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Empathy and low EQ score

TearsInRain

Has anyone else been upset after being diagnosed as an adult to find that they have a really low empathy test EQ score? I felt ashamed at first, then upset and was even angry at times. Did it affect you in the same way? I'd really like to know thank you.

Parents

  • There are various empathy tests out there and there are various types of empathy. The EQ is weighted towards testing cognitive empathy - working out what other people are feeling. This is the type of empathy that autistic people have the most difficulty with. I did a test that was designed to test a whole battery of empathy types - including emotional empathy - feeling what another person is feeling. I scored low on cognitive empathy, but high on all other forms of empathy, and my overall empathy score was significantly higher than the neurotypical average. Cognitive empathy is not all important.

    I and many other autistics can be so affected by the distress of others that we freeze-up. Not perhaps the most useful reaction in a practical sense, but profound nonetheless.

  • in reply to Martin

    I get very distressed by other's emotional state also. The problem, I think, is that public perception doesn't distinguish between the two types of empathy.

Reply
  • in reply to Martin

    I get very distressed by other's emotional state also. The problem, I think, is that public perception doesn't distinguish between the two types of empathy.

Children
  • in reply to TearsInRain

    There is also the impact of autistic people not reacting in the accepted neurotypical way. My standard response to someone I know well being visibly distressed, would not be giving a hug and saying 'there-there' type meaningless phrases, I would try to find out what was causing the distress and give advice about how to solve or lessen the problem. My concern and willingness to help are exactly the same as anyone else's, but how I express it might be unusual.