There is something I have so far not shared with the people on this forum but it's something I have experienced several times during my daily life because of the fact I just experience too much empathy especially over cartoons/animated movies especially movies such as An american tail because not only does that movie have some gut wrenching moments made all the more effective because the main character is a small mouse child having to go through all kinds of horrible trials to reach his goal and the song "Somewhere out there" just plain broke me and at one point I felt like crying which is something I don't usually do or come close to doing when watching movies animated or not
and I did feel the pain he was going through in that movie.
As somebody with high functioning autism like many others I also experience sensory overload but I also have a theory about how it works together with too much empathy ,for example what tends to happen when I hear sounds of distress especially when it comes to children or animals particularly with rabbits and the horrible screaming sounds they make when they are in intense pain dying or both is that I will instantly stop what ever I am doing even if it's from far away and I always feel a sense of dread and fear whenever that happens and one of the reasons I always react strongly to the screaming sounds from rabbits is that one day I heard the cries of a baby bunny in the backyard of my apartment and what I saw from my balcony mortified and angered me because I saw several seagulls at least 4 of them dragging the poor rabbit by one of it's hind legs and picking at it and I just rushed down outside to my apartment in only sandals and I started furiously running and yelling at the top of my lungs towards the seagulls to leave it alone which scared them away and thankfully the little bunny was mostly ok except for that it was limping but otherwise able to run as normal and I did not see any visible injuries on it's limping hind leg and I hope it turned out fine.
The other horrible event that happened not long ago was that I heard this same type of scream only this time it was an adult bunny that was dying from some type of illness probably myxomatosis which I could see on it's eyes. I put it behind a bush as it was dying to give it a final resting place and also to avoid any bypassers especially the children and families living there and playing in the nearby playground area becoming frightened or saddened and what made this one hit me hard was that I now keep a rabbit of my own in my apartment whom I love dearly and have cared for for some time now and hearing that sound instantly makes me worried something might have happened to him and I don't want anything bad to happen to him ever .
Heck I have actually been personally affected a few times even by something as simple as accidentally crushing a snail which did at one point make me feel depressed and remorseful for several hours afterwards and as a result I always put away snails I see on the road into a safe spot so they won't be trampled on by me or others and I frequently watch where I step even often checking under my shoes to make sure I did not accidentally step on one if it sounds even slightly like that and I know it sounds kind of dumb to be affected by that but it's true that I am just too soft to even do something as simple as swatting a fly or any other insects that will not harm even the so called creepy ones like daddy long legs except mosquitoes because those guys can buzz off(pun totally intended).
What I have also noticed is that I tend to experience what could only be described as a mix of auditorial sensory overload and the again mentioned excesss empathy when I hear the sound of children crying especially infants and babies because what tends to happen is that I become overwhelmed with emotions myself but I tend to not show it but I still feel it intensely when around others in public on the other hand when nobody else notices I can indeed become highly emotional maybe even to the point of feeling like crying myself because although I am well aware that in infants it's their way of getting their needs met to me it still makes me feel sad and it makes me feel like something must be wrong even if there is nothing wrong and this may or may not be the case but I also suspect this could be a case of paternal instincts kicking in in the same way women and mothers instinctly react to that but I could of course also be wrong.
I am sure there are at least some that can relate to this in some way.
and I did feel the pain he was going through in that movie.
As somebody with high functioning autism like many others I also experience sensory overload but I also have a theory about how it works together with too much empathy ,for example what tends to happen when I hear sounds of distress especially when it comes to children or animals particularly with rabbits and the horrible screaming sounds they make when they are in intense pain dying or both is that I will instantly stop what ever I am doing even if it's from far away and I always feel a sense of dread and fear whenever that happens and one of the reasons I always react strongly to the screaming sounds from rabbits is that one day I heard the cries of a baby bunny in the backyard of my apartment and what I saw from my balcony mortified and angered me because I saw several seagulls at least 4 of them dragging the poor rabbit by one of it's hind legs and picking at it and I just rushed down outside to my apartment in only sandals and I started furiously running and yelling at the top of my lungs towards the seagulls to leave it alone which scared them away and thankfully the little bunny was mostly ok except for that it was limping but otherwise able to run as normal and I did not see any visible injuries on it's limping hind leg and I hope it turned out fine.
The other horrible event that happened not long ago was that I heard this same type of scream only this time it was an adult bunny that was dying from some type of illness probably myxomatosis which I could see on it's eyes. I put it behind a bush as it was dying to give it a final resting place and also to avoid any bypassers especially the children and families living there and playing in the nearby playground area becoming frightened or saddened and what made this one hit me hard was that I now keep a rabbit of my own in my apartment whom I love dearly and have cared for for some time now and hearing that sound instantly makes me worried something might have happened to him and I don't want anything bad to happen to him ever .
Heck I have actually been personally affected a few times even by something as simple as accidentally crushing a snail which did at one point make me feel depressed and remorseful for several hours afterwards and as a result I always put away snails I see on the road into a safe spot so they won't be trampled on by me or others and I frequently watch where I step even often checking under my shoes to make sure I did not accidentally step on one if it sounds even slightly like that and I know it sounds kind of dumb to be affected by that but it's true that I am just too soft to even do something as simple as swatting a fly or any other insects that will not harm even the so called creepy ones like daddy long legs except mosquitoes because those guys can buzz off(pun totally intended).
What I have also noticed is that I tend to experience what could only be described as a mix of auditorial sensory overload and the again mentioned excesss empathy when I hear the sound of children crying especially infants and babies because what tends to happen is that I become overwhelmed with emotions myself but I tend to not show it but I still feel it intensely when around others in public on the other hand when nobody else notices I can indeed become highly emotional maybe even to the point of feeling like crying myself because although I am well aware that in infants it's their way of getting their needs met to me it still makes me feel sad and it makes me feel like something must be wrong even if there is nothing wrong and this may or may not be the case but I also suspect this could be a case of paternal instincts kicking in in the same way women and mothers instinctly react to that but I could of course also be wrong.
I am sure there are at least some that can relate to this in some way.