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The original was posted on /r/cfs by /u/Individual_Call_3124 on 2025-04-06 20:52:56+00:00.

I’m autistic so expressing empathy has always been difficult and feels unnatural and forced. I used to feel empathy deeply but as me/CFS has progressed I’ve felt increasingly numb.

I’m burnt out and with me/CFS on top of that, I just can’t. I don’t have the mental resources to think of empathy statements, or maybe even allow myself to feel empathy. I think the best I can do is “sorry to hear about that” or “sorry for your loss” depending on the situation.

I had to cut ties with a friend because she wanted to talk about her problems on the phone for 2 hours and get my support/empathy but I would crash for a week afterwards. I told her I could only really do 20min phone calls and light topics going forward because of my health and she kind of spiraled and started testing and violating this boundary, along with creating arbitrary boundaries to punish me for putting up my own, so that’s when I cut ties. She has diagnosed BPD so those responses make sense within that framework.

Does anyone else struggle with this?