I spent the last few days at a polyamorous marxist commune where a friend of mine lives and had to think about this post when I noticed how they solve their problems... This article argues that it is good to be empathetic but to not get influenced so much to the point that I can't help the person that is hurt out. Some people in the commune were discussing how they should deal with a situation where somebody is hurt and the consensus (and what apparently has proved to work better over the years) was that people should become so empathetic that they "go deep" with the other person. As in, let the others pull them down into their hole and then deal with their misery together and find a solution and then come out of it stronger. Sorry for digging this out of the grave, but what do you guys think about this approach?