"Shared emotion carries at least one destructive by-product: the compulsion to aggressively "fix" friends, loved ones, horses, and group situations. This urge arises mostly because people don't realize they're empathic or understand how to process emotion effectively. A person in emotional pain essentially infects others with his unpleasant feelings. When this dynamic remains unconscious (as it most often does in a culture that sees emotions as irrational, self-contained, and shameful) those around him will rally to help, or more accurately make him "get over it" as soon as possible, mostly so they can feel better. Powerful positive emotions, believe it or not, produce a similar panic in stoic people who value good sense and proper deportment. To catch someone else's joy is to feel out of control, and they'll fight it, even to the point of creating depression in exuberant family members through sarcasm, apathy, soul-deadening criticism, and in some cases domestic violence." -Linda Kohanov from Riding Between the Worlds