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Amity
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27 Feb 2015, 5:56 pm

Something I am trying to understand in therapy at the moment is why I am sensitive to other peoples emotions, my current understanding is that trauma led to this sensitivity, it's motivated by fear and this triggers my survival mode.

I get a gut feeling, like the effect mild anxiety has on your gut/stomach and often I instantly understand what the person is communicating or the direction a scenario will take, without knowing why. I think that when I don't pick up on the obvious non verbal signals, subconsciously I notice a pattern through a well developed hyper vigilance and my gut sends me that signal.

I have relied on this feeling to guide me away from harmful situations since my early teens, but worsening anxiety levels interfered with the balance of this and I became unable to distinguish the rational from irrational threats in the same way.

Does this make sense? Can anyone else relate to this?



kraftiekortie
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27 Feb 2015, 5:58 pm

I can relate to this quite well.

I sense that it's something called "intuition."

"Intuition," I believe, has a tangible, rather than a necessarily "spiritual" basis because it's based upon previous facts and previous experiences--though that might not be evident to one on a conscious level.

I don't always go according to my "intuition." I've regretted that sometimes.

However, it most definitely has a basis.

I would say that you are naturally an empathetic person.

To tell you the truth, it took quite a bit of time and life experience for me to become suitably empathetic.



androbot01
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27 Feb 2015, 9:27 pm

Amity wrote:
Something I am trying to understand in therapy at the moment is why I am sensitive to other peoples emotions, my current understanding is that trauma led to this sensitivity, it's motivated by fear and this triggers my survival mode.

You're sensitive to other people's feelings because you're a human being.

Is this the same dork who's trying to help you recover from autism? If so, you need to ditch this guy.



Amity
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28 Feb 2015, 8:52 am

kraftiekortie wrote:
"Intuition," I believe, has a tangible, rather than a necessarily "spiritual" basis because it's based upon previous facts and previous experiences--though that might not be evident to one on a conscious level.
I agree about the tangible nature, and think that is what these physical anxiety type signals are, I consider my life to date has had too many significant experiences.
kraftiekortie wrote:
I would say that you are naturally an empathetic person.
Before I started anxiety medication, I could not control this at all, once the adrenaline stopped, I started to become aware of how much this sensitivity had spiraled out of control.
As a child I would become aware of patterns in behaviour, and associate them for e.g. with a required self protection strategy, the problem was that these patterns existed everywhere and are not always associated with an actual harmful situation, with time I learned to question a physical manifestation of anxiety and this I think led to intuitive skills, something I would like to develop again.

androbot01 wrote:
You're sensitive to other people's feelings because you're a human being.
It's an issue because I became too sensitive to other people feelings, I don't know how to describe it but I believe I became so watchful that for e.g. I was hyper aware of other people, scanning for threats constantly, which worsened as the anxiety increased to a point where there were threats everywhere. The environment I was in had valid threats in it, but because I was aware of my anxiety levels I questioned the validity of the threats as if they were irrational threats.


androbot01 wrote:
Is this the same dork who's trying to help you recover from autism? If so, you need to ditch this guy.

Are you referring to Waterfalls thread? I was writing about a prior friend who was also a psychotherapist, she did view many things as behavioral and fixable i.e. choosing to respond with anxiety, highlighting my maladaptive coping strategies. The counsellor I am visiting in a low cost R.C. therapy setting does focus a lot on my childhood, and most discussions circulate back to childhood experiences, but she seems open minded enough to incorporate my views into her approach the following week. This happens with every therapist I have visited, once they hear the details they almost never move past my childhood.
Regardless it is helping me to talk and communicate about the things that happened which I do not fully understand yet.



androbot01
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28 Feb 2015, 11:19 am

Amity wrote:
It's an issue because I became too sensitive to other people feelings, I don't know how to describe it but I believe I became so watchful that for e.g. I was hyper aware of other people, scanning for threats constantly, which worsened as the anxiety increased to a point where there were threats everywhere. The environment I was in had valid threats in it, but because I was aware of my anxiety levels I questioned the validity of the threats as if they were irrational threats.

I went through a similar experience and am still hyper vigilant. It's part of who I am now. I have GAD and SAD and I manage it with medication and relaxation techniques. But, yeah, everything to me is a potential threat.

Quote:
Are you referring to Waterfalls thread?

Oops, my bad.
Quote:
...she did view many things as behavioral and fixable i.e. choosing to respond with anxiety, highlighting my maladaptive coping strategies.

I really don't think one chooses to responds with anxiety. It's a physical response. You can be proactive in dealing with it, but you can't eliminate it. This, to me, is blaming the patient for their ailment.

Quote:
Regardless it is helping me to talk and communicate about the things that happened which I do not fully understand yet.

Well, that's good.



Adamantium
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28 Feb 2015, 12:18 pm

androbot01 wrote:
I really don't think one chooses to responds with anxiety. It's a physical response. You can be proactive in dealing with it, but you can't eliminate it. This, to me, is blaming the patient for their ailment.

Yes.

And I agree with what Kraftie wrote about intuition. I try to heed mine, when I do it usually turns out to have been a good thing. When I don't, I often wish I had.



Amity
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28 Feb 2015, 3:48 pm

In order to blend in socially and retain the friends I had, I pushed myself to do things that triggered my anxiety e.g. meeting social expectations, believing that if I broke through my comfort barriers enough times, then I would be a stronger person for it. It would have been much better for me if I hadn't done this, I obliterated my social circle. I done my best to not be anxious in those situations, but it was not a reaction I could control, I just tried to hide it and seemed even weirder.

I'd like to trust my intuition again, the anxiety is still interfering with it though; I've tested it a few times but it wasn't accurate, I'm still perceiving threats where there are none.



androbot01
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28 Feb 2015, 7:27 pm

Amity wrote:
It would have been much better for me if I hadn't done this, I obliterated my social circle. I done my best to not be anxious in those situations, but it was not a reaction I could control, I just tried to hide it and seemed even weirder.

Yeah, I no longer force myself to attend things that make me anxious. I just don't enjoy things the way others do. I did lose a friend over this, but she wasn't a real friend.
Constant anxiety really sucks.