Empathic response in manic bipolar and schizoaffective patients: A Romanian sample

Introduction Empathy is described as the ability to infer or share the feeling state of another person. Despite knowledge of impairments in cognitive and social functioning, to date, little work has been conducted concerning empathic response in bipolar and schizoaffective patients. Objectives Finding potential differences regarding the empathic response of manic bipolar and schizoaffective patients. Methods Inpatients from the Timisoara Psychiatric Clinic, diagnosed with either bipolar disorder ( n =50) or schizoaffective disorder ( n =45), according to ICD-10 criteria, and a healthy control group ( n =80) were included in the study. The study was conducted between 2011 and 2015. To assess the empathic response we used Empathy Quotient (EQ). Results We found statistically significant differences ( P P =0.03). Conclusions Bipolar and schizoaffective patients seem to have similar lower levels of empathy during the acute manic episode, but schizoaffective patients have a poorer empathic response than bipolar patients during euthymic periods.