The paradox of empathy for pain: Personality, adversity, and affective resonance in psychiatry

Abstract

Empathy for pain (EfP) refers to the capacity to experience and understand others’ pain and represents a fundamental process for psychosocial functioning. Psychiatric literature on EfP remains at times paradoxical, reflecting both intra- and interindividual variability. Notably, EfP appears either diminished or heightened across various psychiatric conditions. This scoping review aims to synthesize current findings to identify unifying patterns, focusing specifically on the influence of early life adversity (ELA), adulthood stressors, and personality traits on EfP processes. The literature was reviewed across two core domains: the neurobiological mechanisms underlying EfP and psychiatric diagnoses characterized by empathic dysfunction. Therapeutic implications are also discussed. EfP consistently recruits the anterior insula and anterior cingulate cortex. Exposure to stressors results in differential patterns of activation in this core network, depending on the nature and severity of the experienced stress. Severe ELA heightens sensitivity to negative emotional cues and disrupts the balance between emotional and cognitive components of empathy, while moderate ELA induces a global decrease in both. Stressors encountered in adulthood tend to blunt empathic responses overall. Personality traits and disorders show specific EfP patterns: individuals with borderline personality disorder tend to display heightened emotional responses to others’ pain, while those with psychopathic traits exhibit reduced emotional signal processing. Mentalization-based treatment has shown promising results in improving empathy deficits in personality disorders. Other approaches, such as mindfulness-based interventions and behavioral empathy training, may also support empathic functioning but remain under-investigated.