Empathically Caused Distress And The Possibilities Of Its Diagnostics

Abstract

The article deals with theoretical questions and empirical studies related to empathically caused distress. Empathic distress is seen as the result of the functional mecha- nisms of empathy, and the transformation of the experience of this distress, in fact, is a productive development of empathy as the understanding, relation, and prosocial behavior motivator. Neuroscientific data about the nature and pathological development of personal distress are considered. Differentiation is made between the con- cepts of empathically caused distress, personal distress, empathically caused parallel feelings, and empathically caused reactive feelings. The possibilities and limitations of personal distress scale (from Interpersonal Reactivity Index by M. Davis) and the results of studies with its use are analysed. Data concerning the connection of personal distress and indicators of emotional intelligence, features of psychological defence mechanisms and coping strategies, personality factors of personal distress are presented. The authors express their gratitude to Isaeva M.A., Ananko K.D. — graduates of the Faculty of Counseling and Clinical Psychology of the Moscow State University of Psy- chology and Education for their assistance in collecting and analyzing research data.

Keywords

• empathy
• personal distress
• empathic concern
• sympathy
• emotional regulation
• emotional contagion
• shared feelings