Australian Catholic University, Australia; The University of Melbourne, Australia.
The University of Queensland, Australia.
J Affect Disord. 2024 Dec 15;367:462-478. doi: 10.1016/j.jad.2024.08.215. Epub 2024 Sep 3.
Individuals with Borderline Personality Disorder (BPD) are theorized to experience lower cognitive empathy but heightened affective empathy. Despite meta-analyses addressing cognitive empathy, affective empathy remains unexplored. This pre-registered systematic review and meta-analysis investigated affective empathy in individuals with BPD or high BPD traits relative to healthy comparisons, using a multidimensional approach including, early affective empathy, emotion contagion, and empathic concern.
Systematic search of SCOPUS, PubMed, Medline COMPLETE, and PsycINFO (June 27, 2022, May 14, 2023, and July 1, 2024) was completed. Included studies compared affective empathy in those with BPD/high BPD traits with healthy comparisons, utilized experimental or self-report designs, and were peer-reviewed or PhD theses. Risk of bias was assessed using the Newcastle-Ottawa Scale.
Among 22 eligible studies identified, results revealed individuals with BPD/high BPD traits showed significantly higher emotion contagion (N = 1797, g = -1.10, 95 % CI [-1.57, -0.62]). No significant differences were found in empathic concern (N = 1545, g = 0.06, 95 % CI [-0.10, 0.22]), or early affective empathy for anger (N = 245, g = 0.28, 95 % CI [-0.0.53, 1.09]) and happiness, (N = 189, g = 0.34, 95 % CI [-0.1.50, 2.18]).
Few included studies for early affective empathy, methodological shortcomings in the broader literature and study heterogeneity suggest caution when interpreting these effects, emphasizing the need for targeted research.
While individuals with BPD/high BPD traits are more likely to subjectively experience others' distress through emotion contagion, no differences were found in early affective empathy or ability to direct sympathy and concern towards others.
患有边缘型人格障碍（BPD）的个体被认为存在较低的认知同理心，但存在较高的情感同理心。尽管有元分析探讨了认知同理心，但情感同理心仍未得到探索。本预先注册的系统评价和荟萃分析使用多维方法，包括早期情感同理心、情绪感染和同理心关怀，调查了 BPD 或高 BPD 特质个体与健康对照者相比的情感同理心。
系统检索了 SCOPUS、PubMed、Medline COMPLETE 和 PsycINFO（2022 年 6 月 27 日、2023 年 5 月 14 日和 2024 年 7 月 1 日）。纳入的研究比较了 BPD/高 BPD 特质个体与健康对照者的情感同理心，使用了实验或自我报告设计，并经过同行评审或博士论文。使用纽卡斯尔-渥太华量表评估偏倚风险。
在 22 项符合条件的研究中，结果显示，BPD/高 BPD 特质个体的情绪感染明显更高（N=1797，g=-1.10，95%置信区间[-1.57，-0.62]）。在同理心关怀方面未发现显著差异（N=1545，g=0.06，95%置信区间[-0.10，0.22]），或对愤怒（N=245，g=0.28，95%置信区间[-0.0.53，1.09]）和幸福（N=189，g=0.34，95%置信区间[-0.1.50，2.18]）的早期情感同理心。
对早期情感同理心的研究较少，更广泛文献中的方法学缺陷和研究异质性表明，在解释这些影响时应谨慎，强调需要有针对性的研究。
虽然 BPD/高 BPD 特质个体更有可能通过情绪感染主观地体验他人的痛苦，但在早期情感同理心或将同情和关注导向他人的能力方面没有差异。
