My ex once told me, mid-argument, that I was the most unempathetic person he'd ever met. It was a low blow. I'm a clinical psychologist. Empathy is literally my job. What he probably didn't know – and I was too "flooded" to explain at the time – is that when we argue with people we love, our brains can briefly turn against us. Researchers call it emotional flooding or diffuse physiological arousal . Your heart hammers. You flush, sweat, and shake. Adrenaline surges through you as though you are