People who claim to be empaths are narcissists

[Justreadingtheforum3]

I know a couple of people who claim to be empaths. They say things like "I was crying I feel their pain so deeply". This is normally in response to someone telling them their problem. Everything has to be about them and their feelings.

I'm pretty sure everyone is empathetic bar a few sociopaths, but other people don't have to make other peoples trauma about them?! In fact I think its insulting to the person experiencing the trauma to have person who believes they feel their problems deeper than them.

I'm assuming we all know at least one of these "empaths".

Are people claiming to empaths narcissist?

Yabu no they're not

Yanbu they are

I think genuine empaths don’t feel the need to make others trauma about them. Attention seeking people do, some of them are narcissists but not everyone of them is. It seems these days everyone is either an empath or narcissist. I genuinely think all of us (except sociopaths) have a sense of empathy in us with degrees varying from person to person. And I also think most of us have narcissistic traits also varying in degree from person to person. Some people are so high on the spectrum of having either a lot of narcissistic traits or having a lot of empathy that this defines their whole personality and therefore they either are one or the other.
But most of us are probably somewhere in between.

@milkyaqua

MN is so weird, sometimes. There are zillions of threads for witches - that's cool, apparently.

I wonder, are they visited by posters telling them witches don't exist/aren't real (and/or are special snowflake narcissists)?!

Any thread on woo stuff turns interesting when the sceptics show up. But I don't think most even bother.

It’s like being honest. If you have to say ‘Trust me, I’m a very honest person’ then the odds are that you aren’t. Declaring yourself to be an Empath suggests attention seeking at the least. If they were a true empath then they would feel other people’s antipathy to this kind of wank statement.

Im deeply suspicious of anyone who chooses to label themselves. If someone truly has empathy with another person's feelings or situations then they are following their natural instinct and don't need to declare it as such.

Many of us can be empathetic, especially if we have experienced a given situation. In another situation we might not be, because we don't know how it feels. It's largely situational not a character trait.

I saw a woman on breakfast tv declare herself to be an 'empath' and implied her feelings were deeper than others. I didn't even know such a label existed and I found myself thinking 'wtf you drama Queen'.

Certainly there are lots of people who are empathetic, but the ones who truly are don’t go on about it.

I class those who declare “I’m an empath” in the same bracket as people who say “I’m a people person” and “I’m so zany!”

@ChaToilLeam

Certainly there are lots of people who are empathetic, but the ones who truly are don’t go on about it.

I class those who declare “I’m an empath” in the same bracket as people who say “I’m a people person” and “I’m so zany!”

Absolutely this.

I would never announce this out loud irl.

The people who do this are the people who wouldn't know empathy or basic human decency if they became flesh and slapped them.

I had a friend who over time I realised was a huge narcissist.

I then had a serious, life-changing traumatic injury and she came to the hospital. She then claimed she was an "empath" and that she could feel my pain so badly that it was affecting her own mental health, and she had to put herself first.

This was her way of letting me know she was about to completely blank me for three months. She told me I had to be more positive "like her". (The irony is that she was the biggest moaner and energy drainer we knew).

The nurse heard everything my "friend" was saying and after "friend" left said "she is no friend to you, she's a nasty piece of work".

"Empath friend" then blanked me for the next few months...but made sure to repeatedly tell everyone around me that she was looking after me and having my kids overnight etc so they didn't need to help me. All classic covert narcissistic behaviour, I later found out.

She really had no idea that she was one huge narcissistic bitch, she genuinely believed she was an "empath" who could magically "feel" people's internal thoughts. And if she thought those thoughts were bad, she would then be a complete bitch to you!

I spoke to a psychologist who said that anyone that claims to be an "empath" is talking utter bullshit and usually they are actually narcissists: "two sides of the same coin" is what many psychologists believe. In my former friend's case she had every symptom of a subset of covert narcissism.

In short, there are people who are sympathetic and nice people. They don't need to claim to be empaths though. And then there are people like her who know there is something wrong with them but don't want to admit to themselves they could be narcissistic, so they self-declare themselves "empaths".

What's a star seed???

@awholenewworlda

You seem quite caught up in the drama. I very much doubt that any professional psychologist would say that anybody was 'talking utter bullshit'.

@TheFoundations no, you're right, she didn't say those exact words, I am paraphrasing.

Most psychologists and psychiatrists don't believe in the theory of someone being an "empath" is what I should have said, and that it is usually seen as being "two sides of the same coin".

I haven't given you all the details of the very nasty person this "empath" turned out so that I don't out myself. If I did, you would then see why I got so caught up in it ....and the damage that true narcissists (disguising themselves as "empaths") do to their victims.

It turned out I was one of many victims of her over the years and she dumped me when I no longer kept accepting her behaviour and when she found herself a new target. That's classic narcissistic behaviour. Meanwhile she's telling everyone how kind she is and that's she's an empath.

I did have to have some therapy to deal with the damage alongside the huge life changing injuries I received that my "friend" the "empath" said I was too upset about: she "absorbed all my feelings and knew what I was thinking and feeling" and she basically told me I wasn't allowed to feel that way....because it was affecting HER mental health.

Most psychologists and psychiatrists don't believe in the theory of someone being an "empath

How do you know? Have you spoken to lots of them about it? You seem to be speaking for a professional body 'en masse', and I'm curious about what qualifies you to speak for them.

I always feel a bit wary when somebody needs to back up their point with potentially imaginary friends. I could equally say 'Most psychologists and psychiatrists believe in fairies', and it would be just as (in)valid.

I imagine most mental health professionals have an idea of what being an empath is, and would agree that it's a concept (ie those right at the 'yes' end of the empathy spectrum, with cluster b personality disorders at the other end), but might not go for the name.

Which is a far cry from it being 'bullshit'.

Here's a well-known psychiatrist who is a self-declared empath:

drjudithorloff.com/

@Ostagazuzulum

What's a star seed???

"A star seed is a soul who has experienced incarnations in places & star systems other than earth." annasayce.com/22-star-seed-groups/

"A typical Star Seed may have lived 5-50 life times on Earth. Some of these were preparation lifetimes which included periods of acclimatisation to being a human being on Earth and the development of the life missions leading to the climax of these activities in this current lifetime. Earth represents a place of service more than a place of learning for these Star Seeds..."
siriusascension.com/what%20is.htm

"Have you ever felt like the odd one out in your group of friends or even in your family? Have you ever felt like Earth wasn’t really your home and that you are longing for something more?"
thoughtcatalog.com/jiselle-henderkott/2021/05/how-to-know-if-youre-a-star-seed/

And if you can read through those without getting an attack of the gigglies, I have this bridge in Brooklyn that I badly need to sell.

That's my evening set ^ @AskingQuestionsAllTheTime