“Unmanaged empathy can look and feel like caring but may be driven from impulses that relate to the ways we avoid deep feelings, particularly the feelings of helplessness. We are vulnerable to our sense of helplessness when we empathize with but are not able to impact another’s suffering. For many of us who experienced early trauma, this leads us directly back to our own fear of helplessness. We might ask ourselves: How can I be with another person’s suffering? Am I able to stay present? Or do I try to compulsively effect change?”