Department of Psychiatry and Behavioural Neurosciences, McMaster University, Hamilton, Ontario, Canada.
Psychiatry Res. 2011 Jul 30;188(2):231-6. doi: 10.1016/j.psychres.2011.04.013. Epub 2011 May 17.
Individuals with major depressive disorder (MDD) demonstrate deficits in multiple social cognitive domains; however, systematic investigations of empathic responding have not been performed. Twenty patients with MDD completed two measures of empathy, the Interpersonal Reactivity Index (IRI: Davis, 1980, 1983) and the Toronto Empathy Questionnaire (TEQ: Spreng et al., 2009). Relative to matched controls, patients with MDD reported significantly reduced levels of empathy measured broadly on the TEQ and specifically in cognitive ('Perspective Taking') and affective ('Empathic Concern') domains captured by the IRI. A higher illness burden (i.e., greater number of past depressive episodes) was associated with greater reductions in perspective taking ability. This study provides early evidence of impaired empathic abilities in patients with MDD that may worsen with illness progression. Alternatively, reductions in perspective taking ability may contribute to a more severe course of illness in this population. Further longitudinal work is needed to characterize the relation between social cognitive performance and social functioning in this population.
患有重度抑郁症（MDD）的个体在多个社会认知领域表现出缺陷；然而，共情反应的系统研究尚未进行。20 名 MDD 患者完成了两项共情测量，即人际反应指数（IRI：戴维斯，1980 年，1983 年）和多伦多共情问卷（TEQ：Spreng 等人，2009 年）。与匹配的对照组相比，MDD 患者报告的共情水平显著降低，TEQ 广泛测量，IRI 中具体的认知（“换位思考”）和情感（“共情关注”）领域测量也是如此。更高的疾病负担（即更多的过去抑郁发作次数）与换位思考能力的更大降低相关。这项研究提供了早期证据，表明 MDD 患者的共情能力受损，随着疾病的进展可能会恶化。或者，换位思考能力的降低可能会导致该人群疾病更严重。需要进一步的纵向研究来描述该人群的社会认知表现与社会功能之间的关系。
