- There was no significant difference between groups (trauma vs. no trauma) for Cognitive Empathy.

- Cognitive component of the IRI (i.e. Perspective Taking) which was found to be significantly different between the groups.

- There was no effect of trauma on the Social Skills component of the EQ.

Findings in Study 1

- There was no significant difference found for Personal Distress between the groups.

- Empathy may be an ‘end-product’ of posttraumatic growth.

Findings in Study 2

- Adults who reported experiencing a traumatic event in childhood had elevated empathy levels compared to adults who did not experience a traumatic event.

- In the trauma groups, the severity the childhood trauma was positively linked to empathy levels.

Common Findings

- Findings in Study 1

- Findings in Study 2

- Common findings

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

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 

Reference

- 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

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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