What is empathy and what is it for?

Human beings express different feelings and emotions in situations of daily life. However, when we become overly involved with the suffering of others, to the point of feeling that emotional suffering as our own, we can fall into a mode of personal interaction that is not at all healthy.

The detail is in achieving the right balance to support those around you, but without this translating into a negative influence emotionally speaking. In this sense, the Spanish psychiatrist José Luis González de Rivera proposed ecpathy as a regulatory mechanism to promote a healthier empathy. In this Psychology-online article, we will explain what is empathy and what is it for, since this mental process can serve to self-regulate the excess of compassion towards the pain of others.

Index

1. what is ecpathy
2. What is empathy for?
3. Differences between empathy and ecpathy

Ecpathy is an emotional strategy that allows you to separate your own feelings from those generated by the circumstances of other people

The etymology of the word describes its meaning very well, since it is a term that comes from the Greek “ek-pathia”, which translates as "feel out" or "take out." Therefore, it is a process opposed to empathy, which translates as “feel inside”.

It should be emphasized that ecpathy has nothing to do with coldness, antipathy or indifference. Rather it is a complementary mechanism of empathy to balance it at the correct levels. The purpose of this strategy is avoid a flood of emotions arising from outside circumstances, which in no way favors inner balance.

Ecpathy as a mental process is essential to value other people, but without letting them become “emotional vampires” of our energy. Let us remember that emotions are usually contagious, both negative and positive, and even produce projective identifications that are not always beneficial.

For example, some psychopaths are capable of penetrating the emotions of other individuals until they dominate them in a surprising way. In fact, they manipulate through their apparent charm. In these circumstances, it is necessary to activate the empathy mechanism as a regulatory and protective process that stops emotional contagion and consciously avoid mental manipulation.

Another case in which you may need to develop empathy is in the entertainment industry, such as film and television, as they seek to emotionally infect viewers. There are even those who live as their own the suffering of those who participate in these programs. Consequently, ekpathy helps balance the emotional impact, when you become aware of the inner action caused by the experiences of others.

In addition, excess empathy can lead to an emotional disorder, an overprotective tendency or a psychic deterioration that can lead to other more worrying pathologies. Undoubtedly, ekpathy compensates for these excesses because encourages us to focus on our own well-being, without leaving aside solidarity and the need to connect with others.

Basically, the difference between the two concepts is that empathy places us on the same axis or position as other people to understand their emotions. For its part, Ecpathy serves to focus on ourselves and to put our emotional tranquility above that of others.

The Royal Spanish Academy[^1] explains the difference between empathy and ecpathy as follows:

• Empathy: ability to identify with something or someone. It connects us with others.
• Ecpathy: makes us voluntarily exclude the feelings that come to us from other people and that are not beneficial to our well-being. Activate the conscious mind to know to what extent it is good to be empathetic without falling into antipathy.

Although they are antagonistic or opposite terms, at the same time they complement each other so that pain, fear or mental manipulation do not take over us and produce a emotional contagion negative and counterproductive.

In short, a balanced empathy is one that allows us to share feelings or emotions of others, without actually transferring them to our own psyche, that is, sharing the fear of the other without becoming afraid or recognizing his anger without getting angry, among other examples.

This article is merely informative, in Psychology-Online we do not have the power to make a diagnosis or recommend a treatment. We invite you to go to a psychologist to treat your particular case.

If you want to read more articles similar to What is empathy and what is it for?, we recommend that you enter our category of Emotions.

1. Royal Spanish Academy (2002). Definition of empathy. https://dle.rae.es/empat%C3%ADa

• Gonzalez, J. (2004). Empathy and ecpathy. Psyche: Journal of psychiatry, medical and psychosomatic psychology, ISSN 0210-8348, Vol. 25, No. 6, 2004, pgs. 5-7
• Gonzalez de Rivera, J (2004). Empathy and Ecpathy. https://luisderivera.com/wp-content/uploads/2012/02/ecpatia.pdf