Hi hope you dont mind more questions lol. What are your thoughts on the opposite end of that spectrum, hyper empathy which may or may not be linked to neurodivergence and or trauma? And justnhaving an overall really sensitive nervous system? Also is Highly Sensitive Person an actual thing?
1. I have a psych degree and am in grad school for a 2nd psych degree because I'm extremely autistic about this topic. I never mind questions. You're pushing the hyperfixation button >:)
2. I think hyperempathy is equivalent to the lack of empathy in the sense that both are morally neural; having hyperempathy doesn't make someone nice or a good person any more than the lack of empathy makes someone abusive or a bad person. It can also be a liability to that person's own wellbeing because it makes it harder to hold boundaries and avoid codependency. (Anecdotally) therapists who struggle with hyperempathy can sometimes be prone to countertransference and that's not good for them or their clients. I think just like lack of empathy, if a person has self-awareness, they can manage hyperempathy in a way that benefits them and people around them. Basically, I just view both as variations in the ways that people relate to others and experience emotions / emotional connections.
3. People will argue all day about the HSP thing but as a person who LARGELY LACKS EMPATHY and still managed to be labeled as an HSP by the dr who diagnosed my autism. HSP =/= empathy or hyperempathy. I will also say that HSP isn't a formal dx of anything, it's really a descriptor that's become common in pop psych and is being frequently applied to autistic people and/or people with trauma, most often both. Which is why my theory is that "HSP" is essentially just what traumatized and autistic looks like ¯\_(ツ)_/¯ but people don't always like that take of mine. (I think sometimes people just get very attached to a label they've found).
