Hyper-empathy | Autisticality

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title in multicoloured circle: “Hyper-Empathy” with a yellow background

title “The Myth” with text reading: “One of the most notable myths spread about Autistic people is that we have no empathy. This is NOT true. Instead, Autistic people might struggle to show their empathy or have it understood by non-Autistic people.”

title “What is Hyper-Empathy?” with text: “Hyper-empathy is an intense sense of empathy where the person can feel emotional, mental or even physical pain on behalf of someone else. This can include animals and objects, being able to pick up on the feelings or presence of feelings on other people which is then extended through to you.” Image at the bottom with the potato character with a blank expression looking at the aubergine character who is crying. The Potato character has a thought bubble with a crying potato inside that matches the aubergine.

title “The Impacts” with text: “The challenges those with hyper-empathy face are the continuous effects of feeling other people's feelings which ultimately leads to burnout, overwhelm and withdrawal due to being unable to 'turn off' your empathy. This can be a real struggle to feel things that you cannot control as often our own emotions can be overwhelming yet alone those of others. Some might struggle to even understand the emotions if you're alexithymic, leading to further distress.”

title “What helps?” with three bullet points:
• Firstly, to ignore the belief that Autistic people have no empathy since that is very insulting and demeaning to suggest.
• Secondly, understand that empathy can be had and not necessarily shown. A person can feel a flood of emotions due to empathy and not know how to communicate it or share how they feel, if they know how they feel.
• Lastly, recognise and accept that hyper-empathetic Autistic people might need space away from others to take care of themselves instead of worrying about everyone else.

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