DAE become way too attached to a character to the point they feel their pain?

I was wondering if this was something anyone else experiences. I am deeply attached to the characters from the book I'm writing to the point where I vicariously experience the pain and emotions of them. I feel as if I in some way I'm a host to hold their trauma and pain. It's gotten to be so much at times that I just start sobbing for them.

I know us autistics can sometimes feel empathy for objects and nonliving things and I wonder if this is an extension of this? I also know that a lot of autistic people heavily latch on to certain characters and I wonder if this is part of it too.