{{Short description|Heightened sense of empathy}} {{use dmy dates|date=May 2025}} '''Hyper-empathy''' refers to a person having heightened empathy.<ref>{{cite book | last1=Maibom | first1=Heidi | title=The Routledge Handbook of Philosophy of Empathy | date=3 February 2017 | publisher=Taylor & Francis | isbn=978-1-315-28200-8 | url=https://books.google.com/books?id=miglDwAAQBAJ&pg=PA171 }}</ref> Reasons and experiences of hyper-empathy vary. Some autistic people have reported experiencing hyper-empathy. In psychopathology, hyper-empathy is viewed as a symptom of a neurological disorder.
The term ''empath'' is sometimes used in a broader sense to describe someone who is more adept at understanding, i.e. is more sensitive to the feelings of others than the average person; or as a descriptor for someone who is higher on an empathetic "spectrum" of sorts.<ref name=":0">{{Cite journal |last=Thomson |first=Helen |date=2010-03-10 |title=We feel your pain: Extreme empaths |url=https://www.newscientist.com/article/mg20527511-700-we-feel-your-pain-extreme-empaths/ |url-status=dead |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20230114140438/https://www.newscientist.com/article/mg20527511-700-we-feel-your-pain-extreme-empaths/ |archive-date=14 January 2023 |access-date=2023-01-14 |website=New Scientist |language=en-US |doi=10.1016/s0262-4079(11)61228-1 |issn=0262-4079 |url-access=subscription }}</ref>
Individuals with borderline personality disorder tend to have lower cognitive empathy but higher affective empathy compared to the general population. This is often referred to as emotional contagion.<ref>{{Cite journal |last=Blunden |first=Anthea G. |last2=Henry |first2=Julie D. |last3=Pilkington |first3=Pamela D. |last4=Pizarro-Campagna |first4=Elizabeth |date=2024-12-15 |title=Early affective empathy, emotion contagion, and empathic concern in borderline personality disorder: A systematic review and meta-analysis |url=https://www.sciencedirect.com/science/article/pii/S0165032724014472 |journal=Journal of Affective Disorders |volume=367 |pages=462–478 |doi=10.1016/j.jad.2024.08.215 |issn=0165-0327|doi-access=free }}</ref>
==Autism== Academic literature has long associated autism with empathy deficits.<ref name="HumanAfterAll">{{cite journal |last1=Hume |first1=Romy |last2=Burgess |first2=Henry |title="I'm Human After All": Autism, Trauma, and Affective Empathy |journal=Autism in Adulthood |date=September 2021 |volume=3 |issue=3 |pages=221–229 |doi=10.1089/aut.2020.0013 |pmid=36605372 |pmc=8992898 |issn=2573-9581}}</ref> A 2024 study collected the experiences of a diverse group of 76 autistic people and found that there was a high proportion of hyper-empathic experiences.<ref name="ExpEmpathy">{{cite journal |last1=Kimber |first1=Lesley |last2=Verrier |first2=Diarmuid |last3=Connolly |first3=Stephen |title=Autistic People's Experience of Empathy and the Autistic Empathy Deficit Narrative |journal=Autism in Adulthood |date=September 2024 |volume=6 |issue=3 |pages=321–330 |doi=10.1089/aut.2023.0001 |pmid=39371354 |pmc=11447414 |issn=2573-9581}}</ref>
==Psychopathology== In neuropsychology, "hyper empathy" has also been described as a dysfunctional empathic emotional overreaction. Some researchers have suggested that hyper-empathy might arise as a consequence of a lack of emotion regulation and hyperactivation of the amygdala.<ref name="ImpairedCogEmp">{{cite journal |last1=Shamay-Tsoory |first1=Simone |last2=Harari |first2=Hagai |last3=Szepsenwol |first3=Ohad |last4=Levkovitz |first4=Yechiel |title=Neuropsychological Evidence of Impaired Cognitive Empathy in Euthymic Bipolar Disorder |journal=The Journal of Neuropsychiatry and Clinical Neurosciences |date=January 2009 |volume=21 |issue=1 |pages=59–67 |doi=10.1176/jnp.2009.21.1.59 |pmid=19359453 |url=https://psychiatryonline.org/doi/full/10.1176/jnp.2009.21.1.59 |access-date=30 May 2025|url-access=subscription }}</ref>
A paper published in 2013 reported on a case of a patient who became hyper-empathic after receiving resective epilepsy surgery, a form of brain surgery. The patient's behavioral modification remained unchanged for 13 years.<ref name="Emergence">{{cite journal |last1=Richard-Mornas |first1=Aurélie |last2=and Thomas-Antérion |first2=Catherine |title=Emergence of hyper empathy after right amygdalohippocampectomy |journal=Neurocase |date=2 November 2014 |volume=20 |issue=6 |pages=666–670 |doi=10.1080/13554794.2013.826695 |pmid=23944742 |url=https://doi.org/10.1080/13554794.2013.826695 |access-date=30 May 2025 |issn=1355-4794|url-access=subscription }}</ref>
Neuroscientists have found evidence to suggest that some people have greater or lesser ability to share and feel the emotions of others.<ref>{{Cite journal |last=Winerman |first=Lea |date=2005 |title=The mind's mirror |url=http://apa.org/monitor/oct05/mirror.aspx |access-date=2023-01-14 |website=American Psychological Association |doi=10.1037/e418612005-033|url-access=subscription }}</ref><ref>{{Cite journal |last1=Banissy |first1=Michael J. |last2=Ward |first2=Jamie |date=July 2007 |title=Mirror-touch synesthesia is linked with empathy |url=https://www.nature.com/articles/nn1926 |journal=Nature Neuroscience |language=en |volume=10 |issue=7 |pages=815–816 |doi=10.1038/nn1926 |issn=1546-1726 |pmid=17572672|s2cid=1345360 |url-access=subscription }}</ref> Mirror neurons are neurons that fire both when an animal acts and when the animal observes the same action performed by another. Interfering with the level of activation of mirror neurons via transcranial magnetic stimulation (TMS) has been experimentally studied.<ref>{{Cite journal |last=Armstrong |first=Kim |date=2017-12-29 |title='I Feel Your Pain': The Neuroscience of Empathy |url=https://www.psychologicalscience.org/observer/neuroscience-empathy |journal=Association for Psychological Science Observer |language=en-US |volume=31 |access-date=2023-01-14}}</ref>
==References== {{reflist}}
Category:Empathy Category:Autism Category:Psychopathology Category:Neuroscience