Posted by Miss Honeychurch on May 28, 2004, at 10:18:31
So for the last couple of weeks in therapy we have been discussing my overidentification with the suffering of others. How I absorp people's moods and how that adversely affects me. If I am around a depressed person, I become depressed. It's like I absorp people's moods like a sponge and make them my own and have a hard time putting up a barrier. This has caused problems all of my life. And here I thought I was just an empathetic and compassionate person! Turns out I have been engaging in irrational and sick behavior, adding more stress, anxiety, and depression to my life.
I am finding it hard to turn off the switch as it were and stop "overidentifying" with the trials and tribulations of others. I have been doing this all of my life for various reasons, which we discussed yesterday. Very interesteing reasons which I never thought about before. I was ordered yesterday by my T to stop watching the national news. I can't even take watching the news anymore! I know a lot of posts here at babble have upset me so now I think I will only try to read posts with happy subject matter. This will be really hard for me though. But I have to do this for myself. I have to start believing that what is best for me is not a crime and that I am not a horrible person for not wanting to share in the grief of others. At least for now, until I get more "milegae" (as my T says) out of being a somewhat psychologically healthy person.
Does anyone else have this problem? I am finding it really hard not to feel like a totally selfish twit right now. It is somewhat of a foreign concept to put myself first.
poster:Miss Honeychurch
thread:351464
URL: http://www.dr-bob.org/babble/psycho/20040522/msgs/351464.html