Clinical symptomatology and empathy in schizophrenia: Which relationship?

Abstract

IntroductionThe impairment of cognitive and affective empathy among patients with schizophrenia (SCZ) may represent a significant feature of the illness. However, the relationship between those impairment and dimensions of psychosis remains unclear.ObjectivesTo explore whether cognitive and affective empathy are associated with severety of different psychotic symptoms.MethodsCognitive and affective empathy were evaluated in 58 patients with stable schizophrenia with the Questionnaire of Cognitive and Affective Empathy (QCAE) comprising five subscales intended to assess cognitive and affective components of empathy. Symptomatology evaluation comprised the Positive and Negative Syndrome Scale (PANSS), the Calgary Depression Scale for Schizophrenia (CDSS) and the Clinical Global Impressions Scale Improvement and severity (CGI).ResultsPatients with better cognitive empathy had less total CDSS scores (P = 0.036, r = −0.449) and lower CGI-severity scale scores (P = 0.01, r = −0.536). Patients with better affective empathy had lower scores (which means a better improvement) at the CGI-improvement scale (P = 0.03, r = −0.461).ConclusionsOur results suggest that empathy with its different component is not totally independent of the clinical state of the patient. Further studies are required to confirm whether empathy deficits are state or trait aspects of SCZ.Disclosure of interestThe authors have not supplied their declaration of competing interest.