The difficulty of distinguishing one’s own feelings from the emotional states of others is rarely recognized immediately as a problem. More often, it manifests through chronic fatigue, inner overload, or the sense that there are simply “too many emotions.” Dr. Daniel Reinhardt believes that this state forms when emotional boundaries were blurred too early in a person’s experience. At MindCareCenter, we regularly work with clients who live in constant emotional fusion, without a clear separation between their own inner world and the feelings of those around them.
A person may sincerely struggle to understand where their emotions end and someone else’s begin. They easily pick up on the moods of others, adapt instantly, and absorb the emotional tension of partners, parents, or colleagues. Meanwhile, their own reactions remain unclear or are completely ignored. In MindCareCenter practice, we see how this leads to a loss of inner grounding and the sense that “I somehow disappear.”
Our psychologists note – this heightened sensitivity often develops in environments where emotional attentiveness was necessary for survival. If a child grew up with emotionally unstable or unpredictable caregivers, the psyche learned to constantly monitor the emotional field of others. Over time, this created a habit of living inside someone else’s emotional experience, without permission to have one’s own. Eventually, this pattern becomes automatic and is perceived as normal.
In therapy at MindCareCenter, work with emotional boundaries does not begin with abruptly separating from others. Instead, it starts with restoring contact with oneself. We help clients gradually recognize what they feel in their bodies, which emotions arise before reacting to another person, and where tension or collapse appears. This is a subtle and careful process that requires safety, trust, and time.
Gradually, it becomes clear that the difficulty in distinguishing emotions is closely linked to an internal prohibition against one’s own feelings. A person may view their emotions as unimportant, selfish, or disruptive. At MindCareCenter, we help challenge these internalized beliefs and restore the right to personal emotional experience without the need for justification.
Special attention is given to guilt and fear of losing connection. Many clients worry that if they stop emotionally carrying others, they will become cold or be rejected. Our specialists demonstrate that emotional boundaries do not destroy closeness – they make it more sustainable. When a person is grounded in themselves, relationships become more honest and far less exhausting.
Over time, therapy at MindCareCenter helps develop the capacity to remain present with another person’s emotions without absorbing them. Clients learn to stay connected without self-sacrifice, to support without self-erasure. This significantly reduces chronic tension and restores a sense of inner wholeness.
It is important to understand – difficulty distinguishing one’s own emotions from others’ is not a sign of weakness or excessive sensitivity. It is an adaptive mechanism that once helped preserve safety and connection. At Mind Care Center, we accompany the restructuring of this mechanism with care – helping restore emotional boundaries and a clear, stable sense of self.
Previously, we wrote about compulsive busyness as a defense mechanism and how MindCareCenter works with the inability to stop and be at rest.