“The trademark of an empath is that they feel and absorb other people’s emotions and/or physical symptoms because of their high sensitivities. They filter the world through their intuition and have a difficult time intellectualizing their feelings.

As a psychiatrist and empath myself, I know the challenges of being a highly sensitive person. When overwhelmed with the impact of stressful emotions, empaths can have panic attacks, depression, chronic fatigue, food, sex and drug binges, and many physical symptoms that defy traditional medical diagnosis ” Judith Orloff MD, author of the Empath’s Survival Guide

When the narcissist playbook of deadly tactics kicks in, the empath will feel the fake pain the narcissist projects and ultimately want to fix him. When this fails, the empath will doubt him/herself, then slowly reevaluate and begin the process of awakening. This learning not to trust a truly hurtful person may take a long time because empaths see themselves as healers. They want to help and not cause pain to others. The relationship will finally end when the empath escapes, sadder but a whole lot wiser, and the narcissist, completely unchanged in any way starts looking for his next victim. 100 Tips For Growing Up is a simple way to learn self awareness.