ability to sense other peoples emotions

I don't know if anyone else has mentioned this, but there is a type of person called "highly sensitive person" or "hyper-sensitive" person. These people have the innate ability to sense other people's emotions and notice a greater degree of what is happening in their environments than others. They can pick up on a million things in a room full of people that most other people don't notice. We're about 5% of the population.

I am this way, too, and it's exhausting, isn't it?

Do a little research on this type of person. I'm sure you'll find it interesting.

Long time lurker, first time poster. I've been dealing with this "gift" for about 14 years now. Learning how to control this talent needs to be priority number 1 for ya. I never had the net to read on this growing up and instead of getting the help I needed with it I was placed on pharmaceuticals. To this day I'm still on a list of drugs to keep me from being overwhelmed. It's cost me friendships, relationships, my marriage, my career, and countless dollars on prescriptions, drugs, and alcohol. I can sense my neighbors fighting without hearing them or seeing them, hell I can feel it when they're in the throws of passion. The key is to control it before it controls you. If ya allow it control, it will be a fight to get your life back. Just to go out and be around people, it takes pills, booze, and marijuana to numb me to the emotions.

I think its more intentions i detect then emotions. It first got noticeable about 4 months ago when i spent every day and night thinking about death and whats after death. After an entire month, one night it was so bad i wanted to die myself to end it, the next day I was told my step dads step dad had shot himself 3 hours after I had these thoughts and I haven't been worried with death or dieing since. He was a Vietnam vet hooked on junk from an old injury, his doctors had taken him off his meds, I wonder if his own pain was spilling over.

Some other things i notice is i often have conversations with people to find a thread about it on ATS posted the next day. I often have 2 rememberable objects in one dream a night, one of which will be mentioned or appear the next day. I can also tell when someone is about to do something with the intent to disturb me.

I find myself watching the "the secret lives of plants" clip on youtube at least once a week, I believe all life has that sense.

reply to post by SatansGift

I'v denied the drug they attempted to give me. i see it was mankind lost himself and refuse to dull myself if its normal to detect stuff. i too can tell what my neighbors are up to as well. Its good because i know when to evacuate before the loud music starts... or start my own first . Iv been referring to it as our Jedi powers when talking about it to my mom, she shows signs as well.

I sometimes view another mans emotions as though he was raidating colors that match his emotional persona

ok so i know this may sound completely crazy but i think im what you may call an empath, which, as stated earlier, is a form of telepathy through emotions. i think i have a very strong case of being an empath, or im a strong empath or whatever. whenever im around people, i can sense exactly what theyre feeling, and its even worse in large groups. when im in class i find it very hard to concentrate (which may be partially due to my ADHD) but also because there are so many emotions and thoughts going through my head that dont feel like my emotions or thoughts. theyre the feelings and thoughts of others because ill think of it and then seconds later theyll say it out loud in class or do something that just reinforces the thought that im an empath. when im in the mall all these emotions just go through my body like vibrations and i cant ever control it! ive tried everything and i just want to know how to control this. even when im watching something on tv like a missing persons report on the news or even an episode of glee i cant help it! i might start sobbing and feeling this sense of huge loss or misery. when someones had a baby i cant help but tear up at the very least because theres this huge feeling of accomplishment and joy and just pure happiness that i cant just bottle up. my parents think i have depression because i get so horribly sad sometimes and sometimes i think i have it too but i know that im an empath and i think you are too. i know this is a weird concept to grasp and you all may think im totally crazy. but im a smart kid. ive got a 93% average if that proves that im smart. so im not an idiot. this isnt something just out of the blue, because it hardly ever is. i think were empaths. im not sure how to feel about it though.

Empath and the beginnings of telepathy. Which also involves energy recognition. Its a muscle and needs to be excercised.

reply to post by mattdamon


ive had the same experience. the colours sort of seem like auras, each colour representing the persons character or personality. crazy, right?

I can relate and it sucks when people are having anxiety or sad or really pissed....I pretty much ended up distancing myself from people and places .

I firmly believe this is just a very common human trait but most people don't think along the lines that would make it obvious to them , they just give in to their emotions and don't question them at all.


Do whatever you can to get control of this , I used to be a very open and social person.
Good luck to you!

was more in tune with this as a child, i learned to ignore over the years and just didnt care, now i rely on body language to read people. much less intrusive.

Maybe its a form of intuition? Some people are good at picking up on how others feel just by looking at them. I can walk into a room and tell right off the bat what the overall mood inside of that room is like for example.

Originally posted by Odd
I hate crowds. It's your prerogative as to whether or not you believe I'm empathic, but I get pretty close to wigging out when there are that many people milling around, engaging in conversations, all subconsciously worked up by the ubiquitous advertisement, entertainment, and glamor of a place like a mall or theme park. It's sort of like a psychic overload, I guess.

The funny thing is, if everyone is sitting still, or all focused on or paying attention to the same thing, even if they're jumping around (like at a concert), it doesn't bother me.

Good times, I guess.

Same, it's like they're all standing around you knocking on your head with a hammer hey... In a crowded mall I can only stay for about 20 minutes before it feels like being crushed.

Kinda odd though that when you go to an event where all the minds are in a certain state it can be so uplifting as an complete opposite. Just before Christmas we had the local pageant here, and it was actually good to go as it was just such a good vibe running through the whole crowd, even though there was around a thousand people there.
You can go one step further with enough control and diffuse any hostile stance by use of empathy, change people's moods, or even just help them lift their own moods with enough practice