This page contains all the
readers’ comments on the “Pain empathy” article, received between 2022 and
2026.
Comment by: Anonymous. Date: June 5, 2022 at 12:20 AM
Thank you for posting this, I
experience pain empathy and find this really interesting!
Comment by: Anonymous. Date: June
15, 2022 at 2:44 AM
Thank you so much for this
article, I always thought something was wrong with me for the pain that shoots
down the back of my legs when I see or hear pain or injury, especially by
animals. Thank you for helping me realize I’m not alone
Comment by: Anonymous. Date: June
24, 2022 at 11:59 PM
Thanks for this article as I get
this reaction but I don’t only get it for physical pain, but emotional pain
too. Is this a different but related syndrome?
Reply by: Pau (The Synesthesia
Tree author). June 26, 2022 at 10:06 PM
Yes, exactly, I think it would be
considered different but related, probably as having a high degree of empathy
that extends to people's feelings and not just the stronger impression you get
from knowing about physical pain affecting someone.
Comment by: Anonymous. Date: October
2, 2024 at 11:22 PM
This is exactly what happens to
me too! Thank you for explaining it!
Comment by: Anonymous. Date: November
8, 2024 at 4:10 AM
I even felt some light shocks
reading this article… thinking about how it feels
Comment by: Anonymous. Date: November
15, 2024 at 2:21 PM
A very nice article! It explains
a lot for feeling physical pain for others. I had to teach myself to not feel
gut stabbing pain when praying the rosary. I can pray now without pain. I just
told myself "do not feel this" and after many tries it worked.
Reply by: Anonymous. Date: June
25, 2022 at 4:38 PM
I experience pain in my groin
when I see someone in an accident on screen or in social media
Reply by: Anonymous. Date: November
14, 2022 at 7:51 PM
I have exactly the same
experience. Was afraid to tell anyone about it. This article helped a lot.
Reply by: Anonymous. Date: August
12, 2023 at 4:20 PM
I heard Elisabeth Hasselback talk
about feeling pain "down there" in response to seeing other people's
physical pain once. She said it like it was a normal thing and everyone looked
at her like she was crazy. I have always experienced pain in my lady parts when
I see others fall or get hit.
Reply by: Anonymous. Date: March
5, 2024 at 7:05 PM
I’m so relieved that I’m not
alone with this strange phenomenon. I struggled to word it right when searching
the internet. I even considered I could have been some weird sex fiend in a
previous life. I’m beyond grateful to have found this article. Would love to
find out more about it.
Reply by: Anonymous. Date: July
29, 2024 at 6:43 AM
This is exactly what happens to
me I feel bad tingling sensation wave through my groin area and it’s so
uncomfortable. I also didn’t know how to describe it or word it but my husband
likes to send me reels and a lot of them I can’t watch because of this phenomenon
and movies are so violent these days plus the extra sound effects I just can’t
handle it - I don’t remember the physical feeling when I was younger but it’s
definitely becoming very pronounced as I am getting older into my late 40s so I
finally looked it up and was so relieved to find I’m not alone .. my husband
doesn’t experience this at all and it’s frustrating to try and explain exactly
what I go through so this was very helpful. I wish I could make it go away I
don’t like violence or watching people get hurt but I also can’t always shield
myself from it so I’d love to find a way to quell the physical sensation that
waves through me… it’s SO uncomfortable.
Comment by: Anonymous. Date: July
1, 2022 at 1:33 AM
This runs in my family (mother's
side). My mother always referred to it as "The Jetti Knees". When a
close friend or relative is physical injured, our knees ache. Both of them. If
it happens to strangers or people we don't care for, there is no sensation at
all. But when it is a loved one, it can be debilitating. I have had to
literally sit down before because I thought my knees were going to buckle out
from underneath me. It's an intense neuropathic discomfort that comes in waves
and then dissipates quickly. My grandmother, my mother and myself all have it.
I'd rather not have it.
Comment by: Anonymous. Date: July
6, 2022 at 4:41 AM
I experience this! Usually I feel
an achy, almost uncomfortable numb in my knees or lower back. Other times I
actually do feel the pain in the same area as the other person. Actually just
watched a tiktok story about a girls brain surgery and now my lower back hurts
xd
Comment by: Anonymous. Date: August
16, 2022 at 1:19 AM
Oh, THIS is what it is. I don't
feel it souch on seeing someone in pain, but if someone tells me about
something that was really painful; I get a pain like this in my groins. Like a
reflex twinging.
Comment by: Anonymous. Date: September
29, 2022 at 4:59 AM
I have always had this wave of
pain move through my upper thighs and move down. I’m super curious now because
the same sensation happens, but more intense and in my arms as well, before I
have a hot flash. So I am trying to figure out the connection there.
Reply by: Anonymous. Date: February
20, 2023 at 3:24 AM
I thought mine was related to
some kind of maternal instinct. My womb & inner thighs suddenly go weak and
"feel like jelly" if I see or even hear about someone else's wound or
injury.
Comment by: Anonymous. Date: October
30, 2022 at 3:54 PM
This was really intresting but
i’m still confused on what I have. If i see, hear, read or imagine something
painful (it doesn’t have to be extremely painful, it can also be just a small
punch on the arm or something) i can feel it in the same area as the thing i
see/hear… which falls under mirror touch but I don’t really have it with gentle
sensations like stroking or just touching. It also doesn’t matter if i know the
person or not, i always feel the pain. I’m confused
Reply by Pau (The Synesthesia
Tree author). November 1, 2022 at 3:49 PM
Hi! I'm glad you found it
interesting! If you often get sensations in the same part of the body as the
one you are perceiving the other person's pain in, then that should be
considered mirror touch, as you say, even if you don't always need a direct
visual stimulus. I would say that the fact you don't get this reaction from
gentle touches doesn't really matter, as that's just your brand of mirror touch
- you don't get it with everything and you need the touch to be robust to cause
a reaction, so someone being hit, kicked, etc. would make sufficient impression
on you for you to feel it, while just gentle touches would go unnoticed in that
sense. About knowing the person or not, no, that isn't necessary, mirror touch
synesthesia occurs with strangers just as much as people you know. What seems
to the be the deciding factor is that you recognise the subject as being human
like you (or sentient, perhaps, and the closer to a human form it has the more
likely it is to happen: some people get it with robots, dogs... but it would be
unlikely to happen if you saw a ball hit a wall, for example - there's nothing
human to identify with there).
Comment by: Anonymous. Date: June
14, 2023 at 3:58 AM
I get the weirdest sensation in
my stomach, like a tickling feeling if I see my kids, SO, or mom with an injury
(nothing bad) like a cut or stitches. They laugh at me because of my reaction.
It’s only with them. I can see a stranger hurt and I don’t get the same
reaction/feeling . I’ve always wondered what it was. BTW it’s only been in my
later years that this happens. Thank you.
Comment by: Genevieve W. December
3, 2022 at 9:54 AM
I had an interesting experience
once while in town visiting a dear friend of mine. I went with her to a
chiropractic visit to discuss treatment related to a tumor she has in her
brain. It was a new doctor for her, so I waited in the waiting room while she
had a consultation and initial examination. While perusing the magazines, I
suddenly started feeling a mild tingling in the back of my head on the right
hand side close to the top of my neck. It was so distinct I could have drawn an
outline of it. Immediately, I thought of my friend and wondered where exactly
her tumor was. When we had a quiet moment later that afternoon, I asked her
about it and told her what I'd felt. She confirmed that where I described
feeling that sensation was indeed exactly where her tumor is located. She's a
very special friend, and I've had empathic experiences across long distances
with her before (like, dropping everything and calling her, sensing something
is wrong). However, this was the first time I'd felt something so physical. How
would you classify an experience like this?
Reply by: Pau (The Synesthesia
Tree author). December 4, 2022 at 3:58 PM
Hi! I think your intuition was
telling where your friend’s tumor was and you felt a great empathy with her at
that particular time. Personally I’d say it’s a strong empathetic/intuitive
experience with someone very close to you, the type of experience that could
intensify the physical manifestation a person could automatically feel via
empathy. And I think these things also strengthen the bond between you. Perhaps
she had been giving you some indication of where her headaches were occurring,
like touching her head, that you subconsciously picked up on and interiorised
without realising, or maybe your intuition just got it right. I’ve heard of
this kind of experience happening consistently with some people who work in the
medical or (particularly) therapeutic field and they get it with people they
don’t know too. But I think in the case of other people, when it happens
occasionally, it’s more likely to happen with someone that you feel
exceptionally close to. Anyhow this isn’t my speciality at all but I think your
experience is very interesting and I hope everything went well for your friend
and she is now OK!
Comment by: Anonymous. Date: December
20, 2022 at 3:14 AM
Oh thank you. It is embarrassing
when no one else seems to know what you are talking about- and who wants to
talk about an extremely uncomfortable shocking sensation in the groin area with
something as tame as a loose tooth. I am concerned as it is getting worse as
time goes on…
Reply by: Pau (The Synesthesia
Tree author). December 26, 2022 at 8:53 PM
Hi! Yes it seems so strange that
the majority of other people don't experience this, doesn't it? About it
getting worse over your lifetime, I hadn't really thought about that but I
presume it would be logical for you to get it more if you were going through a
more sensitive phase for whatever reason, if the idea of pain or your empathy
for others affected you more at some stage in your life (again, for whatever
reason), or perhaps if you were coming more into contact with others in painful
situations, so perhaps if you were playing or watching more sport of the kind
where people sometimes get hit or hurt, or had started watching
"fails" videos or something like that... Anyway I don't think it
should be something to worry about, as we do go through more sensitive stages
which then go away again when we focus more on something else. I don't think
this is likely to be a lineally-worse-over-time thing, like an illness might be
for example.
Comment by: Kat. Date: December
20, 2022 at 11:06 PM
Hi, this was a brilliant read and
has made me think a lot more about what I experience day to day but I am still
a little bit confused.
Example: I am playing a video
game and my character walk into a wall head first or into a corner hitting its
head or gets hit on the head..et .. I can feel pain even if the character
itself doesn’t react as if it has felt the pain but this only applies to the
character that I control. And only applies to its head not any other body part
.
Also if a friend, family , or
Stranger tells me they have a headache I get one to. This is only for
headaches.
I send my best wishes.
Reply by: Pau (The Synesthesia
Tree author). December 26, 2022 at 8:42 PM
Hi Kat and I'm glad you enjoyed
the post! What you say about the video games is interesting and makes me think
you perhaps have some degree of mirror touch, if you regularly feel the knock
to your character's head on your own head (although that would be just pain
empathy if you felt the "pain" somewhere else on your body of
course). It's interesting it only happens with your own character and I think
that mirrors how we usually get a much stronger physical empathetic reaction
with those who are very close to us, or alternatively it shows how you are
really putting yourself in your character's shoes and feeling with them. I
don't play video games so I don't know how that would be, but I can imagine how
that could happen if you were really into the game and "believing" in
it... but not everyone would get those physical reactions. Anyhow from what you
say about the headaches thing, you seem to have these reactions very much
concentrated in your head... in general, with mirror touch at least, from the
accounts I've read it seems that the head, face and hands are the places it
tends to concentrate most.
Comment by: Anonymous. Date: December
25, 2022 at 5:50 PM
Thanks for this interesting
article! I have been wondering for a while since I discovered that three of my
female friends also felt pain/unpleasant feelings under their upper thighs/in
their groin. I wonder if it is more common among women and if it is more common
to have the pain in the area where we four friends feel the pain?
I also feel the same unpleasant
feeling when having vertigo, or watching other people climbing cliffs, hanging
out from windows high above the ground etc in films. Is that something that has
been looked into?
Reply by: Pau (The Synesthesia
Tree author). December 26, 2022 at 9:04 PM
Yes! Those are parts of the body
it's often reported as being felt. At least from what I've read, I think the
most common ones are groin, thighs and down the backs of your legs. That's
great you can talk to friends who experience it. Whether it's more common in
women, my intuition tells me that yes it is, although that doesn't count for
much as perhaps a lot of men have it too but just don't like recognising it or
talking about it much, so until there are some studies on that particular
aspect (I'm not aware of any) then I suppose we won't know. I feel you on the
vertigo thing, I get it really strong with vertigo too (I'd even say I get it
stronger with watching vertigo situations than with pain situations!) There
aren't any studies on that as far as I know, but if I come across any I'll
comment here.
Reply by: Anonymous. Date: January
7, 2023 at 7:56 AM
Really interesting. I’d kind of
assumed everyone has it. Mine is for vertigo-type visuals in addition to pain,
as well. Similar to the feeling I get from being in that situation myself.
Seems to center itself primarily up the back of my legs but can go further. If
I’m prepared I can stop it a bit or make it weaker mostly by not looking or
withdrawing emotionally, which can work for movies. Thank you for doing this.
It helps to know.
Comment by: Anonymous. Date: January
11, 2023 at 5:54 AM
Thank You for Confirming, I’ve
been feeling this sensation
Comment by: Anonymous. Date: January
11, 2023 at 5:55 AM
In my feet l: usually when
someone describes, their trauma even to me.
Comment by: Anonymous. Date: January
11, 2023 at 11:19 PM
Thank you so much for this,
thought I was losing my mind. Every time I see someone experience pain, even on
a cartoon, I have what can only be described as electricity through my
buttocks, its awful. So hard to Google what it was. Is it related to me living
with chronic pain for 2 years, lived on pain patches and never experienced this
pain reaction, since I have been pain free and on no meds for pain I have
started experiencing this pain response.
Comment by: Anonymous. Date: January
13, 2023 at 5:11 AM
Thank you for this article. I
just went in a situation which was very painful. My sister in law just did a
surgery as she had fibrone. After the surgery when i went to see her, i almost
fainted. I could the pain that she felt just the same place as her in my body
and my body was just like her. And even when my best friend was pregnant i felt
all the feelings she had, nausea, diarrhoea anf each month as her belly grew my
belly too grew. In some way this article help me.
Comment by: Anonymous. Date: February
3, 2023 at 4:40 PM
"Tingle balls" is how
I've always referred to this feeling. All my male friends have it. My wife gets
the sensation too but no testicles are in play for her. I had it bad last night
as I woke from a dream. There must be some evolutionary advantage to this
sensation but have never come across any studies.
Comment by: Anonymous. Date: February
7, 2023 at 9:54 AM
Thank you for sharing this, at 44
I am still learning about myself. I now know I have classic pain empathy I feel
pain down the back of both legs when others are injured, particularly in their
legs. I have always had this but have always felt kind of crazy, and another
factor that made me weird.
It is great and a relief to be
able to have a common name for this and know other people have the same exact
same issues.
Comment by: Anonymous. Date: March
5, 2023 at 4:41 AM
Thanks for sharing this. I always
wondered about the weird feeling I would get in my stomach whenever I saw
someone in pain. Funny though, as I'm pretty sure I possess fairly low levels
of empathy, and struggle to relate to others on an emotional level lol
Comment by: Anonymous. Date: March
27, 2023 at 11:49 AM
Anyone else in australia feel
this way. As id like to connect. I get the groin and back of leg pain, area of
root chakra. If i see, hear of, think of, read about any painful thing someones
gone or going threw , n also tears well up , my empathy n connecting with
peoples pain is threw the roof. Im sure theres a positive to this somehow.
Anyone found anything to put a positive spin on this....
Comment by: Anonymous. Date: April
22, 2023 at 8:30 AM
I experience everything related
to the pain empathy explanation, except that I will feel the pain in the same
area on my body as the other person whom is actually in pain. This has only
happened with people who are very close to me. I don't get an electric feeling
in any parts of my body like some of the comments I read. I will usually just
feel a flood of emotions if I see, or read about, physical injuries or what not
to people or animals. In the event that hearing about or seeing an injury does
make me cringe, I might get an unpleasant sensation in the same area of my body
that mirrors that of said injured area. Particularly if it is a rather
sensitive part of the body for sure.
Comment by: Anonymous. Date: April
23, 2023 at 5:43 AM
After I stopped taking the
anti-anxiety drug Effexor for 15 years, this pain empathy started. It’s been
happening for the last 5 years. Although the whoosh of electricity is usually
from my neck down, sometimes it is so strong, it nearly buckles my knees. It
happens when I see someone else hurt themselves, almost hurt themselves or even
tell about an experience. Yesterday, a friend told me about her mammogram and I
had to tell her to stop! Is there any cure? Do I need to go back on Effexor?
Reply by: Pau (The Synesthesia
Tree author). April 24, 2023 at 9:53 PM
Hi! Only your doctor can tell you
whether it’s right to take a medication, I obviously can’t because I don’t
know, but I think they’re unlikely to prescribe it for you again unless there
were other anxiety-related reasons apart from the pain empathy. It’s
interesting what you say, how it started when you stopped medicating, so it
sounds like the drug was suppressing it in some way. I know what you mean about
it being really strong and nearly buckling your knees sometimes! My own opinion
is that I think there is a tendency to label this as “pain” when it is actually
something different from pain, and it isn’t really necessary to think of it
that way. I’ve had it all my life but I never considered it as pain, just a
natural thing that happened when you saw or heard about someone hurt. Finding
out that not everyone experiences it is certainly interesting, but I think one
way of looking at it, which perhaps you could do too, is that it means we have
a kind of special empathy with others, and we feel that physically. That’s
something positive, and something fascinating, I think, which makes us rather
special, with a special communication with others, and I believe it’s how we
should be looking at this! About whether there is a “cure”, I'm not aware of
any way to stop it happening, but reading about your case makes me think that
for you at least it might be stronger when your anxiety isn’t repressed, so as
you go back to normal, getting rid of your anxiety, not focusing on worries or
negative feelings and feeling more relaxed in general, the strength of the
experience might be reduced naturally. I’ve never heard of this being related
to anxiety in general though, so it’s an interesting thought. From a logical
standpoint, if someone paid less attention to others and didn’t listen so much
or get very emotionally involved when they saw or heard about them being hurt
or having an accident or whatever, that should stop it somewhat or reduce the
intensity, so maybe that would work up to a certain point at least? Like the
“imagining a shield between you and the other person” trick that I’ve heard
recommended for people with too much empathy. Maybe you could look into ways to
do that as a kind of “emergency” measure?
Comment by: Anonymous. Date: May
17, 2023 at 9:53 PM
This was very interesting. I
can't stand to hear someone describing being hurt. I feel an awful pain in my
vaginal area. Today I had a minor surgery on my ear, and the entire time the
doctor was cutting and stitching it up, I could hear it and it caused the same
pain. It was the 1st time I have ever had that pain when I was the one having
the accident/procedure. For me, it has to have something to do with hearing.
Comment by: Anonymous. Date: May
19, 2023 at 12:13 AM
Thank you for this article - I've
always had this and never knew others did too. I just thought there was
something wrong with me.
Comment by: Brenda. Date: June
3, 2023 at 5:20 PM
I am glad to finally find that
other people feel the same tingling/ electrical shock in the groin area when
hearing about or seeing someone fall or get hurt. I first started having this
issue about 6 years ago after I had a bad fall and hit my head
I dont feel this same feeling
when i hear or see something emotionally however my emotions become very
sensitive
Thanks for the artical! I now
have my answer!
Comment by: Anonymous. Date: July
5, 2023 at 11:38 PM
I’ve experienced pain in the
groin/vaginal area, more specifically the clitoris, for what seems like
forever. But it may have started after giving birth (c-sec, so that makes the
correlation odd). It is more intense when I physically witness another’s pain
and generally it is a wound, even small, that triggers my own sharp stabbing
and electrical feeling of pain. Hearing a description of a wound can also
trigger the sensation, as can watching a movie. The sensation can cause me to
fold over and almost grab myself in the area to stop to feeling. It’s
definitely not pleasant. My SO can come in from the yard with a small puncture
wound and show it to me and the pain I feel in response is more than what his
actual wound caused. If he continues to show me various other scratches that
drew blood, my pains keep coming. He laughs and I have to say, Stop! One sister
describes similar vaginal area pains, the other gets it in the backs of her
legs, and a nephew says he experiences something similar in his groin (I didn’t
ask for details).
Comment by: Anonymous. Date: July
13, 2023 at 6:01 AM
I get some wavy sensation on my
ass whenever I see a wound / injury. I am studying CNA. Lets see if I could
overcome that sensation or will have to deal with that
Comment by: Anonymous. Date: August
12, 2023 at 4:47 PM
I have pain empathy. I always
feel a pain in my vaginal area when I see someone experience pain - not so much
seeing the after effects like a wound, but witnessing the point of impact when
someone falls or gets punched/kicked, or if I anticipate them falling or
getting hurt. I wonder what your thoughts are on hearing words or stories
causing other physical sensations besides pain. When I was younger (and less so
now) hearing the word "cervix" would make me feel lightheaded and
nauseous in addition to feeling the same painful feeling in my vagina. I
remember in middle school almost passing out during health class when the nurse
was showing a model of female reproductive system, and every time she said the
word "cervix" I became increasingly lightheaded. Do you think this is
related or something entirely different?
Reply by: Pau (The Synesthesia
Tree author). September 1, 2023 at 8:05 PM
Hi! I understand the words thing
you mention, and I get both pain empathy and particular physical sensations
about certain words, like you. I think they’re probably two different specific
things and that maybe the words one comes out of associations we make at one
point and then never get rid of. This way of forming lasting associations very
often happens to synesthetes, although I'm not really sure whether this
specific kind of reaction is something that habitually affects non-synesthetes
too. I'm not aware of a correlation between the two. So this is not much help!…
but that might be the case, as a general sensitivity thing: we’re kind of prone
to a variety of these things happening. Anyhow your description is very
interesting and I think some readers will probably identify with it. Thank you
for posting and sorry I wasn’t able to answer posts in August 😊
Comment by: Anonymous. Date: August
24, 2023 at 10:22 PM
Hi! Thank you so much for this
article, it really helped!
But I still got some questions.
I think I mostly feel this kind
of pain while reading, when I simpathize? with a character that is in
psychological? pain. In those specific moments, electrical pain shoots up from
my middle up into my fingertips. I dont really mind the pain (so im guessing
its weaker than the pain of others here) and sometimes even tried to recreate
it (becouse i was curious) I know someones similar question was already
answered, but it was stated that they might just be very empathic towards
others, and thats just not the case with me.
PS: Please dont mind the bad
grammatics and spelling, im not fluent in english.
Reply by: Pau (The Synesthesia
Tree author). September 11, 2023 at 4:09 PM
Hi! Your English is great :) I
believe pain empathy and even mirror-touch are possible without the empathy
connection. It would seem logical for the two to go together and some studies
have found that connection, but not all. Or in your own case, perhaps it's more
natural for you to exteriorise your empathy with fictional characters or when
reading, but not so much in real life when you're in a social situation with a
real person, as other considerations get in the way and seem to block it. There
could be many reasons, so I have to say I really don't know. I suppose that
although there are similarities for the majority, which can help with making a
definition of pain empathy, it's just not exactly the same for everyone so some
people will be experiencing it slightly differently with regard to either when
and what exactly they feel, and who they feel it about.
Reply by: Anonymous. Date: September
23, 2023 at 3:27 PM
Thank you so much! :)
Comment by: Anonymous. Date: October
22, 2023 at 4:49 AM
I am so glad to find this
article. I thought I was just nuts. I've told my husband many, many times that
I feel physical pain shooting down the backs of my legs when I see others get
hurt or if I just perceive that what they're doing will result in a painful
accident. It's highly uncomfortable. I found, recently, that a group of small
children (toddlers) playing and running, with high risk of falling makes for a
very painful day. What I'd like to know, is there any way to stop it?
Reply by: Pau (The Synesthesia
Tree author). October 28, 2023 at 1:07 PM
Hi, and thank you for commenting!
I don’t think there’s any way to actually stop it, here are a few ideas,
they’re a bit “off the top of my head” and some are a bit obvious, others might
be impossible for some people, but maybe some of them are worth thinking about:
-Physically don’t look
-Don’t listen when someone tells
you something unpleasant. We tend to listen to things, but really we don’t
always have to, especially if you are not the only person listening at that
time
-Try to anticipate what’s going
to happen, to be able to avoid it if necessary. I don't know what your case
would be, but for some that might mean, for example, not sitting in the park
precisely where children are playing, there are probably other places to sit!
-If you can, avoid situations
that you know it will probably happen in
-Avoid watching videos, reading
books, etc. that you know contain things that will set it off. If you’re at the
cinema or theatre and the film or play turns out to be unpleasant, you don’t
have to stay and watch it. Don’t let people convince you otherwise. Your
sensitivity is not the same as theirs and you might have other needs
-If you’ve noticed it become
stronger, or weaker, or even go away temporarily because of any particular
stimulus (for example your mood, medication you take, substances like coffee or
alcohol, tiredness/energy, time of day, time of the year, etc.) try and work
with that clue to improve it
-Consciously try not to become
too involved emotionally with the people you come into contact with
-Take special care with
activities such as sport
-Accept it as something natural,
which is what it is. Don't interpret it as pain: that's just one possible
interpretation. Think of it more as empathy - which is something positive - or
just a tactile sensation that happens to you and connects you with others and
can be part of you being a caring person rather than a cold person with limited
emotions
Comment by: Anonymous. Date: November
16, 2023 at 8:13 AM
I am so grateful that you shared
this information. I've never done well being around people who are sick or
injured. I feel a shock of pain run down the back of my legs when I see any
sort of injury, even something like a small cut on someone's finger. Sometimes
the pain is so strong I actually jump. Whenever I have told anyone about this
they look at me like I'm lying to get out of helping someone who is injured or
ill and then I feel like I am such a horrible person. But knowing this is a
real response experienced by other people helps to lessen the guilt I often
feel. Thank you for this detailed explanation.
Comment by: Whitney. December
24, 2023 at 7:53 PM
No one ever knew what I was
talking about. My kids make fun of me and think I’m over exaggerating. When I
see, hear, or even read about anything remotely painful (even a paper cut), I
get a shocking taser like feeling that starts at the base of my spine and moves
up my back. Even the idea of looking at my daughter’s scab from falling will
bring it on. I always turn my head, close my eyes and cover my ears when I
think something painful is about to happen in movies, sports and even life
because it is such an unpleasant feeling. That sensation is often worse than
the incident that brought it on.
Comment by: Cristi. January 7,
2024 at 8:38 PM
Great article and describes this
phenomenon so well. I have it for all of the reasons listed and so many more.
Depending on what’s going on, I sometimes experience these sensations as often
as 15-20 times per hour. Very uncomfortable. Wish there were more studies on
this.
Comment by: Anonymous. Date: October
2, 2024 at 11:36 PM
Wonderful article! I have been
trying to figure out what it is I have for a while now, and this has definitely
done the best job of explaining it. I'm still a little confused though, because
I experience something similar to this.
I have been able to feel when
others are in pain since I was like 4. With my family, pets, friends, ppl at my
schools, and sometimes even strangers/fictional characters. Even just recently,
my mom was working over 100 miles away and I could feel her pain in her wrist
(when i asked her that night it was the same wrist). But, I can also feel
others feelings. Like recently (and still currently), I can sense that one of
my friends is really struggling. And none of my other friends notice it, even
though we are all really close. And even when she is like behind me in the
hall, I can feel her anxiety like heat on my back. In class when I look over at
her, I start to get really anxious and see faint orange and red. Sometimes I'll
even get a headache. And I have been researching on it and can't find anything.
Do you happen to know what this might be?
Reply by: Anonymous. Date: October
6, 2024 at 10:45 PM
I just realized this but when I
look at certain colors, I hear certain tones, but it only happens with a few
colors and its the same tone most of the time (ex. when I look at my white sink
in my bathroom, I hear this really deep kind of buzzing noise, and it grows the
longer i stare at it) it happens so often i honestly don't even notice.
Also, I don't always feel others
pain. Like one day my sister might stub her toe and I won't feel it, but the
next day at a softball game my friend gets hit by a softball in the ankle and
my ankle starts to throb.
Reply by: Anonymous. Date: October
6, 2024 at 10:52 PM
Oh and one last thing!
Yesterday my dad smashed his
finger in the door to my house when he was on the way out in a hurry, and I was
sitting on the couch on my laptop, not paying any attention to him. While he
was shutting the door, right before he even smashed his finger, I jumped where
I was sitting and looked up at him, watching him smash it. Although I didn't
feel his pain then, my nail polish chipped on the finger he'd smashed and I can
see blue/purple lining that side of my nail (his was bruising too)
Reply by: Pau (The Synesthesia
Tree author). October 8, 2024 at 3:49 PM
Hi, and thank you for
appreciating the Tree! I think what you describe here is a strong empathy
towards other people. And if you have a colour perception when you get anxious,
that sounds like emotion-colour synesthesia, it can certainly present like that.
Different colours would correspond to different specific emotions that you are
feeling, particularly if they’re strong emotions. On the other hand, some
synesthetes get colour perceptions not from their own emotions but from those
they perceive the other person to be feeling, and they feel those colours in
their mind or they can even see them physically in some cases, around or above
the person in question. As it wouldn’t normally be a one-off occurrence, you
could focus on whether you can remember any more instances of perceiving these
colours, or be aware so that you’ll notice if you get them again. From there,
you could tell whether they seem to accompany a strong emotion you’re feeling
or a strong emotion you perceive someone else to be feeling.
These Tree pages might help
explain it, if you haven’t seen them yet:
Emotion-colour and emotion-shape synesthesia
Perceived emotion to colour andother concurrents
Reply by: Anonymous. Date: October 9, 2024 at 2:33 AM
Thank you!! That helps a lot and
I will be watching for more of the color :)
Comment by: Anonymous. Date: October
15, 2024 at 12:48 AM
Hey! Just wanted to throw this
out there and see if anyone else has this :)
So, I do experience pain empathy
and even a little bit of mirror-touch, but ever since about a year ago when I
got a head injury (not a bad one, minor concussion) it's been really weird...
I used to experience it right in
the moment, which is NORMAL. But now, I experience it late, like its delayed.
I've gotten it as soon as 5 minutes after, and as late as 3 days (I think). It
comes randomly at any time of day, and it's seemed more vivid than usual
recently. I not really sure what this is, but I like to call it 'delayed pain
empathy/delayed mirror touch'. If anyone else has an experience like this, I'd
love to hear about it!
Comment by: Anonymous. Date: February
16, 2025 at 4:06 AM
I'm a 68 yo male and I've had
pain empath all my life. Electrical tingling and shock right in the groin and
upper thighs, it really is a jolt reflex that makes me sit up straight and
squirm a bit. It's always the same location in my body. Thanks for the article!
Comment by: Anonymous. Date: March
14, 2025 at 9:34 PM
I've had this since I was young.
It is like a quick, sharp stab to the Clitoris (sorry to be so blunt) whenever
I see a wound anywhere on a persons' body. I have to look away really fast if I
think I'm going to see an injury or bam~! Even if I look at a cut when someone
takes their bandage off. I have told my significant other about this and he
thinks I'm weird. I am a major empath, too, and often verklempt.
Comment by: Anonymous. Date: April
20, 2025 at 1:10 PM
Very interesting article. It's
nice to be able to give a name to a phenomenon which started about 30 years ago
after the birth of my first daughter. For me, it's a very unpleasant tingling
sensation from both knees down my legs. I'm now 73 and it has become more
pronounced as I have aged. Oddly enough, it seems to be more extreme when it is
seeing, reading about accidental injury to another person. I can watch my
favourite sport - rugby union - which involves physical contact and potential
injury, with no problems. On the other hand, I can't watch any of those 'fail'
videos where people fall or collide with things, even if the fall is not likely
to cause injury. And, even stranger (to me), I have no problem dealing with the
practicalities of tending to someone with an injury. That doesn't faze me at
all. When I'm out with my grandchildren I also find myself anticipating an
injury that might happen, with the same resulting sensation in my legs. I take
great care, though, not to let it lead to my being over protective or
communicating anxiety to them, which would inhibit their sense of adventure. We
are odd beings, us humans!
Comment by: Anonymous. Date: July
16, 2025 at 9:56 AM
I’m so glad I found your article.
I experience the pain through my chest and solar plexus, it’s constant, it’s
like I anticipate a potential trauma or accident and the feeling comes in. It’s
really bad atm as my dog has a bad leg, I am very connected to my dog and am
experiencing this sensation multiple times a day, I’m finding it debilitating…
anyone else have any useful tips to protect yourself or stop this happening?
I’ve found that it’s getting worse as I get older, to the point where it’s
everyday, I can’t watch, read or listen to stories of trauma. Is there any good
books or support groups out there?
Comment by: Anonymous. Date: July
24, 2025 at 5:46 AM
It’s so interesting to read about
this. Until recently, I thought this was something that happened to everyone,
until I brought it up to my husband and was met with a blank stare. For me,
it’s a dull pain, like a sudden muscle ache, in the backs of my legs. Usually
it’s the backs of my thighs, but occasionally it’s my calves. It happens most
often when I’m watching TV, but sometimes when I’m thinking of a hypothetical
situation.
Comment by: Anonymous. Date: August
29, 2025 at 12:08 AM
I’m so glad that I took time to
research this phenomena and found this article. I have this and it seems to be
happening more often recently. I did more research to find out if there is a
treatment and Tylenol was recommended along with opioids. I can’t take the
latter but am finding Tylenol effective. Thank goodness.
Comment by: Anonymous. Date: October
12, 2025 at 8:33 PM
Nice to know so many people have
this also. When watching a movie or a tv show if the character gets stabbed,
shot or injured, I feel the pain in that same area. I cannot watch drug cartel
shows because of the torture they put people through. So I avoid a lot of tv
shows. Recently the tv show Brillant Minds has on a Doctor that is an empath.
He went to a MMA fighting match and had to leave. My daughter is a psychic and
while on the Gettysburg battlefields, all of a sudden I will feel pain in
different parts of my body in different areas of the battlefield. My daughter
would tell me that that is where the soldier had been shot. I at times can hear
or smell scents of spirits but cannot see them. Watching surgeries on tv
doesn’t bother me. It isn’t something that is unbearable, so I can handle it.
At times I was going to do something but something tells me it’s not safe.
While in Nashville with a friend we could have went into town for the night but
I just felt it wasn’t something we should do. Thank you for the article.
Comment by: Anonymous. Date: December
27, 2025 at 8:15 PM
I have something like this but
it's a bit different. In my case, it's not that I SEE someone get hurt and feel
it. It is that I FEEL when my husband has any pain in his body. It happens when
I'm near him, but it also happens long distance, when he is at work 60 miles
away. I'm generally fortunate in that I live pretty much a pain-free life, in
that I don't get headaches, never had a cavity nor a sinus infection, and don't
have back pain, nor joint pain, etc. I know these niggling pains are relatively
common because people talk about it. I don't tend to get those pains, my normal
state of being is just usually feeling fine. So it makes it quite noticeable
when I feel a sudden twinge or pain out of NOWHERE and then realize, it's not
ME, it's my husband. It then goes away. It happens when he's home next to me,
and it happens long distance, too, if he's out on the property and I'm in the
house, or he's in another room, or if he's at work in NJ (we live in PA he
commutes 60 miles to work). I can text him, "Does your left lower leg
hurt?" "Yes, I just banged it" etc, it happens often. One day,
we parked and my husband got out to help one our young children out of the car.
I felt a pain shoot up my thumb. I got out of the car and walked around, saying
"My thumb hurts!" He had just jammed his. I didn't see it, I was in
the car. Happens all the time, but mostly only with my husband. I do feel other
people's emotional pain, but not their physical, at least, not in any
unbearable manner. It's very muted with others. I can dial down people's
emotional pain so it doesn't stay with me long term. So I don't know if this is
the same thing. Also, I always feel his pain on the opposite side, like a
mirror. But I don't have to see him hurt to feel it, and I don't have to be in
the same area.
Comment by: Anonymous. Date: January
20, 2026 at 8:35 PM
Hi everyone im not very good at
this. I have experienced this tingling or as i would call it needles and pins
for a very long time When my kids were little i didn't like for them to walk on
the sidewalk. I was afraid they were going to fall, but they were kids and they
were learning. My baby fell i felt the pain i cried i felt so bad especially
when i picked her up and seen a scrap or blood OMG THAT HURT ME SO BAD. What i
want to say is every thing that i have has/is happening to me. thanks to all of
you for opening my eyes to this.thers a lot going on with me this is on.
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