirect language, etc. and generally contributes to much of our day-to-day social difficulties. I, for example, will never "know" my wife despite being with her for some 40 years. It's things like that that make interacting with people a bit confusing and anxiety-inducing, and can lead to all manner of miscommunications, misunderstandings, even surprising emotional blow-ups from others. Worse case scenarios being that we can be taken advantage of by others with nefarious or malicious intent...even sales people.

AI Overview

Cognitive empathy is the ability to understand someone else's perspective and thoughts, while emotional empathy is the ability to feel what others are feeling. Cognitive empathy is like understanding the puzzle of another person's mental state, while emotional empathy is experiencing their emotions as your own.

Here's a more detailed breakdown:
Cognitive Empathy:

• Definition:
  The ability to understand another person's thoughts, feelings, and perspective without necessarily experiencing those emotions yourself.
  
  
• Key aspects:
  Reading facial expressions, body language, and understanding the context of a situation to grasp what someone else might be thinking or feeling.
  
  
• • Example:
    Recognizing that a friend is upset after a difficult meeting at work, even if you're not feeling the same frustration yourself.
  • Focus:
    Intellectual understanding and perspective-taking.

Emotional Empathy:

• • Definition:
    The ability to share in someone else's emotions, to feel what they are feeling.
  • Key aspects:
    Experiencing a visceral reaction to another person's emotional state, feeling their joy, sadness, anger, etc.
  • Example:
    Feeling a pang of sadness when you see a friend grieving, or feeling their excitement when they receive good news.
  • Focus:
    Experiencing and sharing the emotions of another person.

In essence:

• • Cognitive empathy is like understanding the map of someone's emotional landscape, while emotional empathy is like traveling through that landscape with them.
  • Both types of empathy are important for building strong relationships and navigating social situations effectively.
  • Some researchers suggest that people with certain conditions, like Autism Spectrum Disorder, may have a difference in their experience of these two types of empathy.
  • It's also worth noting that there's a third type of empathy, compassionate empathy,which involves taking action to help others based on understanding their needs.

 

[Coxhere]

From this description, I am an empath...with one important exception that pretty much makes me NOT, and that is...cognitive empathy...which, like many of us (not all) with an ASD, we are missing. Those 15 qualifiers pretty much explain much of the autism experience...except for cognitive empathy. Many of us having difficulties with understanding another person's mental state, non-verbal language, intent, indirect language, etc. and generally contributes to much of our day-to-day social difficulties. I, for example, will never "know" my wife despite being with her for some 40 years. It's things like that that make interacting with people a bit confusing and anxiety-inducing, and can lead to all manner of miscommunications, misunderstandings, even surprising emotional blow-ups from others. Worse case scenarios being that we can be taken advantage of by others with nefarious or malicious intent...even sales people.

AI Overview

Cognitive empathy is the ability to understand someone else's perspective and thoughts, while emotional empathy is the ability to feel what others are feeling. Cognitive empathy is like understanding the puzzle of another person's mental state, while emotional empathy is experiencing their emotions as your own.

Here's a more detailed breakdown:
Cognitive Empathy:

• Definition:
  The ability to understand another person's thoughts, feelings, and perspective without necessarily experiencing those emotions yourself.
  
  
• Key aspects:
  Reading facial expressions, body language, and understanding the context of a situation to grasp what someone else might be thinking or feeling.
  
  
• • Example:
    Recognizing that a friend is upset after a difficult meeting at work, even if you're not feeling the same frustration yourself.
  • Focus:
    Intellectual understanding and perspective-taking.

Emotional Empathy:

• • Definition:
    The ability to share in someone else's emotions, to feel what they are feeling.
  • Key aspects:
    Experiencing a visceral reaction to another person's emotional state, feeling their joy, sadness, anger, etc.
  • Example:
    Feeling a pang of sadness when you see a friend grieving, or feeling their excitement when they receive good news.
  • Focus:
    Experiencing and sharing the emotions of another person.

In essence:

• • Cognitive empathy is like understanding the map of someone's emotional landscape, while emotional empathy is like traveling through that landscape with them.
  • Both types of empathy are important for building strong relationships and navigating social situations effectively.
  • Some researchers suggest that people with certain conditions, like Autism Spectrum Disorder, may have a difference in their experience of these two types of empathy.
  • It's also worth noting that there's a third type of empathy, compassionate empathy,which involves taking action to help others based on understanding their needs.

. . . .especially sales people!

 

[Coxhere]

I searched "empath" secondary to the comment about being tired and not wanting to continue, that one was being taken advantage of. I was thinking about others taking advantage of us when I did the search regarding empaths and empathy. Empaths are taken advantage of in cases where Aspies are not aware that some people are parasites and will suck one dry of any and every thing that they possibly can. Another term comes to mind too, however. This is "codependency." Codependents don't always know, aren't always aware that what they are doing isn't "love." They think it's love but it's codependency. I'm going to do a search regarding Aspies and Codependency. . . .