Empathy vs. Sympathy

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Since Aspies can't be empathetic, when they do experience feelings, is it sympathy?

Incorect statment.

1. Difference between empathy and sympathy is confusing

2. Not everyone with an ASD is missing empathy.

I think I have experienced empathy on certain occasions.

Sympathy is feeling emotions with another person for you can relate to the event because it has happened to you. Empathy is feeling emotions with another person even though you haven't experienced what made them emotional to begin with.

In ASDs, sympathy isn't affected (barring a severe cognitive impairment), but empathy is affected to some extent (from having none at all to a delay in feeling it for example).

I tried googling but it seems that 'they' are just as confused as we are.

One site stated that: Empathy and sympathy are closely related but empathy is about feelings and sympathy is about actions.

Thus, an sympathetic person with a lack of empathy may (and this sounds a lot like some descriptions of aspergers I have read) appear shallow and are less likely to show an amotional connection.

Another site sums it up nicely (and how I tend to see it): 'If you think you feel just like another person, you are feeling empathy. If you just feel sorry for another person, you’re feeling sympathy. '

I suppose therefore a lack of empathy could well lead to lack of sympathy, however empathy /and/ sympathy could also be selective (we see this all the time in terms of 'blood is thicker than water' etc)

Perhaps, while empathy may not come naturally to some people with ASDs, it could be possible to form an analytical/objective empathy, not an emotive form of empathy instead? The former could even be superior to to the latter in that it is less likely to be selective and still sympathy could form from it (although sympathy can obviously stand alone too).

In conclusion:

I have heard that many people with ASDs have a strong sense of justice, I know that I have, and so as long as they can logically understand other suffering external to them, lack of empathy may not be a problem as long as sympathy is there.

If this doesn't make sense- blame my philosophy class; it's main objective is to make even the most simple of concepts appear as complicated as possible!

The dictionary has it:

Empathy (see 2):

The answer to our question!! !!

http://xnet.kp.org/permanentejournal/fall03/cpc.html

Normal people have varying degrees of empathy (putting oneself in another's shoes and knowing what they feel like to wear when they haven't worn said shoes, is empathy for the most part). It's just not as "impaired" like it is in the majority of individuals with an ASD.

For example, a child is murdered and it's on televised news; the person lacking empathy won't feel anything for this (no good or bad, just a void), as they have no frame of reference to base their inner-feelings on.

Everyone has an "impairment" with empathy and sympathy and aren't in alot of situations.

The assumption and incorrect stereotype singling out auties was assumed due to the autie not being able to express their feelings well regarding the matter or not even expressing it at all.

False stereotype.

There are plenty of us who have empathy. Not all can express it well. All it requires is determining how you think YOU would feel if it happened to YOU. This is easier if it actually has. But, for example, anyone who has a child can imagine how they would feel if something bad happened to a child, even if that has not happened in your family. It may be harder to know how one would feel about losing a parent unless that has been experienced.

Now, it is possible that one's own expected reaction to something bad would actually be different from another's. this is true with NTs as well. So empathy can be inaccurate, I guess.

Sympathy requires perceiving that someone feels bad, and why. The tricky part is appropriate response to that.

You might find this one big yawn, but it's not a long article:

http://news.bbc.co.uk/1/hi/sci/tech/6988155.stm

I am ridiculously good at sympathizing, to the point that people mistake it for being very empathetic.

And I think I am very empathetic, at times. The key word being at times. I always have sympathy, but empathy is like an all-or-nothing deal on my part. Sometimes I have absolutely no clue what others are feeling; other times it's like their emotions are something tangible in the air, so overwhelming that I break down or I have to hide.