Are You An Empath?

Here is Dr. Judith Orloff’s 20 question empath test:

Empath Test

1. Have I’ve been labeled as “overly sensitive,” shy, or introverted?
2. Do I frequently get overwhelmed or anxious?
3. Do arguments or yelling make me ill?
4. Do I often feel like I don’t fit in?
5. Am I drained by crowds and need alone time to revive myself?
6. Am I overstimulated by noise, odors, or non-stop talkers?
7. Do I have chemical sensitivities or can’t tolerate scratchy clothes?
8. Do I prefer taking my own car places so I can leave early if I need to?
9. Do I overeat to cope with stress?
10. Am I afraid of becoming suffocated by intimate relationships?
11. Do I startle easily?
12. Do I react strongly to caffeine or medications?
13. Do I have a low pain threshold?
14. Do I tend to socially isolate?
15. Do I absorb other people’s stress, emotions, or symptoms?
16. Am I overwhelmed by multitasking and prefer doing one thing at a time?
17. Do I replenish myself in nature?
18. Do I need a long time to recuperate after being with difficult people or energy vampires?
19. Do I feel better in small cities or the country than large cities?
20. Do I prefer one-to-one interactions or small groups rather than large gatherings?

Now calculate your results:

• If you answered yes to one to five questions, you’re at least partially an empath.
• Responding yes to six to 10 questions means you have moderate empathic tendencies.
• Responding yes to 11 to 15 means you have strong empathic tendencies.
• Answering yes to more than 15 questions means that you are a full-blown empath.

You, Empath, Have a Great Gift

If you scored above 10 on the empath test, you have a great gift. You might not think so.

Being an untrained empath is both wonderful and terrible. When someone is sad, you feel just as bad and the sadness lingers inside you. It can be depressing and frustrating. Sometimes you understand what they are feeling but you are unable do anything about it. You may find yourself sitting next to them feeling with them, but not providing much of the comforting that they want.

When someone is happy, you share their happiness and you feel great. Being an empath means you may avoid negative, depressed, angry people as well as people with mood swings. Finding genuinely optimistic people is rare. Your mood, mentality, and actions are dependent upon how the people around you are feeling. Being an untrained empath can be exhausting.

What Is The Difference Between A Trained An Untrained Empath?

The empath test will not be accurate if you are a trained empath because the trained empath has control over her emotional sensitivity.

So what is a trained empath?

A trained empath has learned how the brain constructs emotions from affect. She knows the difference between affect, emotion, and feeling. She reads other people’s emotions, instead of wallowing in them. She practices the skill of affect labeling, both to herself and with others. (click here for a free master class on How to Listen to Emotions). Through this knowledge and practice, she can discern the difference between her emotions and those of others. She learns not to take responsibility for how others feel. The emotions of others do not trap her. She becomes a healer and a leader. Her sensitivities become her strength and power.

If You Are Not An Empath, What Does the Empath Test Tell You?

In our manifesto at Empath.Help, we declare that being emotional is normal and healthy. If the empath test shows that you might have low empathy, you might consider leveling up. Developing empathy increases your emotional intelligence. Your ultimate happiness depends on your mastery of your emotional life. Like many people, you may have been emotionally abused as a child. Your parents could not help themselves as they were abused themselves. Your parents loved you, but had no clue about how to handle strong emotions. As a result, they emotionally invalidated you.

This is what caused you to be less empathic. Emotions maybe uncomfortable or scary. They make you anxious. You may wonder what to do with an upset friend or child. You may be shut down or emotionally unavailable. You may even believe that emotions are bad or evil. These are the classic signs of emotional abuse in childhood.

The training for highly sensitive empaths will increase your empathic abilities from the other direction. When you learn about emotions, affect, and feelings, you connect your prefrontal cortex to your emotional centers. You learn how to read emotional data fields. After some initial anxiety, you learn how to reflect the emotions of others. As you master these skills, you become more empathic. You are less anxious around emotional people. You can calm anyone in literally seconds while remaining centered. Emotions no longer scare you. You learn how to create emotional safety for those around you.

The empath test is a good place to start. When you understand your level of empathic sensitivity, you can act. If you are interested in learning more about the skills of the trained empath, check out the Resources menu. We have listed various meditations, courses, and books that will help you become a trained empath or raise your empathic sensitivity if you are not an empath.