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Hyperempathy

violetdr3amer
over 3 years ago

One thing I find ironic is how neurotypicals always say that we have no empathy, when in fact the opposite is true... I have hyper empathy, which is common in autistic people, apparently.

I can pick up people's mood straight away, and I have a particular soft spot for animals. The other day I started watching the documentary "Blackfish" on Netflix about killer whales in captivity, and it caused me immense distress because of how the animals are treated. It took me a while to calm down after that and I still feel a bit sad about it at the moment.

Does anyone else get distressed when watching something sad on TV?

Parents
  • over 3 years ago
    violetdr3amer said:
    One thing I find ironic is how neurotypicals always say that we have no empathy, when in fact the opposite is true... I have hyper empathy, which is common in autistic people, apparently.
    From 'More On The Ontological Status Of Autism And Double Empathy', by Nicholas Chown:
    The double empathy/cross-neurological hypotheses of Milton and Beardon can be summarised as follows:
    .
    (1) non-autistic people appear to have as much difficulty in understanding autistic minds as vice versa;
    .
    (2) autistic people often develop a greater understanding of society than non-autistic people develop of autism; and
    .
    (3) autistic people have a similar ability to empathise with other autistic people as non-autistic people have with their peers.
    .
    Milton does not suggest that non-autistic people are less capable of developing an understanding of autism than vice versa; as he points out, it is simply that autistic people have no choice but to try to develop an understanding of society if they are to ‘survive and potentially thrive’ whereas no such imperative applies in the opposite direction (Milton 2012).
    .

    So basically as far as empathy goes ~ we use neurologically divergent operating systems, and others use neurologically atypical or typical operating systems ~ so we might not at first find immediate system compatibilities, but like just most technological operating systems ~ they all access the web and work in relationship with each other in one way or another. 

Reply
  • over 3 years ago
    violetdr3amer said:
    One thing I find ironic is how neurotypicals always say that we have no empathy, when in fact the opposite is true... I have hyper empathy, which is common in autistic people, apparently.
    From 'More On The Ontological Status Of Autism And Double Empathy', by Nicholas Chown:
    The double empathy/cross-neurological hypotheses of Milton and Beardon can be summarised as follows:
    .
    (1) non-autistic people appear to have as much difficulty in understanding autistic minds as vice versa;
    .
    (2) autistic people often develop a greater understanding of society than non-autistic people develop of autism; and
    .
    (3) autistic people have a similar ability to empathise with other autistic people as non-autistic people have with their peers.
    .
    Milton does not suggest that non-autistic people are less capable of developing an understanding of autism than vice versa; as he points out, it is simply that autistic people have no choice but to try to develop an understanding of society if they are to ‘survive and potentially thrive’ whereas no such imperative applies in the opposite direction (Milton 2012).
    .

    So basically as far as empathy goes ~ we use neurologically divergent operating systems, and others use neurologically atypical or typical operating systems ~ so we might not at first find immediate system compatibilities, but like just most technological operating systems ~ they all access the web and work in relationship with each other in one way or another. 

Children
  • over 3 years ago in reply to Deepthought

    This 'empathy' problem is just another example of mislabeling/misidentification of a thing. Feeling empathy is one thing, what you do with it is another. There's a professor at Kings college making a lot of headway redefining this. I wish I could recall her name. But basically the ability to Relate to another is how psychotics manage to manipulate other NTs. And then there's this: I can relate to your experience but I might also have a different perspective akin to how a child might see a fallen ice cream as a Ruined Day while their more mature self would have a much wider perspective for examining How the Day actually went.