About this Research Topic
Empathy for distress is sharing and understanding others’ suffering. It brings people together to cope with natural disasters, traumatic interpersonal events, and personal illness (e.g., COVID-19 pandemic, regional wars, and physical pain). Empathy for distress provides comfort for others and creates a better rapport between the communities of the world. However, empathy-induced personal distress (i.e., self-oriented reactions to others’ suffering) could build up in the empathizers and backfire, causing depression, anxiety, burnout, and other mental health issues. Meanwhile, intense emotional distress may cause people to avoid altruistic responsibilities in order to protect their own mental stability.
To date, the neurological bases underpinning empathy for distress have not been entirely decoded. It may overlap with the pain matrix (e.g., the left dorsolateral prefrontal cortex, DLPFC; the dorsal pons; the cerebellum; and the left caudal anterior cingulate cortex, ACC), the emotional processing and arousal (e.g., amygdala and hypothalamus), self-other distinction (e.g., the temporo-parietal junction, TPJ), personal distress (e.g., the posterior insula), and empathy per se (e.g., the anterior insula; and the ventrolateral prefrontal cortex, VLPFC). Knowledge of the neurological nature of empathy for distress, as well as the differentiation between empathy for distress and personal distress, would foster self-care and altruism in our society.
The aims of the current research topic are to:
• Explore the neurological mechanisms of empathy for distress with the general population, front-line workers, and clinical patients (e.g., depression and post-traumatic disorders).
• Investigate the neurological differences between empathy for emotional suffering (e.g., social pain) and physical suffering (e.g., physical pain).
• Explain the neurological differences between empathy for distress and personal distress.
• Identify influence factors of empathy for distress across cultures (e.g., independent and interdependent cultures).
• Explore the relationships among empathy for distress, personal distress, and mental health with front-line workers and other clinical or non-clinical communities.
Researchers investigating one or more of the questions above are welcome to submit their studies to this project. We are particularly looking for original research articles, case series, meta-analyses, and comprehensive reviews that explore the neurological nature of empathy for distress.
To date, the neurological bases underpinning empathy for distress have not been entirely decoded. It may overlap with the pain matrix (e.g., the left dorsolateral prefrontal cortex, DLPFC; the dorsal pons; the cerebellum; and the left caudal anterior cingulate cortex, ACC), the emotional processing and arousal (e.g., amygdala and hypothalamus), self-other distinction (e.g., the temporo-parietal junction, TPJ), personal distress (e.g., the posterior insula), and empathy per se (e.g., the anterior insula; and the ventrolateral prefrontal cortex, VLPFC). Knowledge of the neurological nature of empathy for distress, as well as the differentiation between empathy for distress and personal distress, would foster self-care and altruism in our society.
The aims of the current research topic are to:
• Explore the neurological mechanisms of empathy for distress with the general population, front-line workers, and clinical patients (e.g., depression and post-traumatic disorders).
• Investigate the neurological differences between empathy for emotional suffering (e.g., social pain) and physical suffering (e.g., physical pain).
• Explain the neurological differences between empathy for distress and personal distress.
• Identify influence factors of empathy for distress across cultures (e.g., independent and interdependent cultures).
• Explore the relationships among empathy for distress, personal distress, and mental health with front-line workers and other clinical or non-clinical communities.
Researchers investigating one or more of the questions above are welcome to submit their studies to this project. We are particularly looking for original research articles, case series, meta-analyses, and comprehensive reviews that explore the neurological nature of empathy for distress.
Keywords: empathy for distress, personal distress, traumatic distress, mental wellness, EEG, fMRI
Important Note: All contributions to this Research Topic must be within the scope of the section and journal to which they are submitted, as defined in their mission statements. Frontiers reserves the right to guide an out-of-scope manuscript to a more suitable section or journal at any stage of peer review.
