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... to wake up to your parents having world war three right next to you over stupid bullshit that should never have been a problem in the first place but has become one since they can't seem to work together to do ANYTHING. Especially when you are empathic and can FEEL the emotions as well as hear the fighting. Even more especially when both of those fighting tend to project their emotions rather loudly at the best of times.
*grumbles* Sometimes I wish I wasn't quite so ethical about my empathy, 'cause projecting stuff right back at them to make them calm the fuck down when they're fighting over stupid stuff is VERY tempting.
*grumbles* Sometimes I wish I wasn't quite so ethical about my empathy, 'cause projecting stuff right back at them to make them calm the fuck down when they're fighting over stupid stuff is VERY tempting.
Empathy
Errr...I've never thought of of using empathic ability to calm a fight being unethical - I kind of thought that was one of the purposes of the Talent. It's not mind control or emotion control of another - it's countering a dangerous spill in your environment. Sending soothing waves out to defuse and change a miasma of raging nastiness, to me, isn't a matter of ethics, any more than opening a window to let out smoky air is (even when the smokers don't notice the problem and don't mind the stench).
Interfering with other people is something else, of course. I agree with the unethicality in manipulating people's emotions to obtain a needed response, although there are built-in safeguards - empathy is emphatically a two-way street! But this is something that is happening in your own environment, and while I wouldn't go so far as to posit a responsibility for defusing it, I certainly think it's ok to do what's necessary to make it stop, for your own comfort as well as theirs.
no subject
I suffer from the same thing. Luckily my parents don't fight, but it seems like the rest of the world does. I don't know if you shield yourself or not, but that is one option. Another would be to "bounce" or "reflect" those negative emotions back to the person sending them. I don't see it as unethical. From my experience it has made the people realize how loud, negative, or even silly their fight is, and the fight is soon over. The gift works differently for all of us, but I know many people who do the above. Try it, worst that can happen is it not work for you. Good luck friend.