You know it's an interesting question, what is an empath?

A part of my understanding of the term comes from the psychic realm where certain psychics say they are empaths. Some people can pick up actual details regarding people's emotions. I had one person standing next to me one time who all of a sudden started telling me details about myself and my emotional world. Everything he said to me was all true. He even picked up on the fact that I want to sing -- that I practice alone often and am too scared to sing in public, but that I want to share my passion and need to. He also picked up on my lack of confidence at work. I had never talked to or met this person before, but he picked up on details about me that he could not have possibly known.

Then there's the non-psychic realm, like in the article you provided. I match most, if not all, of those signs of an empath, though much more so applicable to several years back. Now I no longer get overwhelmed in crowds.

I don't have any answers about it, but I find the topic fascinating.