Yeah, that's all very, very true. That's one of the reasons I don't think I'd be a proficient, long time therapist. I helped one of my best friends in highschool through a deep depression. I'm talking anything and everything including a suicide call. He was fine and good to go within 6 months but holy shit I had never been so emotionally burned out. I lost the friendship over it actually. I think I'd handle it differently in a professional environment but I'm not sure to be honest. While I can be extremely empathetic, I can also be very calloused. One thing my experiences have taught me is to reign in emotions like no one else I personally know. Sometimes they break through and cause slight issues but even of the problems I'm dealing with right now, I have an emotional cap on. I would wager to say all of my issues stem from my mother's mental illnesses and alcoholism. I say that because out of my 4 siblings, the only two to be relatively set, life wise, are my sister and myself. And we were the ones who left the house at 14 and 15. One of my brothers (29) became a dependent alcoholic and has lived with his dad since 18. He has impaired social skills that don't allow him to hold down a job. He's since quit drinking, however, he broke up with his girlfriend of 10 years, and shows no interest in finding a job as of right now. He lives on 250 dollars a month from the govt. and whatever else he can get his hands on. My other brother (26) is incredibly smart and decently sociable. He moved out at 19 (work, not college) I believe and was actually doing very well but fell victim the party life and eventually began smoking heroin. He lost his ability to hold down a job and fell out with most of his good friends and family. He bounced around for a bit, but also ended up at his dad's (we have different dads, I've never met mine). He's since quit heroin but is now an alcoholic. They both live in what is essentially a crack house, although it's not, it's just a house that their dad is working on. No windows, maybe 4 walls throughout, no beds no floors, no electricity, stuff like that. When that runs out, I honestly don't know what they're going to do and I don't think they do either. They lack the ability to properly plan life events. The oldest is, in my opinion on the verge of suicide right now. What I'm getting at is I do have the ability to control my empathy. I sympathize with them and help them with what little I can but I realize I am in no position, as of right now, to help them drastically. I simply cant. I HAVE to focus on myself right now. Perhaps if I become wealthy in the near future I can assist them but I am just not willing to delve into that helping stage with them. They're too deep and it'll emotionally drain me to a point I know I don't want to reach. I have a world of issues on my own, trust me, haha. But controlling my emotions is not one of them. I consider myself a professional at controlling my emotions. I had to be to live.