Greenberg, D. M., Baron-Cohen, S., Rosenberg, N., Fonagy, P., &amp; Rentfrow, P. J. (2018). Elevated empathy in adults following childhood trauma. PLOS ONE, 13(10). https://doi.org/10.1371/journal.pone.0203886 

Syracuse University

  Traumatic events increase the risk of depression, but there is also evidence that adversity can lead to posttraumatic growth, including increased compassion and prosocial behavior.

Elevated Empathy in Adults following Childhood Trauma

- Asked adults to report if they had a history of childhood trauma and to complete a measure of trait empathy, the Empathy Quotient (EQ)

- Asked an independent sample of adults to complete the same task using a different empathy measure, the Interpersonal Reactivity Index (IRI) 

Research about Elevated Empathy in Adults

- Empathy (EQ)

- Interpersonal Reactivity Index (IRI)

- Childhood trauma


Measures about Elevated Empathy in Adults

- Findings in Study 1

- Findings in Study 2

- Common findings

Summary of Findings

- A stronger capacity for mentalizing is protective and that the ability to mentalize a trauma could be a resilience factor.

- Empathy (= cognitive empathy + affective empathy) and mentalizing (= cognitive empathy ) are related but different constructs.

- Relationship between empathy and symptoms are complex. Undue weight on affective empathy might manifest clinically as maladaptively high levels of sensitivity (e.g. borderline personality disorder)

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