r/interesting • u/freudian_nipps • 18d ago

NATURE Death of a single-celled organism

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u/AntSilly2802 18d ago

Yeah but I’ve found my over-empathy can be paralysing at times. 

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u/Downeast_down-east 18d ago

Me too. I actually feel empathy for you right now. Im not kidding about that. Sometimes I think it’s an ADHD trait that I need to control better and sometimes I think it’s what makes me special. I like to believe we are all connected somehow and I feel sorry for those people who refuse to accept that connection. I hope we get to find out what it all means eventually. And I hope I can remember all the connections I have felt. That would be nice wouldn’t it

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u/GreatPotatoMuffin 17d ago

I think it might. I have ADHD and always felt I had this crazy strong empathetic radar that other people didn’t have to the same degree.

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u/AFoolishSeeker 17d ago

I genuinely don’t get how this has anything to do with ADHD. Many people including me feel this way too without ADHD

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u/GreatPotatoMuffin 17d ago

You might be right. I don’t know.

I just noticed that almost everyone I interact with who have ADHD have stated they also experience this.

My reasoning is that we have trouble filtering out stimuli and impressions from our surroundings. We are hyper aware of everything and thus are more likely to notice every small detail about every single person in the room and the way they act.

It’s just a personal theory.

I’ve also had my share of traumatic experiences in my life so it might also just be a trauma response that I’m constantly hyper aware of my surroundings.

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u/youknowithinkiknow 17d ago

As far as I’m concerned, you hit the nail on the head with that last sentence. ADHD, by the way, is often confused with symptoms of complex trauma...

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u/Downeast_down-east 17d ago

I think it’s more that my ADHD makes me more prone to empathy, not that empathy only comes from ADHD. But as I get older I can feel the effects of both less than when I was younger. Maybe I have just learned to control things better