u/Just-Cut-770

Since we can’t directly feel what other people are feeling, how do we know that internal experiences are actually comparable?

For example, is it possible that what your body experiences as “calm” or “relaxed” could feel exactly like what my body experiences as “panic,” but because we’ve each learned different labels for our own internal states, you call it calm and I call it anxiety?

I know we can compare outward signs like heart rate, breathing, muscle tension, behaviour, etc. But I’m asking about the actual subjective feeling itself. Could two people’s internal experiences be completely different while using the same words for them?