Neural activity related to cognitive and emotional empathy in post-traumatic stress disorder

Mazza, Monica; Tempesta, Daniela; Pino, Maria Chiara; Nigri, Anna; Catalucci, Alessia; Guadagni, Veronica; Gallucci, M.; Iaria, Giuseppe; Ferrara, Michele

doi:10.1016/j.bbr.2014.12.049

Cited by 52 publications

(52 citation statements)

References 54 publications

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“…30,57 In addition, previous neuroimaging studies of empathy have also suggested associations between OCD and emotional processing. 56 The neural correlates of empathy involve temporal and frontal lobe regions including the cingulate, insula, medial prefrontal cortex, 18,58,59 and orbitofrontal cortex. 60 Interestingly, these regions are related to the pathophysiology of OCD.…”

Section: Discussionmentioning

confidence: 99%

“…15 For this reason, empathy has recently been considered a multifaceted concept that includes at least two dimensions: explicitly considering others' internal states (mentalizing) and sharing those states (experience sharing). 11,[16][17][18][19] According to the recent literature, 11,16 mentalizing ability examines ToM capacity by asking subjects to draw explicit inferences about the mental states of others and their ability to represent those states outside of the ''here and now'' including the future, past, counterfactuals, and targets' perspectives. Experience sharing is the tendency to take on, resonate with, or ''share'' the emotions of others, and it is often tied to a mechanism known as ''neural resonance.''…”

Section: Introductionmentioning

confidence: 99%

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Two systems for empathy in obsessive-compulsive disorder: mentalizing and experience sharing

Pino

Berardis²,

Mariano

et al. 2016

Rev. Bras. Psiquiatr.

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Objective: To investigate empathic abilities in patients with obsessive-compulsive disorder (OCD) compared to control subjects. OCD is characterized by persistent obsessions and compulsions. Previous studies have proposed specific emotion recognition deficits in patients with OCD. The ability to recognize emotion is part of the broad construct of empathy that incorporates mentalizing and experience-sharing dimensions. Methods: Twenty-four subjects with a diagnosis of OCD and 23 control subjects underwent empathic measures. Results: Patients with OCD compared to control subjects showed deficits in all mentalizing measures. They were incapable of understanding the mental and emotional states of other people. On the other hand, in the sharing experience measures, the OCD group was able to empathize with the emotional experience of other people when they expressed emotions with positive valence, but were not able to do when the emotional valence was negative. Conclusion: Our results suggest that patients with OCD show a difficulty in mentalizing ability, whereas the deficit in sharing ability is specific for the negative emotional valence.

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Section: Discussionmentioning

confidence: 99%

Section: Introductionmentioning

confidence: 99%

Two systems for empathy in obsessive-compulsive disorder: mentalizing and experience sharing

Pino

Berardis²,

Mariano

et al. 2016

Rev. Bras. Psiquiatr.

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“…Participants with PTSD reported feeling less emotion than earthquake survivors with no PTSD when confronted with others' emotional expressions, but the groups did not differ in their subjective responses to the neutral stimuli. In addition, the PTSD group showed greater activation of subcortical emotional brain regions including the anterior insula and ventral striatum in a comparison of own greater than other emotion ratings . Further examination of the ventral striatum, a region involved in reward and motivation, showed that both groups engaged this region more for self‐ than other‐focused emotion rating (the PTSD group to a greater extent).…”

Section: Introductionmentioning

confidence: 85%

“…In addition, the PTSD group showed greater activation of subcortical emotional brain regions including the anterior insula and ventral striatum in a comparison of own greater than other emotion ratings. 54 Further examination of the ventral striatum, a region involved in reward and motivation, showed that both groups engaged this region more for self-than other-focused emotion rating (the PTSD group to a greater extent).…”

Section: Neuroimaging Studies Of Social Cognition In Ptsdmentioning

confidence: 98%

“…One possible interpretation is that activation of midbrain descending arousal pathways may reflect a panic response which occurs at the expense of potential perspective‐taking, and may partly explain the mentalizing and emotion recognition deficits often observed in individuals with PTSD. Similarly, Mazza et al asked survivors of the 2009 earthquake in L'Aquila, Italy to participate in functional magnetic resonance imaging (fMRI) using naturalistic scene stimuli depicting people with emotional and neutral facial expressions, and to rate their own and the others' feelings. Participants with PTSD reported feeling less emotion than earthquake survivors with no PTSD when confronted with others' emotional expressions, but the groups did not differ in their subjective responses to the neutral stimuli.…”

Section: Introductionmentioning

confidence: 99%

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Role of social cognition in post‐traumatic stress disorder: A review and meta‐analysis

Stevens

Jovanović

2018

Genes Brain and Behavior

104

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Social functioning is a key component of recovery after a potentially traumatic experience, and the buffering role of the social support in trauma resilience and recovery has been very well documented. Factors contributing to resilience and recovery are notable because although most people will experience a traumatic event during their lifetimes, only 6% to 10% are diagnosed with post-traumatic stress disorder (PTSD). The relationship between an individual and their social environment is determined both by the quality of the social environment itself, and by the individual's perception and understanding of information conveyed by the other people around them. However, little research has considered the contribution of these internal social cognitive processes to PTSD risk or resilience. The current review draws on the existing literature on social cognitive functioning in trauma exposure and PTSD, identifying key questions and themes for future research. We utilized a meta-analytic approach to assess the evidence for alterations in social cognition in PTSD, finding a consistent large deficit in social cognitive performance in PTSD groups relative to trauma-exposed and healthy controls. We then reviewed the literature on the interaction of genes and the social environment, supporting the hypothesis that social cognitive deficits are a preexisting risk factor for PTSD. Finally, we reviewed relevant neuroimaging findings, which suggest that alterations in social cognition affect the perception of threat cues in PTSD. Overall, research on social cognition and PTSD is still emerging, but existing findings suggest this is an important and understudied area for the understanding of PTSD.

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Neurophysiological Correlates of Collective Trauma Recall in 2009 L'Aquila Earthquake Survivors

Massaro

Altavilla

Aceto

et al. 2018

Journal of Traumatic Stress

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In the present study, we aimed to explore neural correlates of survivors of the 2009 L'Aquila, Italy earthquake in response to being shown pictures featuring their own city before and after an earthquake as well as those of an unfamiliar city. Moreover, we explored the associations among psychological variables and brain responses to the pictures of L'Aquila after the earthquake. Our final sample (N = 30 adults) comprised 15 survivors (M age = 31.40 years, SD = 9.42) and 15 controls (M age = 30.53 years, SD = 10.01). Participants’ electroencephalographic (EEG) data were recorded during a visual task that included earthquake‐related stimuli. Participants were assessed for posttraumatic and dissociation symptoms and event‐related potential components, and low‐resolution electromagnetic tomography (sLORETA) were analyzed. Compared to the control group, source localization in survivors indicated a lower intensity of the amygdala, hippocampal, parahippocampal, and temporopolar areas in response to visual stimuli concerning the earthquake, p < .001 to p < .0001. Results indicated a reduced limbic activation in response to visual stimuli that evoked the recall of earthquake in survivors. This finding suggests that survivors likely adopted a distancing strategy toward stimuli that may have elicited an emotional activation related to collective trauma.

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Neural activity related to cognitive and emotional empathy in post-traumatic stress disorder

Cited by 52 publications

References 54 publications

Two systems for empathy in obsessive-compulsive disorder: mentalizing and experience sharing

Two systems for empathy in obsessive-compulsive disorder: mentalizing and experience sharing

Role of social cognition in post‐traumatic stress disorder: A review and meta‐analysis

Neurophysiological Correlates of Collective Trauma Recall in 2009 L'Aquila Earthquake Survivors

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