Posted by backseatdriver on February 25, 2009, at 9:57:25
In reply to Re: I am hopeless, helpless, and want to die. » garnet71, posted by SLS on February 24, 2009, at 20:53:50
Hey -
I think I need to express a clarification: For *me*, those "antennae" we're talking about are significantly connected to empathy. The way I see it, and your mileage may vary: No antenna, no capacity for empathy. The "antennae" are necessary but not sufficient.
I don't think empathy is all-good. I think it is a double-edged sword. I think genuinely empathic people can be destructive as well as helpful. Two examples:
1. Even genuinely empathic interaction can produce an addictive high that makes people seek it compulsively, at whatever cost to others. At which point it's still empathy but it is damaging. (This, I think, is an instance of the "vampire" phenomenon.)
2. Being the subject of another's empathic perception can feel shaming. One feels exposed. It is a delicate interaction. A really good therapist can acknowledge and contain the shame as well as make you feel understood and "seen".
I like the "chameleon" metaphor -- this strikes me as exactly right.
Yours,
BSD
poster:backseatdriver
thread:881951
URL: http://www.dr-bob.org/babble/psycho/20090214/msgs/882368.html