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Do people with bipolar disorder have a lack of empathy?

Published online by Cambridge University Press:  01 September 2022

E. Mhiri ,
J. Ben Thabet ,
R. Feki ,
I. Gassara ,
N. Smaoui ,
L. Zouari ,
S. Omri ,
M. Maalej ,
N. Charfi  and
M. Maalej
E. Mhiri*
Affiliation:
Psychiatry C Department, Hedi Chaker, sfax, Tunisia psychiatry department, Hedi Chaker, sfax, Tunisia
J. Ben Thabet
Affiliation:
psychiatry department, Hedi Chaker, sfax, Tunisia
R. Feki
Affiliation:
psychiatry department, Hedi Chaker, sfax, Tunisia
I. Gassara
Affiliation:
psychiatry department, Hedi Chaker, sfax, Tunisia
N. Smaoui
Affiliation:
psychiatry department, Hedi Chaker, sfax, Tunisia
L. Zouari
Affiliation:
psychiatry department, Hedi Chaker, sfax, Tunisia
S. Omri
Affiliation:
psychiatry department, Hedi Chaker, sfax, Tunisia
M. Maalej
Affiliation:
psychiatry department, Hedi Chaker, sfax, Tunisia
N. Charfi
Affiliation:
psychiatry department, Hedi Chaker, sfax, Tunisia
M. Maalej
Affiliation:
psychiatry department, Hedi Chaker, sfax, Tunisia
*
*Corresponding author.

Abstract

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Introduction

Impairments of empathy have been observed in patients with various psychiatric Disorders. Yet, little research on empathy concerning mood disorders exists.

Objectives

To compare empathy levels in euthymic bipolar patients (BP) and healthy controls (HC).

Methods

A cross-sectional and comparative study of 78 patients followed for bipolar disorder, during euthymia, at the psychiatric outpatient clinic at CHU Hédi Chaker in Sfax, and 78 age-gender matched HC. We used a socio-demographic and clinical data sheet and the Questionnaire of Cognitive And Affective Empathy (QCAE) to assess empathy with its two dimensions : “Affective empathy” and “Cognitive empathy”.

Results

The average age was 36.27 years, the sex ratio was 5.5. Bipolar I disorder was diagnosed in 88.5% of patients. The mean age of onset was 27.73 years, and the mean duration of illness was 8.4 years. Total scores of empathy as well as scores of cognitive and affective empathy were higher in HC than in BP. *Total QCAE BP vs HC : 72.49 vs 80.53 *Cognitive empathy BP vs HC : 43.21 vs 94.24 *Affective empathy BP vs HC : 29.36 vs 30.44 A significant difference in QCAE score and cognitive empathy score between BP and HC was found (p<10-3).

Conclusions

In our study, euthymic BP have been less empathetic than HC. Research on the subject are small and few. Thus, more studies are needed to confirm our results on the effect of mood disorders on empathy.

Disclosure

No significant relationships.

Keywords

empathybipolareuthymicmatchedcontrols
Type
Abstract
Information
European Psychiatry , Volume 65 , Special Issue S1: Abstracts of the 30th European Congress of Psychiatry , June 2022 , pp. S417 - S418
Creative Commons
Creative Common License - CCCreative Common License - BY
This is an Open Access article, distributed under the terms of the Creative Commons Attribution licence (http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/4.0/), which permits unrestricted re-use, distribution, and reproduction in any medium, provided the original work is properly cited.
Copyright
© The Author(s), 2022. Published by Cambridge University Press on behalf of the European Psychiatric Association
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