Empathy, do you have more or less than NTs?

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I have very poor cognitive empathy- So I have trouble understanding what someone is thinking or feeling unless they tell me.

I have good affective empathy- I can identify with someone and feel emotions, if they DO tell me somethin upsetting I feel for them. I just have trouble expressing it, afraid I might make them feel worse

I think in some ways I have too much empathy, but in other ways not enough.

too much. WAYYYYY too much. Makes me a big rainer.

According to studies, Aspies have as much, and many times, more empathy than NTs... the difference is that it is not automatic with us.

I am extremely empathic, but don't always process intense emotions the same way as others. I have found I have the ability to detach from my emotions to a degree temporarily, but for only so long before I experience a complete and total break down, usually over something tiny. The proverbial straw that broke the camels back.

I remember once in middle school the teacher was teaching about slavery and when she described the conditions on a slave ship I had to leave the room. Didn't ask, just got up and walked out. Left school grounds completely and went to the park. They had to have the police find me and bring me back, amazingly enough I don't remember getting in trouble that time... I was always in trouble (this was before Asperger's)

Less, I am a monster, fear me.

people who are empathic are pathologically "em"-like.
they say "mmmmmmmmmmmmmmm" when they are in a full blown empathic seizure.

My empathy is complicated. I have it for some people, and I don't have it for other people. There is very little in between ground.

For example, if someone kills themselves doing some thing stupid, I could easily make a Darwin Award joke about it and laugh. My empathy for them would be zero. If they didn't care about their own life, I can't conceive any logical reason, why I should care about it.

If some one is hurt because of circumstances beyond their control, then I would have a lot of empathy for them. To me empathy is deserved, not automatic. If that makes any sense.

I cannot relate to other peoples feelings nor can I tell what people are thinking/feeling. I am able to care about other peoples well being though and don't desire to hurt people for no reason.

I still don't exactly get empathy. In some situations I can feel empathy, and in others I don't so much. I'm more sensitive to other people's feelings than the other type of empathy.

Today is remembrance Sunday in the UK (don't know about anywhere else), and I was on the bus, and it got to a bit where there were soldiers marching along the high street, playing drums. As they were marching near (the bus had to stop for a few minutes while the high street was closed off), I actually began to feel a little emotional, because it just brought that feeling to me of all the brave people that fought in the war and what it might have been like, and I had some tears in my eyes. But I felt I was the only one on the bus who felt like that, and I believe there was a more likely chance that I was the only Aspie on the bus. Most of the other people on the bus weren't even looking, or were just talking to each other. I just sensed that I was the only one that felt this emotional. But I suppose people here are going to start giving ifs, buts and maybes because people on the spectrum can't seem to admit that not all NTs are sensitive, emotional, empathetic people like I seem to be.

Usually when someone is listening to loud music in their ears, they usually shout when talking to others. My (NT) brother did it the other day. I said, ''take your headphones off a minute, you're shouting!'' and he did, then said, ''was I shouting?'' in a normal tone, and we all said yes. I feel the same when I have my headphones on, I think that I am talking at a normal tone but really I'm shouting, as though your brain thinks that just because you can't hear yourself talking that well, it means they can't hear you that well, but they can. It's just because you've got music in your ears. Empathy isn't always simple logic, even NTs make these types of mistakes all the time.