The Empathy Continuum and a spot of armchair self-diagnosis – Part 1

Profiling the central characters for my next novel has directed research into the fascinating subject of empathy and the hugely varied personality traits / disorders which can arise from our relative positions on what I’m now seeing as an empathy continuum. Not only is this providing useful material for the book, it has also sparked some introspection, illuminating and perhaps connecting a number of physiological peculiarities from which I’ve suffered over the years. So at the risk of revealing a little more about myself than I might otherwise, I thought I’d share with you a little of the arm-chair self-diagnosis in which I’ve been indulging recently. While none of the following symptoms have ever led me to seek medical attention, they have nonetheless caused varying degrees of irritation, embarrassment and curiosity: Symptom No.1 From as early as I can remember, I’ve had a level of squeamishness, or put another way, sensitivity to observing pain, which has seemed greater than that of those around me. Most of us cringe, at least to some extent, when confronted with gratuitous violence, whether in movies or in real life, but for me these scenes can produce such intense feelings of nausea that I have to leave the room or movie theatre. As a result, I generally avoid horror movies. Another manifestation, which amuses my two daughters enormously, is my inevitable yet uncontrollable twitching and jerking during fight scenes. Funniest of all (in their minds), is when I happen to be holding a drink at the moment of some unexpected,...