Why are empathy and anxiety often linked?

Empathy, the ability to connect deeply with the feelings of others, can be an incredible quality. However, most empaths also suffer from anxiety, which is a feeling of worry and stress.

The hidden side of empathy

Being able to feel and understand others in such a deep way that their emotions become one’s own is what people with strong empathy feel. However, while this emotional connection can seem very useful in certain situations, it can also be very overwhelming.

By pushing themselves to take the problems of the people they encounter to heart to the point of forgetting about themselves, empaths tend to carry the emotional burdens of others, leading them to high anxiety.

The anxious empath

The reason some psychological research has shown that people with high social anxiety are often very good at understanding other people’s emotions is because empathy and anxiety are linked. As if their emotional connection never ends, the anxious empath tends to have a heightened level of worries and obsessive thoughts.

He has difficulty identifying and maintaining a clear boundary between his own psychological state and that of others, thus fueling ruminations, excessive analysis and emotional distress.

The Challenges of Anxious Empathy

The anxious empath may therefore have difficulty distinguishing their own emotions from those of others. He constantly thinks about every detail of his social interactions wanting to be loved and understood.

Social situations then become very stressful even if no one suspects their anxiety. Gradually, he feels tired from spending time with other people and dreads social interactions.

While empathy is an emotional superpower, it also comes with its share of challenges, including social interactions. Finding a balance between caring for others and taking care of yourself is the key to cultivating it without letting anxiety take over.

Find out more: “The survival guide for hypersensitive empaths” by Judith Orloff.