Empath

In psychology, empaths (; from Ancient Greek ἐμπάθ(εια) (empáth(eia)) 'passion') are people who have a higher than usual level of empathy, called hyperempathy. While objective empathy level testing is difficult, tests such as the EQ-8 have gained some acceptance as tests for being empathic. Highly sensitive person is also often synonymous, but is used to describe sensory processing sensitivity as well. The term empath is sometimes used in a broader sense to describe someone who is more adept at understanding, i.e. is more sensitive to the feelings of others than the average person; or as a descriptor for someone who is higher on an empathetic "spectrum" of sorts. The term also refers to a concept in parapsychology, where the mechanism for being an empath is said to be psychic channeling; psychics and mediums say that they channel the emotional states and experiences of other living beings, or the spirits of dead people, in the form of "emotional resonance". Studies of such claims have found them to be the result of mundane empathy and charisma, with no actual supernatural capabilities involved.