Am I an empath, or just way too sensitive?   What do empaths feel differently than most people?

Can being too empathic be a problem?  Can you be TOO sensitive to the emotions or energies of others?

1. You sense others’ pain and sadness.

2. You pick up quickly if someone means one thing, but says another.

3. You feel drained if you are around certain people.

4. You get strong first impressions of people—both negative and positive—that end up being spot on.

5. You see something sad—for instance, an animal being hit by a car—and it takes you much longer than others to stop feeling sad or sick about it.

6. Others don’t understand how deeply you feel and why you can’t just “let it go.”

7. You always feel like you view life from a different perspective than everyone around you. It seems like no one is “like you.”

8. You’ve experienced the sensation that you are feeling the pain of the whole world.

9. There are times when you feel so overwhelmed with the pain of the world that you want to crawl under the blankets and not interact with anyone for a few days.

10. You can’t watch or read the news or watch sad or violent movies because it’s too upsetting or makes you sick.

11. You repeatedly feel the same emotions or sensations around the same people. (For instance, every time you see a particular friend, you feel anxious or sad for no particular reason.)