4 Reasons Why People Become

Empaths: From Trauma to Genetics

Why do people become empaths? Is it

temperament? Genetics? Trauma? Neglectful or
supportive parental upbringing? As a psychiatrist
and an empath, I’ve seen that the following four
main factors (which I expand upon in my book The
Empath’s Survival Guide) can contribute to heightening
one’s sensitivities.

Reason 1. Temperament. Some babies enter the world

with more sensitivity than others—an inborn temperament.
You can see it when they come out of the womb. They’re
much more responsive to light, smells, touch, movement,
temperature, and sound. These infants seem to be
empaths from the start.

Reason 2. Genetics. Also, from what I’ve observed with my patients, some forms of
sensitivity may be genetically transmitted. Highly sensitive children can come from
mothers and fathers with the same inborn traits. Therefore, it is possible that sensitivity
can also be genetically transmitted through families.

Reason 3. Trauma. Childhood neglect or abuse can affect your sensitivity levels as an
adult. A portion of empaths I’ve treated have experienced early trauma such as
emotional or physical abuse, or they were raised by alcoholic, depressed or narcissistic
parents. This could potentially wear down the usual healthy defenses that a child with
nurturing parents develops. As a result of their upbringing, they typically don’t feel
“seen” by their families, and feel invisible in the greater world that doesn’t value
sensitivity.
Reason 4. Supportive Parenting. On the other hand, positive parenting can help
sensitive children develop and honor their gifts. Parents are powerful role models for all
children, especially sensitive ones.

In all cases, however, we empaths haven’t learned to defend against stress in the same
way as others do. We’re different in that respect. A noxious stimulus, such as an angry
person, crowds, noise, or bright light can agitate us since our threshold for sensory
overload is extremely low.

Healing is possible for all sensitive people. Even if you’ve experienced early trauma or
have been raised by abusive parents, it’s important that you learn to feel safe enough to
embrace your sensitivities now. Part of this involves learning to set healthy boundaries
with others and choosing positive people in your circle who can be supportive of your
sensitivities. In addition, protection and centering techniques and meditations can help
to strengthen your core so you can be both strong and sensitive. In The Empath’s
Survival Guide I outline numerous techniques that you can use in your life to feel safe
and secure as an empath.

The goal is for empaths to be empowered and use their sensitivities to be loving to
themselves, their intimates, and create love in the world.

Adapted from Dr. Judith Orloff’s “The Empath’s Survival Guide: Life
Strategies for Sensitive People,” a guidebook for empaths and all caring
people who want to keep their hearts open in an often-insensitive world.

Judith Orloff, MD is the New York Times best-selling author of The

Empath’s Survival Guide: Life Strategies for Sensitive People. Her new
book Thriving as an Empath offers daily self-care tools for sensitive people
along with its companion The Empath’s Empowerment Journal. Dr. Orloff is
a psychiatrist, an empath, and is on the UCLA Psychiatric Clinical Faculty.
She synthesizes the pearls of traditional medicine with cutting edge
knowledge of intuition, energy, and spirituality. Dr. Orloff also specializes in
treating empaths and highly sensitive people in her private practice. Dr.
Orloff’s work has been featured on The Today Show, CNN, Oprah Magazine,
the New York Times and USA Today. Dr. Orloff has spoken at Google-LA and
has a TEDX talk.