Empathy in depression: Egocentric and altercentric biases and the role of alexithymia

Hoffmann, Ferdinand; Banzhaf, Christian; Kanske, Philipp; Gärtner, Matti; Bermpohl, Felix; Singer, Tania

doi:10.1016/j.jad.2016.03.007

Cited by 54 publications

(62 citation statements)

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“…This mechanism has been labelled ‘emotional contagion’ 85, 86 , and is somewhat implied in the CARING dimension of the ANPS (e.g., item: “ I am a person who strongly feels the pain of other people” ). In line with our findings, adverse emotional reactions in response to another person’s emotional feelings (especially negative ones), empathic concern, but not poor perspective taking, are commonly reported in depressed patients 87, 88 . Our results are also coherent with the literature demonstrating that individuals who are socially anxious have elevated empathic tendencies (but similar perspective taking scores) compared to low socially anxious individuals 89 .…”

Section: Discussionsupporting

confidence: 92%

Identifying affective personality profiles: A latent profile analysis of the Affective Neuroscience Personality Scales

Orri

Pingault

Rouquette

et al. 2017

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Based on evolutionary theory, a recent model in affective neuroscience delineated six emotional brain systems at the core of human personality: SEEKING, CARING, PLAYFULNESS, FEAR, ANGER, SADNESS. The Affective Neuroscience Personality Scales (ANPS) assess their functioning. Using a person-centred approach of the ANPS, this study: (i) examined the existence of latent personality profiles, (ii) studied their gender invariance, (iii) assessed their longitudinal (4 years) stability, and (iv) explored how they relate to several intrapersonal, interpersonal, and emotion regulation skills. Latent Profile Analysis in 2 samples (Canadian, longitudinal, N = 520; French, cross-sectional, N = 830) found that, qualitatively, 3 profiles characterized both populations and genders, with one distinction for the second profile where the French women endorsed slightly higher and lower scores for, respectively, the negative and positive emotions. Whilst not being quantitatively similar across genders, the personality profiles remained consistent across time in the longitudinal sample. Associations between profiles and intrapersonal (e.g. depression), interpersonal (e.g. empathy), and emotion regulation skills measures (e.g. emotional intelligence) offered concurrent validity evidence. This person centred approach to ANPS offers a holistic and parsimonious way to study affective personality dimensions. It opens promising avenues for future studies on the predictive value of ANPS profiles, and for personality-targeted interventions.

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Section: Discussionsupporting

confidence: 92%

Identifying affective personality profiles: A latent profile analysis of the Affective Neuroscience Personality Scales

Orri

Pingault

Rouquette

et al. 2017

Sci Rep

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“…This poor capacity to adopt the point of view of others is consistent with the idea that this group has main difficulties at the cognitive level (Vorst and Bermond, 2001). Some studies based on the TAS-20, i.e., an evaluation that makes no difference between affective and cognitive dimensions, reported lower scores in PT factor in alexithymia (Moriguchi et al, 2006, 2007; Neumann et al, 2014; Hoffmann et al, 2016), but also on other sub-scales constituting the affective part of the empathy inventory, such as PD (Moriguchi et al, 2007) or FS (Grynberg et al, 2010). …”

Section: Discussionmentioning

confidence: 99%

“…On the PD sub-scale, AA group had lower scores than CA. This sub-scale is thought to assess the vulnerability to stress or to contagion when facing uncomfortable feelings like anxiety (Davis, 1983; Hoffmann et al, 2016). A recent study evaluating alexithymia with TAS-20, reported a link between higher PD scores and depression, and suggested that the tendency to emotional contagion commonly associated with depression can be attributed to this factor (Hoffmann et al, 2016).…”

Section: Discussionmentioning

confidence: 99%

“…This sub-scale is thought to assess the vulnerability to stress or to contagion when facing uncomfortable feelings like anxiety (Davis, 1983; Hoffmann et al, 2016). A recent study evaluating alexithymia with TAS-20, reported a link between higher PD scores and depression, and suggested that the tendency to emotional contagion commonly associated with depression can be attributed to this factor (Hoffmann et al, 2016). The fact that the AA and NA groups showed a negative correlation between the effect of SCP on SCR and the BDI scores on one hand and the non-existence of such correlation for CA participants on the other hand constitutes another argument in favor of the bidimensional conception of alexithymia separating a cognitive dimension from an affective one.…”

Section: Discussionmentioning

confidence: 99%

“…To this end, we recorded SCRs as a marker of the autonomic reactivity to the arousing value of the emotional images. Considering that the social and emotional deficits have been linked with alexithymia (Fukunishi et al, 1997; Moriguchi et al, 2006, 2007; Grynberg et al, 2010; Neumann et al, 2014; Hoffmann et al, 2016), we also assessed empathy, anxiety, depression, and social phobia, although the specific link between these dimensions and electrodermal variations remains a topic of debate (see Boucsein, 2012). …”

Section: Introductionmentioning

confidence: 99%

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Autonomic Reactivity to Arousing Stimuli with Social and Non-social Relevance in Alexithymia

et al. 2017

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Emotional difficulties in alexithymia and their social consequences have been linked to alterations in autonomic nervous system. However, most of previous studies did not take into account the distinction between the affective and the cognitive dimensions of the alexithymia, leading to inconsistent results.Aim: In this study, we compared the effects of both dimensions of alexithymia on the autonomic arousal to emotional and social visual stimulations.Methods: Skin conductance responses (SCRs) to items of the International Affective Pictures System characterized by emotional (unpleasant, neutral, and pleasant), social (with humans) or non-social (without humans) content were recorded in non-alexithymic (NA), affective (AA) and cognitive alexithymic (CA) participants, selected on the basis of the Toronto Alexithymia Scale and the Bermond-Vorst Alexithymia Questionnaire. All participants responded to questionnaires of empathy, social phobia, depression, and anxiety before the experiment and evaluated the arousal of the pictures after it.Results: Cognitive alexithymic group showed lower amplitudes of SCRs to pictures with social than without social relevance whereas the opposite pattern was observed for the NA group. Arousal emotional effects of the pictures on SCRs did not differ among groups. In addition, CA participants showed lower scores than NA in the Personal Taking sub-scale of the empathy questionnaire, while AA showed lower scores than NA in the fantasy sub-scale. The CA group showed higher social phobia, depression and anxiety scores, than the other two groups.Conclusion: This work has two original outcomes: first, affective alexithymics expressed lower empathic affective scores than other groups; second, alexithymia modulated the impact of the social relevance of the stimuli on the autonomic reactivity, this impact vanishing in affective alexithymics and reversing in cognitive alexithymics. Thus, though the groups could not be distinguished on the basis of emotional effect on SCRs, they clearly differed when the empathic characteristics and the autonomic impact of social relevance were considered. Finally, the described autonomic signature to social relevant information could contribute to elucidate the difficulty of alexithymics to deal with emotions during social transactions.

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Effects of Contemplative Dyads on Engagement and Perceived Social Connectedness Over 9 Months of Mental Training

2017

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Empathy in depression: Egocentric and altercentric biases and the role of alexithymia

Cited by 54 publications

References 55 publications

Identifying affective personality profiles: A latent profile analysis of the Affective Neuroscience Personality Scales

Identifying affective personality profiles: A latent profile analysis of the Affective Neuroscience Personality Scales

Autonomic Reactivity to Arousing Stimuli with Social and Non-social Relevance in Alexithymia

Effects of Contemplative Dyads on Engagement and Perceived Social Connectedness Over 9 Months of Mental Training

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