Emotional Contagion/ee-MO-shun-al con-TAY-jun/
Absorbing others’ emotions automatically; can be stronger for autistic and highly sensitive people.
Andy says:
Like catching someone’s yawn—but with feelings.
Detailed Explanation
Signals (tone, posture, micro‑expressions) can shift our state without words. Higher sensitivity or trauma history can amplify effects. Supports add boundaries and recovery.
Community Context
Common topic in ND spaces and care work. Empathy isn’t only one‑way; mutual understanding matters.
Quick Tips
- Name “not mine” feelings; step back briefly
- Use ear/eye filters in intense spaces; plan decompression
- Prefer text over voice when saturated
Do / Don't
- Do: co‑regulate intentionally; time‑box exposure
- Don't: self‑blame for resonance
Scientific Context
Linked to mirror systems and autonomic coupling; practices that increase differentiation reduce load.
Language Notes
Related: empathy, co‑regulation, boundaries.
Related Terms
Co-regulation
When one nervous system helps stabilize another through presence and connection. Not talking someone through their emotions—literally sharing your calm until their system remembers how to regulate. Like emotional jumper cables: you can't charge a dead battery by yelling at it, but you can share power from a working one.
Emotional Dysregulation
Neurological differences in how emotions are experienced, processed, and expressed. Characterized by intense feelings that may seem disproportionate to triggers and difficulty returning to emotional baseline—not a character flaw, but brain-based variation.
Interoception
Your internal body sense—the ability to feel hunger, thirst, heartbeat, temperature, pain, and other signals from inside your body. Many neurodivergent people experience this "eighth sense" differently, making basic needs harder to recognize.
Alexithymia
The inability to identify and describe your own emotions. You feel things intensely but can't name them—like having a complex emotional storm inside but only being able to say "I feel bad." Affects 50-85% of autistic people.
Community Contributions
Your contributions help make definitions more accurate and accessible.