Bartochowski Zachary, Gatla Shravan, Khoury Rita, Al-Dahhak Roula, Grossberg George T
Department of Psychiatry and Behavioral Neuroscience, Saint Louis University School of Medicine, St. Louis, Missouri 63104-1027 USA; E-MAIL:
Ann Clin Psychiatry. 2018 Aug;30(3):220-232.
Empathy can be broadly defined as the ability to understand what others feel (cognitive empathy) and feel what others feel (affective empathy). The capacity to empathize may be impaired in certain major neurocognitive disorders (MNCDs), affecting not only the patient, but also the caregivers.
PubMed and Google Scholar databases were searched for studies investigating empathy changes, using an objective scale, in patients with MNCDs.
The Interpersonal Reactivity Index was most commonly used to evaluate empathy in this population. Impairments in cognitive but not affective empathy were found in patients with Alzheimer's disease (AD), and may be attributable to overall cognitive decline. Patients with frontotemporal dementia (FTD) have demonstrated severe deficits in empathy, correlating with greater caregiver burden. Empathy changes in patients with dementia with Lewy bodies, vascular dementia, and Parkinson's disease dementia have not yet been studied. Intranasal oxytocin has emerged as a promising therapeutic approach for empathy loss, but it has not been explored yet in patients with MNCDs.
Caregivers need to be educated about empathy loss, which is an important part of the disease process in AD and FTD. Future research should further assess empathy changes in other MNCDs, as well as explore novel treatment options in this field.
共情可广义定义为理解他人感受（认知共情）和感受他人感受（情感共情）的能力。共情能力在某些主要神经认知障碍（MNCD）中可能受损，这不仅会影响患者，还会影响照料者。
在PubMed和谷歌学术数据库中检索使用客观量表调查MNCD患者共情变化的研究。
人际反应指数最常用于评估该人群的共情能力。在阿尔茨海默病（AD）患者中发现认知共情而非情感共情受损，这可能归因于整体认知衰退。额颞叶痴呆（FTD）患者表现出严重的共情缺陷，这与照料者负担加重相关。路易体痴呆、血管性痴呆和帕金森病痴呆患者的共情变化尚未得到研究。鼻内注射催产素已成为一种有前景的治疗共情丧失的方法，但尚未在MNCD患者中进行探索。
需要对照料者进行关于共情丧失的教育，共情丧失是AD和FTD疾病过程的重要组成部分。未来的研究应进一步评估其他MNCD中的共情变化，并探索该领域的新治疗选择。
