Highly sensitive empath burn out

Yep, page one of the replies are exactly as I would expect mumsnetters to react to somebody saying they are a HSP/Empath.

This isn't the forum to talk about this really, people on MN just don't get it and understand as a rule.

You'll have more luck if you search Facebook for relevant groups.

I disagree. I think quite a few of the comments on this thread are unnecessarily unkind in their assumptions about the OP. There are helpful or balanced comments too, of course, but quite a number are expressing negative views of people who see themselves as "empaths."

Doesn't seem that you're that much of an empath then if you can simply switch off to opinions that don't suit you.

Fuck me.

Ah, of course the charlatans are money making off people who think they’re special…

‘Empaths’ in my experience are either undiagnosed autistic and therefore think feeling intense emotions is something woo, or borderline narcissists. Either way, it sounds like you need to visit your GP or a therapist to root out why you think you feeling feelings makes you special.

https://www.theholistichamper.co.uk/blog/empath-protection-crystals#

Empath here!

I know exactly what you mean, I find self care helps, plus trying to tune out & meditation! Get some crystals for your desk ❤️

Empaths and narcissists make it about themselves
It's like the far left and the far right. Hard to tell the difference

A true empath would understand the feelings of those making nasty comments instead of choosing to ignore them.

It seems like nowadays almost everyone feels the need to stick a label on themselves to show how different and special they are. Not so long ago nobody had time for all this self-indulgent navel gazing.

Omg, unless you can read the mind of a passing Klingon ship and tell the captain to put up the shields in advance of an attack - you are not an Empath.

I do symathise OP as someone who knows I am (gulp) sensitive. I also tend to be an emotional sponge and am hyper vigilant as a result (grew up with chaotic sibling). Wouldn’t call mysef an empath though. I found CBT useful and also Pete Walker’s ‘CPTS - From Surviving to Thriving’. You can teach yourself how to cultivate boundaries and learn techniques for grounding yourself and how to soothe yourself in healthy ways. I work from home now and find that far less stressful. Good luck.

In my option they aren’t empaths because it is a made up thing. I agree some people who consider themselves to be empaths are actually narcissistic. Some are just more sensitive or have difficulty regulating emotions. Some are highly suggestible and spend too much time on tik tok.

It’s quite narcissistic to describe yourself as an empath.
If you don’t like your colleagues maybe it would be best to leave

I think that Venn diagram would have a large crossover.

They clearly are not empaths. Sound like narcassists

There are some interesting articles that discuss how 'highly sensitive person' is just a euphemism/ more socially acceptable name for autistic.
For several years I identified myself as being highly sensitive, more recently I've been diagnosed as autistic.
Lots of the things you write in your first post would have resonated with me before, the intensity of it is overwhelming at times!

i have only come across two people in my life who claim to be empaths. Both claimed they were more sensitive to upset - therefore when something bad happened to a family member they felt it more deeply. It was used as a way to flick the attention to them. I found it insufferable.

I leaned to dread the sentences that started ‘as an empath I ….’. Anything I have read by people claiming to be empaths has a superior air. That is just my experience.

I didn’t say every empath behaved this way - I said ‘often’. It’s a strange thing to claim to be - it’s not a real clinical diagnosis - people just decide they ‘feel things more deeply than others’. How on earth would they know!!

See herein lies the problem. You've gone straight to 'everyone's being mean to me' rather than engaging with the points being made. Some people have been blunt but nobody's been nasty that I can see.
That's being 'highly sensitive' but not particularly 'empathetic'. They are not the same.
This is a 'you' problem, not a 'them' problem.

I am also inclined to think the charity sector may not be for you, if you are very affected by the emotions of others.

What are the characteristics that are problematic - just worn out by other people's negativity or something else? If it's genuinely a toxic workplace I would find another job. But people do tend to complain a lot at work, so you probably need to figure out whether it's a normal level of office moaning or there is genuine toxicity with people bitching about others, ostracising them, or other underhand behaviour.

I'm inclined to agree that empaths aren't a thing apart from in Star Trek.
But becoming easily emotionally dysregulated is a real issue, as is being over focused and impacted by the emotions of others.
Do you have any trauma history or any neuro atypicality ?

This post sounds familiar to me. Have you posted before?

You do know, don’t you, that not wanting to work in a nasty gossipy backstabbing office doesn’t make you a “sensitive empath” don’t you?

empath must be the most irritating term ever. Like everyone else is an insensitive arsehole.