Principlev1
Separate sensing another's emotional state from absorbing it
Separate sensing another's emotional state from absorbing it as your own to maintain empathic concern while avoiding empathic distress.
Why This Is a Principle
Derives directly from Compassion (warmth toward someone suffering) and empathic (compassion vs empathic distress activate different networks) and Differentiation of self exists on a spectrum from fused to (differentiation spectrum). The principle prescribes routing empathy through the concern pathway rather than the distress pathway—a trainable cognitive operation with distinct neurological substrates.