I hope you do not mind me joining in with this thread. Its just that what you were saying struck a chord with me Poppies. I myself was not abused as a child, however my mother has obsessive compulsive disorder combined with body dismophic disorder. When I was growing up she struggled enormously and this put a tremendous strain on my parents marriage. They did not find it easy to express emotions to myself and my sister, therefore no one ever explained to us what was going on. There was a terrible atmosphere in the house and I too was constanly studying my parents mood. Like yourself I still do it now unconsiously. I pick up constantly on other peoples moods and find their mood has a direct impact on my own. I am interested in the debate as to whether identifying other peoples moods is as a result
of years of studying others, and is therefore a learned behaviour, or whether the stress opens up a sixth sense on the subject.
I agree with Ancestral that when you meet someone who has been through similar experiences to yourself , you just instinctively "know" . What does anyone think ? I do however believe that people can have a highly tuned sixth sense without ever having gone though extreme stress or child abuse.