Hyper-empathy

Academic literature has long associated autism with empathy deficits.{{cite journal |last1=Hume |first1=Romy |last2=Burgess |first2=Henry |title=“I'm Human After All”: Autism, Trauma, and Affective Empathy |journal=Autism in Adulthood |date=September 2021 |volume=3 |issue=3 |pages=221–229 |doi=10.1089/aut.2020.0013 |url=https://www.liebertpub.com/doi/abs/10.1089/aut.2020.0013 |access-date=30 May 2025 |issn=2573-9581}} According to Dr. Lauren Breese, this was a "deeply flawed view".{{cite web |last1=Breese |first1=Lauren |title=The Double Empathy Problem |url=https://www.theneurodiversitypractice.com/blog/double-empathy-problem |website=The Neurodiversity Practice |access-date=30 May 2025}} A 2024 study collected the experiences of a diverse group of 76 autistic people and found that there was a high proportion of hyper-empathic experiences.{{cite journal |last1=Kimber |first1=Lesley |last2=Verrier |first2=Diarmuid |last3=Connolly |first3=Stephen |title=Autistic People's Experience of Empathy and the Autistic Empathy Deficit Narrative |journal=Autism in Adulthood |date=September 2024 |volume=6 |issue=3 |pages=321–330 |doi=10.1089/aut.2023.0001 |url=https://www.liebertpub.com/doi/abs/10.1089/aut.2023.0001 |access-date=30 May 2025 |issn=2573-9581}}

In neuropsychology, "hyper empathy" has also been described as a dysfunctional empathic emotional overreaction. Some researchers have suggested that hyper-empathy might arise as a consequence of a lack of emotion regulation and hyperactivation of the amygdala.{{cite journal |last1=Shamay-Tsoory |first1=Simone |last2=Harari |first2=Hagai |last3=Szepsenwol |first3=Ohad |last4=Levkovitz |first4=Yechiel |title=Neuropsychological Evidence of Impaired Cognitive Empathy in Euthymic Bipolar Disorder |journal=The Journal of Neuropsychiatry and Clinical Neurosciences |date=January 2009 |volume=21 |issue=1 |pages=59–67 |doi=10.1176/jnp.2009.21.1.59 |url=https://psychiatryonline.org/doi/full/10.1176/jnp.2009.21.1.59 |access-date=30 May 2025}}

A paper published in 2013 reported on a case of a patient who became hyper-empathic after receiving resective epilepsy surgery, a form of brain surgery. The patient's behavioral modification remained unchanged for 13 years.{{cite journal |last1=Richard-Mornas |first1=Aurélie |last2=and Thomas-Antérion |first2=Catherine |title=Emergence of hyper empathy after right amygdalohippocampectomy |journal=Neurocase |date=2 November 2014 |volume=20 |issue=6 |pages=666–670 |doi=10.1080/13554794.2013.826695 |url=https://doi.org/10.1080/13554794.2013.826695 |access-date=30 May 2025 |issn=1355-4794}}

Neuroscientists have found evidence to suggest that some people have greater or lesser ability to share and feel the emotions of others.{{Cite journal |last=Winerman |first=Lea |date=2005 |title=The mind's mirror |url=http://apa.org/monitor/oct05/mirror.aspx |access-date=2023-01-14 |website=American Psychological Association |doi=10.1037/e418612005-033|url-access=subscription }}{{Cite journal |last1=Banissy |first1=Michael J. |last2=Ward |first2=Jamie |date=July 2007 |title=Mirror-touch synesthesia is linked with empathy |url=https://www.nature.com/articles/nn1926 |journal=Nature Neuroscience |language=en |volume=10 |issue=7 |pages=815–816 |doi=10.1038/nn1926 |issn=1546-1726 |pmid=17572672|s2cid=1345360 |url-access=subscription }} Mirror neurons are neurons that fire both when an animal acts and when the animal observes the same action performed by another. Interfering with the level of activation of mirror neurons via transcranial magnetic stimulation (TMS) has been experimentally studied.{{Cite journal |last=Armstrong |first=Kim |date=2017-12-29 |title='I Feel Your Pain': The Neuroscience of Empathy |url=https://www.psychologicalscience.org/observer/neuroscience-empathy |journal=Association for Psychological Science Observer |language=en-US |volume=31 |access-date=2023-01-14}}

A dark empath is a person with high levels of empathy (usually cognitive), and has high levels of offensive personality traits (such as the dark triad). The term originates from a recent 2021 paper by Nadja Heym and others. In a study of 991 participants, Heym and other researchers identified four key personality groups: Dark Triad (DT) individuals, who have high dark traits and low empathy; Dark Empaths, who share high dark traits but also have high empathy; Empaths, who have high empathy and low dark traits; and Typicals, who have average empathy and low dark traits. While Dark Empaths share some dark traits with the DT group, they are less aggressive, more extroverted, and have better mental well-being. Despite their empathy, DEs aren't more vulnerable to mental health issues and retain some antagonistic tendencies, though they are generally more agreeable than those with high dark traits. Overall, the study suggests that Dark Empaths are a distinct group with a mix of positive and negative traits, showing that high empathy doesn't necessarily make someone less capable of having dark, manipulative tendencies.Heym, N., Kibowski, F., Bloxsom, C. A., Blanchard, A., Harper, A., Wallace, L., ... & Sumich, A. (2021). The Dark Empath: Characterising dark traits in the presence of empathy. Personality and individual differences, 169, 110172.

File:Mirror neurons.png of mirror neurons, the overactivity of which is a possible explanation for hyperempathy, active in two human brains]]

• In Olivia Butler's Parable of the Sower the main character suffers from a fictional condition called hyperempathy.{{cite journal |last1=Messimer |first1=MaryKate |title=Hyperobjects and Hyperempathy in Octavia Butler’s Parable of the Sower |journal=Apocalyptic California: Gender in Climate Fiction |date=2023 |pages=65–89 |doi=10.1007/978-3-031-29920-9_4 |url=https://link.springer.com/chapter/10.1007/978-3-031-29920-9_4 |access-date=30 May 2025 |publisher=Springer Nature Switzerland |language=en}} In the sequel, Parable of the Talents, she describes the condition:

:{{blockquote|Hyperempathy syndrome is a delusional disorder, after all. There's no telepathy, no magic, no deep spiritual awareness. There's just the neurochemically induced delusion that I feel the pain and pleasure that I see others experiencing. Pleasure is rare, pain is plentiful, and delusional or not, it hurts like hell.{{cite journal |last1=Wanzo |first1=Rebecca |title=Apocalyptic Empathy: A "Parable" of Postmodern Sentimentality |journal=Obsidian III |date=2005 |volume=6/7 |pages=72–86 |url=https://www.jstor.org/stable/44511663 |access-date=30 May 2025 |issn=1542-1619}}}}

• Yuliya Liberman hypothesized that if Brain-to-Brain communication becomes a reality, then two people who share "memories, thoughts, and feelings with each other for a long period of time" could develop "a type of hyper-empathy" that might lead to some loss of individuality.{{cite journal |last1=Liberman |first1=Yuliya |title=Brain–to–Brain Communication: Hyper–Empathy and Identity |journal=Penn Bioethics Journal (PBJ) |date=Fall 2024 |volume=XX |issue=ii |pages=16-21 |url=https://bioethicsjournal.com/wp-content/uploads/2025/02/Fall-2024-Final.pdf#page=16 |access-date=30 May 2025}}

• Online, self-describing empaths are sometimes mocked for using the moniker. Shane Dawson was mocked for using the term to describe himself after a poorly-received apology YouTube video in 2018.{{Cite web |last=Johnson |first=Chloe |date=2022-02-23 |title=Huge numbers of TikTokers are identifying as 'an empath,' spawning a new meme that mocks the trend |url=https://www.insider.com/me-an-empath-tiktok-meme-what-it-means-and-how-it-started-2022-2 |access-date=2023-01-14 |website=Insider |language=en-US}}

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Category:Empathy

Category:Autism

Category:Psychopathology

Category:Neuroscience