Empathy and autism: emotional empathy

This post is the third in a six-part series on empathy from Autistic perspectives. In this post, we’ll explore emotional empathy. If you missed the previous two posts, you can find them here: Post 1: alexithymia and Post 2: cognitive empathy.

What is emotional empathy?

Emotional empathy, sometimes referred to as affective empathy, involves experiencing and sharing the emotions of another person. It allows individuals to resonate with someone else’s feelings, leading to a vicarious emotional experience where they can feel someone else’s emotions as if they are their own. 

Emotional empathy and alexithymia

In the first post of this series, I discussed how alexithymia may limit the emotional awareness and imaginative skills needed to access empathy. While alexithymia may make naming emotions difficult, alexithymics can still have deep emotional empathy. Unfortunately, this may be distressing, as they may be feeling others’ emotions but they can’t name those emotions, or perhaps even distinguish that the emotions are not their own.

Emotional empathy and top-down processing

Emotional empathy involves processing others’ emotions, but that processing may look different for Autistic and neurotypical people due to different processing styles. Neurotypical people tend to be top-down processors, meaning that they process first cognitively, and then with their senses. Experiencing emotional empathy for a top-down processor may look like:

1. Interpretation through Prior Knowledge: A top-down processor draws upon past experiences, personal beliefs, and cultural norms to interpret the emotional expressions and cues of others. For example, if someone appears tearful, the individual may rely on their understanding of sadness and personal experiences with similar emotions to interpret the situation.
2. Contextual Integration: The individual considers the situational context and social cues surrounding the emotional expression to gain insight into the other person’s feelings. They may take into account factors such as body language, facial expressions, tone of voice, and the current environment to understand the emotional context more fully.
3. Empathetic Response: Using their cognitive understanding of emotions and social norms, the top-down processor responds empathetically to the other person’s emotions. This may involve expressing verbal support, offering comfort, or providing assistance based on their interpretation of the situation and their beliefs about appropriate emotional responses.
4. Reflection and Adaptation: After the empathetic response, the individual may reflect on the interaction, considering how their own emotional responses align with their beliefs and values. They may adjust their future responses based on feedback received or new information acquired, demonstrating flexibility and adaptability in their empathetic behaviors.

Emotional empathy and bottom-up processing

Autistics are usually bottom-up processors, meaning that we experience the world through our bodies and senses first. Experiencing emotional empathy for a bottom-up processor may look like:

1. Sensory Perception: The bottom-up processor perceives the emotional expressions and cues of others primarily through sensory input, such as facial expressions, tone of voice, and body language. They may notice subtle changes in the other person’s demeanor or energy levels without necessarily understanding the context or underlying reasons for the emotions.
2. Direct Emotional Resonance: Instead of relying heavily on cognitive interpretation, the bottom-up processor directly resonates with the emotional states of others through sensory perception. They may experience a visceral reaction to the emotions they perceive, such as feeling sadness in response to seeing someone cry or feeling joy in response to witnessing someone’s excitement.
3. Emotional Contagion: Bottom-up processors may experience emotional contagion, where they unconsciously mimic the emotional states of those around them. This can lead to a shared emotional experience with others, as their own emotions are influenced by the emotions of those nearby.
4. Immediate Emotional Response: Bottom-up processors may respond to the emotions of others in a spontaneous and instinctual manner, without necessarily engaging in elaborate cognitive processing or reflection. Their responses may be driven by their sensory experiences and emotional resonance, leading to actions aimed at alleviating distress or sharing in the joy of others.

Tips for avoiding emotional contagion

For bottom-up processors, being able to distinguish who emotional sensations belong to may be helpful at reducing distressing emotional contagion. Here are a few tips on how to do this:

Establish Emotional Boundaries:

• Practice self-awareness and recognize when you are experiencing emotional contagion.
• Set boundaries to protect your emotional well-being, especially in situations where you may be exposed to intense or overwhelming emotions.
• Learn to differentiate between your own emotions and those of others, and consciously choose not to absorb or internalize external emotions.

Practice Emotional Regulation Techniques:

• Develop and utilize effective emotional regulation strategies to manage your own emotional responses.
• Use grounding techniques to stay present and centered in the face of emotional triggers.
• Engage in activities that promote emotional regulation, such as exercise, special interests, or spending time in nature.

Cultivate Empathetic Distance:

• Create psychological distance between yourself and the emotions of others by reminding yourself that you are separate from the emotions you perceive.
• Use visualization techniques to imagine placing a protective barrier or shield around yourself to prevent emotional contagion from affecting you.
• Focus on maintaining empathy and compassion for others while also prioritizing your own emotional well-being and boundaries.

In our next post, we’ll explore the third of four types of empathy, compassionate empathy.