The article presents the results of a study of empathy in connection with the severity of symptoms of burnout among nurses. To assess empathy we used Interpersonal Reactivity Index (IRI) by M. Davis, to measure burnout level — Maslach Burnout Test (MBT). As a result of the regression analysis of the data, the main hypothesis of the study was confirmed: it is the level of personal distress as a phenomenon of empathy dysregulation that contributes to the development of symptoms of helping professionals’ burnout. “Positive” empathic processes (perspective taking, fantasy and empathic concern) could serve as a means of burnout prevention. Personal distress is seen in its relationship with alexithymia (measured by Toronto Alexithymia Scale TAS-20-R) and psychological mindedness (propensity to psychological thinking, measured by Psychological Mindedness Scale by H. Conte) as the characteris- tics that reflect emotional regulation and coping strategies. The work experience of nurses did not act as a predictor of burnout indicators. This article was prepared with the financial support of the Russian Foundation of Hu- manities (project № 15-26-01007) and Belarusian Republican Foundation for Fundamental Research (project №Г15Р-028), international project “Empathy development in socionomic (“helping”) professions”.

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The article deals with theoretical questions and empirical studies related to empathically caused distress. Empathic distress is seen as the result of the functional mecha- nisms of empathy, and the transformation of the experience of this distress, in fact, is a productive development of empathy as the understanding, relation, and prosocial behavior motivator. Neuroscientific data about the nature and pathological development of personal distress are considered. Differentiation is made between the con- cepts of empathically caused distress, personal distress, empathically caused parallel feelings, and empathically caused reactive feelings. The possibilities and limitations of personal distress scale (from Interpersonal Reactivity Index by M. Davis) and the results of studies with its use are analysed. Data concerning the connection of personal distress and indicators of emotional intelligence, features of psychological defence mechanisms and coping strategies, personality factors of personal distress are presented. The authors express their gratitude to Isaeva M.A., Ananko K.D. — graduates of the Faculty of Counseling and Clinical Psychology of the Moscow State University of Psy- chology and Education for their assistance in collecting and analyzing research data.