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The empathy factor
June 7, 2017 at 5:28 pm
(This post was last modified: June 7, 2017 at 5:29 pm by LadyForCamus.)
Hey, mama!
I'm not a mental health professional obv., but it seems like you are experiencing empathy very intensely. Any normal thought or feeling can become "not normal" if it disrupts your every day functioning, and overall well being. I'm glad you're talking to a professional and getting help! Lady doesn't want mama crying! Then Lady will cry...[emoji22]
I'm sure other, smarter people here will give you a more clinically meaningful answer, lol. [HEAVY BLACK HEART]️
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RE: The empathy factor
June 7, 2017 at 5:37 pm
Jack, as one social worker to another; you need to guard yourself.
To an extent, I know your strife. I too find it hard to shut off the balance between clients/work and your own life. It's why we are drawn to this kind of work as well as why it's difficult for us. It's not a surprise why, (at least in Belgian statistics,) so many social workers have burn-outs. It's an emotionally exhausting profession. You get critique from the higher ups, your colleagues, strangers and even your clients. You are always the middle-woman. You don't see the good case alll the way 'till the end to get that sense of accomplishment, only just far enough untill they don't need you. You however do see those stuck that you have to give it your all to just stop them from 'drowning'.
Can I ask you, how long have you been a social worker? I've been one for three years. It's only been a year since I've been able to seperate my own life from my work. The first two years were extremely draining. The third one is still, so far, but to a lesser extent.
"If we go down, we go down together!"
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RE: The empathy factor
June 7, 2017 at 5:54 pm
Fuckin internet strikes again.
Belgian Social Worker, meet Taco Hottie, share your best practices and hot tips.
Jack, I am afflicted with the super empathy too. The only thing I can do is to list all of the things that I can realistically do to help whoever it is. If I am actually doing that, then I am able to reason my way out of taking too much on board. As you know, sometimes I fail. 
"There remain four irreducible objections to religious faith: that it wholly misrepresents the origins of man and the cosmos, that because of this original error it manages to combine the maximum servility with the maximum of solipsism, that it is both the result and the cause of dangerous sexual repression, and that it is ultimately grounded on wish-thinking." ~Christopher Hitchens, god is not Great
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RE: The empathy factor
June 7, 2017 at 5:58 pm
I want to answer to all of you, but I'm on a short break at work. I'll respond when I get home. Thank you for your responses. I appreciate every single one. 
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RE: The empathy factor
June 7, 2017 at 6:02 pm
Paraphrasing a study I read recently: Empathy is overrated!
I have been a nurse for 25 years. Feeling others pain is too burdensome. Too much pain in the world. What proves successful in the long run is a passion for caring for others. That passion is what gets you through emergincies, tragedies, "complicated or toxic" people, burnout, stress, financial deficiencies and lack of benefits, bosses, etc.
Also, It is good to remain objective at times and empathy can cloud your focus. Take, for instance, performing CPR in front of hysterical loved ones. Caring is better. Empathy can be helpful later, in times of reflection.
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RE: The empathy factor
June 7, 2017 at 6:02 pm
(June 7, 2017 at 5:58 pm)J a c k Wrote:
I want to answer to all of you, but I'm on a short break at work. I'll respond when I get home. Thank you for your responses. I appreciate every single one.
What's her name?
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RE: The empathy factor
June 7, 2017 at 6:40 pm
(This post was last modified: June 7, 2017 at 6:45 pm by Regina.)
I can relate
It runs deep for me too, I get very emotional if I see someone in pain, or talking about painful experiences or loss, even if I don't know them personally. It also works the opposite way for me, if someone gets really good news, even if it doesn't affect me, it can lift my mood when I see their happiness. I guess I'm just hyper-socially aware or something.
I think based on my own experiences of seeing my Dad's health decline to cancer, and losing him over it, I'm especially sensitive when terminal illnesses are involved. I'm very easily reduced to tears hearing cancer stories, almost uncontrollably. Not exclusively though, I also got like that once hearing a co-worker (who I didn't know well at that point) talking about his experieces in The Angolan Civil War, and obviously I've never experienced anything like that.
I don't know where I get it from a lot of times. Neither of my parents are this soppy.
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RE: The empathy factor
June 7, 2017 at 11:29 pm
It's good that you care about others so much, but if it's hurting you that part is not a good thing. Hope you can work through these things successfully.
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RE: The empathy factor
June 7, 2017 at 11:42 pm
I feel your pain, Ivy!  I originally wanted to study medicine and be a doctor. But I realized early on (besides being poor as piss on a plate, and not being able to afford med school) that I wouldn't have really been emotionally equipped to deal with a patient's death. I became a mechanic, at first, before I went to the university and got a degree in physics. Who gives a pinch of feces if the patient dies, when it is an inanimate object that goes to the recycling yard, right?
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RE: The empathy factor
June 8, 2017 at 12:35 am
Sometimes I can be highly emotional and empathetic, and then one minute later I will be a total misanthrope.
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