Sympathy or Empathy: which one does it sound like

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I have an Internet friend and she's going through a tough time, She talks to me about it, she feels like she's trapped and that no one listens to her, but i cant seems to find a way to, hmm, how should i put this, relate to her? all i can do is give her advice.

is it Empathy or Sympathy when you cant relate to a person?

usually i CAN relate to a person, if ive been through what they're going through, Obviously, But i don't think anyone, even NTs can put themselves in a situation they have never been for Empathetic reasons.

i dont know, i alway get stuck with she tells me whats going on.

Empathy means (among other things) to relate to someone. I feel plenty of sympathy, but I don't feel empathy. If a friend of mine loses a loved one, it doesn't bother me unless I knew the deceased as well.

In somewhat of a nutshell:

If you've experienced what she's experienced, and have had a similar reaction, it's empathy. It is, in a sense, like taking the burden away from her and placing it upon yourself. Or even, in a sense, reenacting, in your mind, what she had experienced.

Sympathy is more detached--like when you read, in the newspaper, about somebody getting mugged . You sympathize with the person who got mugged. You don't take on the burden yourself, however (unless, possibly, you've been mugged yourself recently).