Empathy and Impaired Socioemotional Self-Perception in Frontotemporal Dementia.

Autor:	Mendez MF; Veterans Affairs Greater Los Angeles Healthcare System, Los Angeles (Mendez, Jimenez); and Departments of Neurology (Mendez, Akhlaghipour, Jimenez), Psychiatry and Biobehavioral Sciences, and Medicine (Mendez), David Geffen School of Medicine, University of California, Los Angeles., Akhlaghipour G; Veterans Affairs Greater Los Angeles Healthcare System, Los Angeles (Mendez, Jimenez); and Departments of Neurology (Mendez, Akhlaghipour, Jimenez), Psychiatry and Biobehavioral Sciences, and Medicine (Mendez), David Geffen School of Medicine, University of California, Los Angeles., Jimenez EE; Veterans Affairs Greater Los Angeles Healthcare System, Los Angeles (Mendez, Jimenez); and Departments of Neurology (Mendez, Akhlaghipour, Jimenez), Psychiatry and Biobehavioral Sciences, and Medicine (Mendez), David Geffen School of Medicine, University of California, Los Angeles.
Jazyk:	angličtina
Zdroj:	The Journal of neuropsychiatry and clinical neurosciences [J Neuropsychiatry Clin Neurosci] 2022 Spring; Vol. 34 (2), pp. 177-181. Date of Electronic Publication: 2021 Dec 28.
DOI:	10.1176/appi.neuropsych.21040099
Abstrakt:	Objective: Impaired empathy is a core feature of behavioral variant frontotemporal dementia (bvFTD). Patients with bvFTD are also prominently impaired in experiencing self-conscious emotions. The investigators explored whether impaired empathy in bvFTD, such as self-conscious emotions, may result from impaired self-consciousness in social situations (socioemotional self-perception). Methods: This pilot study evaluated 25 patients with bvFTD and compared them with 25 patients with Alzheimer's disease who had comparable dementia severity. Their caregivers completed the Social Dysfunction Scale (SDS), which quantifies empathy, and an extensive intake interview that included questions regarding self-consciousness and insight. The patients completed two measures of self-perception in social situations, the Schutte Self-Report Emotional Intelligence Test (SSEIT) scale and the Embarrassability Scale (EMB). Results: Caregivers of patients with bvFTD, but not of patients with Alzheimer's disease, reported a high correlation between significantly decreased empathy (SDS) and decreased self-consciousness (intake interview questions). Consistent with lack of insight, the patients with bvFTD, unlike the patients with Alzheimer's disease, did not report decreases on the SSEIT and EMB measures. Conclusions: These preliminary findings suggest that impaired socioemotional self-perception plays a role in the loss of empathy among patients with bvFTD. A lack of self-consciousness in social situations may contribute to a loss of empathy resulting from an inability to co-represent another's emotion in relation to oneself.
Databáze:	MEDLINE
Externí odkaz:	Zobrazit plný text záznamu