“HORROR films are simply a disconcerting watch for the majority of us, but for Jane Barrett they are literally torturous. She writhes in agony whenever the actors on the screen feel pain. ‘When I see violence in films I have an extreme reaction,’ she says. “I simply have to close my eyes. I start to feel nauseous and have to breathe deeply.”‘
She is just one of many people who suffer from a range of disorders that give rise to ‘extreme empathy’. Some of these people, like Barrett, empathise so strongly with others that they experience the same physical feelings – whether it’s the tickle of a feather or the cut of a knife. Others, who suffer from a disorder known as echopraxia, just can’t help immediately imitating the actions of others, even in inappropriate situations.
Far from being mere curiosities, understanding these conditions could have many pay-offs for neuroscience, such as illuminating conditions like phantom pain. They may even help answer the age-old question of whether empathy really is linked to compassion.”
Read more at New Scientist (thanks, Tiram)
Echopraxia can get VERY annoying. I particularly start doing it if I’m having a really serious conversation with someone, and I’ll suddenly find myself copying their facial expressions, nodding, or even blinking at the same time as them (Very embarassing if you start copying someone’s limp, which I did once.) Didn’t realise it had a name until I saw it on QI a few months ago. You can learn anything on QI…
Certainly don’t feel their pain on a physical level but if someone tells me a story that is sad and they start to cry (even if I don’t know them very well) I have been known to cry myself…… Sensitive soul really
i had a dr like this. believe it or not, it was very annoying!
And the opposite being psychopathy (think con-man). Superficial, charming and glib (cough cough)
At a conference yesterday and one lady was mirroring the other for yonks. Looked a bit strange but I couldn’t tell if both were aware.
I do have this habit of watching a film or something and start to feel the anguish or pain a particular character is feeling at the same time, sort of like it’s happening to me. Is that the same thing? Or am I someone who just gets a little too involved in what I’m watching perhaps? And as for horror films, no way!
LC x
Wow, I definitely have this in a mild form. I’m so emotionally connected to people, fictional characters, complete strangers.
Can’t watch horror movies, let alone CSI. I writhe at the sound of breaking bones in particular.
The worst are hospitals- from the moment I walk through the doorway my skin becomes extra-sensitive, I cringe when I see drips and kidney bowls, the beds make me imagine the hundreds of patients lying there in pain, dying there.
Luckily I didn”t become a forensic pathologist like my dad (I’m an accountant- suits me fine)
I have the same problem with heights & falling.
If I see someone on the TV standing on a cliff, I have to grab the settee !