Empathy: Normal experience of understanding and to some extent feeling the emotions of others, might be something to do with mirror neurons.

Empath: Probable narcissist who mistakes hypervigilance and projection resulting from early childhood trauma for a Trekkie superpower. Will spend more time telling you how they think you feel than actually listening to your problems, yet believes themselves to be a healer of sorts. Can be co-morbid with a messiah complex. Some develop enough self-awareness to overcome this phase and become genuinely useful to other people.

This is the official definition of the American Empath Association: An Empath is someone who understands the mental or emotional states of others in a way that defies conventional science and psychology. Empaths have the ability to sense the feelings, thoughts, and energies of people, plants, animals, places, or objects. In addition to sensing, Empaths absorb the energy of those around them. Empaths often experience stress or illness if they are bombarded by too many negative emotions. Empaths can also use their abilities to help others by imagining themselves in someone else’s situation and connecting with them on a deep level.

one who empathizes.

Someone with schizophrenia who thinks sensing basic emotions is a superpower. Some claim they can also talk to energy forces.

Empath: A person who is capable of feeling the emotions of others despite the fact that they themselves are not going through the same situation.

An individual with a keen, supernatural ability to sense the psychic energy field or aura that surround other beings.

1. An Empath is a person with a preternatural ability to apprehend the emotional state of another individual.

2. When the term Empath is used in online communities, it takes on a new meaning. Essentially it means a person with a preternatural ability to completely misunderstand the mental or emotional state of themselves and others.

3. A person who has the ability to understand and share in the feelings of another.

4. When one flips the coin of the title Empath, they come face to face with the darker side of Empathy or that of the Empathic Parasite. This type of person utilizes their ability to understand and share in the emotional states of others to manipulate people and situations to bring themselves front and center. These same people then begin to sustain themselves on the emotional energy of others, often leaving them feeling drained and/or exhausted.

5. Another definition of Empath is that of the Empathic Guru. The Empathic Guru is someone who believes it is their mission in life to do outreach to others and help guide them on their spiritual path to perfection, enlightenment, or infinite peace. In the doing, they willingly set themselves, their needs and wants, aside and sacrifice themselves for others, because this is where their sense of self and self worth rises out of.

In lay terms, being Empathic means being able to feel what another person is feeling, either emotionally, physically, or both (receiving emotional or sensory information through non-physical or "extra-sensory" means).

A true Empath can sense or experience the emotions and/or physical sensations of others, both in close proximity, and/or at a distance.

Advanced Empaths also sometimes have the ability to ‘draw out’ physical or emotional pain from another person and take it into their own body, with the intention of then releasing or expelling that pain and providing temporary or permanent relief for the subject.

An Empath is often highly aware of the health and state of mind of their loved ones, no mater how physically near or far away the individuals may be. It is not uncommon for an Empath to ‘freak out’ for no reason, only to discover later that a friend or family member went through some sort of trauma at that exact moment. This is particularly noticeable in twins or other Empaths who spend a great deal of time together, as they will often physically experience the same traumas as their loved ones.

Someone with autism (or a related social disability) who believes themself to be able to read the emotions of others on a superhuman level. Ironically, self-described empaths typically develop emotional maturity much later than their peers. This causes them to perceive the basic human ability to pick up on social cues as extraordinary and unique. A perfect example of the Dunning-Kruger effect.