Too much empathy?

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I was just wondering if anybody feels the same way.

I think I have too much empathy. Or maybe it's something else, but I get very emotional on... Well, basically anything. People, animals, inanimate objects. As a child, I cried once when a comb fell on the ground because "it hurts it!" I knew objects don't feel pain, but it was just too much for me to watch it on the floor. As for the plants and animals, same thing. I once ruined a date with a guy who bought me flowers, because the flowers are dead and will wither. And don't get me started on the animals. I cry if I accidentally kill an ant. Ok, animals are a special case because I really love them, I guess more than I love people. I used to pretend I was an animal cub when I was a child and my teddy bears were my family.

And I also empathize with people. I cry when I read something bad on the news. And not just about a murder or a rape (many people would cry on that), but something less serious, too. I cried when I read a kid being bullied in school (maybe it was because I was bullied?) Or when I hear that a girl lacked only one point to win a math competition.

I don't always cry (as in tears), but I feel bad.

I think I have the main problem when I see that something (be it a person or an object) didn't fulfill its purpose. I feel bad when I have to throw a bag of rotten food (that I accidentally forgot to eat), because it didn't fulfill its purpose. I felt bad about a condom that accidentally tore (not to mention it killed the mood). And people, too. I felt bad about a man I've never met who was unable to find a girl because he was overweight.

That sort of thins.

So, is it just me, or do others feel the same way?

I am not that extreme but I do see potential in things that others don't and get sad when it all goes wrong for whatever reason, I am betting people think you are slightly crazy and unbalanced but I wouldn't worry too much about it because while your behaviour may seem odd even to aspies I actually think it is a hell of a more lot interesting than the other behaviours I have witnessed, mainly those of people who just do not give a damn

Hold in here, you will find someone who will find you a wonderful person and look past this simple idiosyncrasy

I've found that person. My husband doesn't mind it, and he has found some effective techniques to help me.

Ok, maybe I presented myself as too extreme. I usually don't let people see how I feel. So many people don't know I'm like this. But it's still inside me.

I used to have too much empathy, I cared about everything and everyone, so much it drove me into a dark spiral of depression. I've shut myself completely off on that part now, mainly for self preservation. I don't think you reacted this way because you were bullied, I do believe you might have been bullied because you have too much empathy, presenting yourself as a target to those who take advantage of the weaker. Atleast that's how I see it for myself.

I'm not as empathetic with humans as I am with animals. I will feel like crying if I've accidentally killed an insect. I can't stand animal abuse, it disturbs me and angers me like nothing else. However, stories of people being abused don't phase me often, or much, unless I know them and care about them. For the most part, I have difficulty empathizing with people, but I definitely do not lack empathy.

I used to be like that too, but I had to learn how to turn that part of myself off merely for self-preservation. I was depressed all the time and always worrying about what was happening all over the earth. Now, I only focus on things that I can control and realize that terrible things are happening every second of everyday and these little things are meaningless in the grand scheme. There is as much reason to be happy as there is to be worried or sad. If everyone thought like that then everyone would be depressed all the time. I hate to say it and I'm sure your sick of hearing it, but you just have to get over it. I did shortly after finding out that I was autistic and it was just all in my head.

The title of this thread should read "Too much sympathy," not empathy.

Empathy is the "i know what you're thinking cause I can see it in your eyes."

Sympathy is "oh that's horrible, now I feel horrible just thinking about what happened to you."

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And yes, I have way too much sympathy. Any serious book or movie makes me cry. A lot.

When I was a kid I was like that with objects. When our refrigerator broke and was taken away on a truck, I cried. I thought that the truck was going to miss me and that it would be lonely without the other kitchen appliances.

I also have a lot of empathy for animals but I don't think that's abnormal. Too much? Possibly, but it;s the right amount for me.

It's true that this thread might need another title. Indeed, what I was referring to was sympathy. As for the empathy, I don't know. I can feel what another person is feeling and I can get an emotional response to other people's emotions. But they sometimes need to be spelled out for me. For example, sometimes I can't tell if somebody is angry or sad. I can see they are feeling bad and I feel bad for them, but I can't always tell what kind of trouble they feel.

I have this problem too. When I was a kid I was very affected by it in relation to stuffed animals. One time, I won a monkey at a county fair, and I ended up 'trading up' for a different stuffed animal after winning the same game again, and I cried so hard that night because I felt terrible for the monkey stuffed animal that I gave back.

It's the weirdest when you purposely kill an insect because its annoying, than once you realize what you have done you feel like killing yourself for being such a horrible person and doing such a horrible thing to that poor insect that didn't know any better