“I know how you feel…”: Empathy and social problem solving in psychiatric disorders
While psychopathy has generally been associated with “a lack of empathy”, patients with depression are sometimes advised “to be less concerned” about those surrounding them. However, is it really possible to use the concept of empathy as globally in association with these disorders? Is there evidence supporting altered empathic responding and changes in the ability to effectively solve interpersonal problems in psychiatric disorders from a neuroscientific perspective?
In a review article which will soon appear in “Neuroscience and Biobehavioral Reviews”, Patrizia Thoma, Christine Friedmann and Boris Suchan subject 30 years of neuroscientific research of these concepts in patients with alcohol dependence, mood disorders and selected personality disorders to a critical analysis. Overall, there is tentative evidence supporting dissociations of impaired cognitive (knowing how someone else feels) vs. emotional (affectively sharing the other person’s feelings and showing empathic concern for her) empathy components in some of the reviewed disorders. However, inconsistencies in the definition of relevant concepts and their measurement, scarce neuroimaging data and rare consideration of comorbidities limit the interpretation of findings. Similarly, although impaired social problem solving appears to accompany all of these disorders, the concept has not been well integrated with empathy or other cognitive dysfunctions as yet. Thoma P, Friedmann C, Suchan B. (im Druck). Empathy and social problem solving in alcohol dependence, mood disorders and selected personality disorders. Neuroscience and Biobehavioral Reviews.
