RE: Psychology Addict # 47 | Putting Ourselves in Other’s Shoes
Thanks @abigail-dantes for asking this question. If the question is limited to job loss and fire catastrophe I would say; no empathy can’t be harmful. But when an empathetic person keeps watching a large scale massacre on the news, people dying from famine, floods sweeping whole cities, empathy would be overwhelmingly harmful. Many get depressed over what is happening to others.
One sort of difficult situation I usually find myself in, is when I am trying to settle things between two work colleagues or family members, I can see from each one’s point of view yet you can’t conmunicate it to the other. The more you feel what others feel, the more different and contradictory emotions you find yourself feel, which at the end of the day takes from your mental and physical energy.
So generally, empathy is harmful, if not limited and in consciously felt.
Hello dear @alignment :)
What a wonderful evaluation you shared here with me. And also, what an example! I didn't see that one coming, I must confess: 'the role of empathy in mediation'. I suppose, in such cases, as difficult as it might be, the more objective the approach one takes the better. There definitely are circumstances in life when reason is the best tool to resort to.
What this might cost for someone in terms of social and family relations? Well, it is a matter of outcomes, which I believe, that tend to be better, in general, when they are a product of balanced, unbiased decisions.
Warm Regards to you ❀ :)
Thank you dear @abigail-dantes for your warm regards,
When dealing with conflict, veryone has his own reasoning which usually is driven by his priorities, empathy here works only when you rephrase the sayings and actions of one in such a way that become more meaningful to the other, so he can see from the other one perspective.
Some people lose touch with themselves when they put themselves in others shoes, others may be more balanced, while others can help without being affected by the emotional states of those who are helping. So there is no general answer to whether empathy is harmful or not as everyone has to decide for himself based upon how empathy affects him and those who are close to him.
The final thing I would like to add is that judging, comparing people upon how empathic they are without understanding how sensitive they are regarding empathy is quite unfair.