Empathy – A Prosocial Tool Explored in a Therapeutic Group

Abstract

Introduction: Empathy is a multidimensional concept that encompasses the capacity to infer emotional states and respond to other people ́s emotions. It can be further divided in cognitive and emotional empathy and it is mainly influenced by early interaction with parental figures. Empathy is not exclusive of the human being and has been retained by evolution. It is the base of morality, socialization and pacifism. The empathic deregulation, which can be measured psychometrically, occurs in mental disorders, such as schizophrenia, affective diseases, and personality disorders, among others.

Methods: It is a prospective longitudinal exploratory study that aims to evaluate the evolution of empathy, measured primarily by the Empathy Quotient (EQ) at 0 months and at 9 months and secondarily the evolution of empathy in demographic and nosologic subgroups. For that purpose a convenience sample of 22 patients that participated in the psychiatric service’ day hospital in a suburban general hospital between September 2011 and June 2012 was used. In the day hospital, in addition to regular activities, the therapeutic activity “Empatias” was created. It consisted in the development of dyadic relations to promote empathy and a fortnightly therapeutic group focused on perspective taking. T-Student and ANOVA were used for statistical analysis.

Results and Discussion: There were non-significant differences in EQ at 0 and 9 months (EQ=39,2 vs EQ=39,7, respectively, p=0,813) and stability of the empathic trait was observed. However, there are some limitations of this study, such as the presence of confounders, the short time of longitudinal observation and the absence of validation of the psychometric scale to the portuguese population.

Conclusion: In this population of clinically stable patients enrolled in a Day Hospital programme, the empathic trait showed longitudinal stability. Although the role ascribed to empathy is well valued in the classification of mental disorders, the research in this area is still exploratory. Taking this into account, this study aims to add a contribution to the longitudinal evaluation of empathy.