[SearchingforMe]

I guess it is silly to ask if this is normal when I am on several psych meds, but it has been awhile since this happened to me....maybe because of the antidepressants I take. It happened the other day, though and other things, too.

I was driving home from work, five miles over the speed limit, and I saw a teenager trying to turn out of the high school parking lot and onto the street I was on, where everyone was speeding. There was a line of students after him, and suddenly I just felt so very very sad, like, these poor kids, we're going to be stuck there forever or in an accident because of all of us inconsiderate, dangerous adults who just want to get home in a hurry.....so very selfish, and I felt like crying.....and as I continued to pass cars going the opposite direction, on the other side of the road, I would try to look at their faces, and thought, those poor souls, so much pain they might be going through, and maybe no one really SEES them, and I felt waves of sadness. And this is why I come on psych central one day and leave for like a week or more, sometimes less, and why I could never be a counselor or therapist, even though I majored in psychology in college.....because I go through physical and emotional pain when I think about other people being hurt, or being lonely, or being depressed. I do not know how to switch those feelings off. But other times I feel like I am just stuck in my own head and heart and like I can't connect with anyone.
But the changes in my emotions....and this extreme vulnerability, is this because I am bipolar? Or depressed? Or very sensitive?
Does anyone else get so emotionally attuned to other people ( or at least what you think other people might feel, even strangers) and then withdraw into a shell, like I have, reading about twenty fiction books in the last week?

I think I might need a counselor to help with this.....

[SearchingforMe]

Maybe I am just sad and projecting, in that case, but when people confide in me I feel such a weight, even though I wouldn'to want them to not tell me, if they need to....and I think I have buried myself in books to hide from emotions lately......it is like, my "drug" of choice, in that I use the books to escape......and not interact with my loved ones.

[Bill3]

Perhaps material about highly sensititive persons will resonate with you:

Comfort Zone Blog ?

[shezbut]

I recommend checking out the site that Bill3 referred to, and take the quick quiz. High sensitivity is a topic of interest for me personally. I happen to be an HSP myself.

[peaches100]

I also am an HSP. Your description of how you think, how you can feel the pain of others, and how you use books as a coping mechanism all ring true for me as well.

[Thunder Bow]

In this case your were probably projecting your own feelings on and about others. Counseling can help you express and deal with your feelings.

I can imagine feeling this way when I am in a depressive episode, but not on a daily basis.

Maybe med change?