del Rey GC, Ruiz RN, Bellosta-Batalla M, Sariñana-González P, Moya AL

Language: Spanish
References: 0
Page: 374-387
PDF size: 466.24 Kb.

ABSTRACT

Empathy is essential to both moral development and survival of the individual in the social context. Empathizing means put yourself in other person’s shoes, recognize and interpret their feelings and thoughts, but not feeling exactly the same. Thus, sympathy or emotional contagion occurs when the emotional state of another induces the same emotion in us. The aim of this study is to determine whether an association exists between empathy –in both cognitive and emotional components- and health. The latter was assessed by selfreported indicators, including perception of general health, and somatic and depressive symptoms. For this purpose, a transversal descriptive study was conducted in non-clinical population (n = 54). Results indicate that both personal distress (subscale of emotional empathy) and fantasy (subscale of cognitive empathy) are associated with poor health status. These findings suppose a starting point to develop detailed research in order to analyze the relationship between cognitive and emotional empathy and health. This could be applied for both preventive and psychotherapeutic interventions conducted in the health context.