Can Depression Affect Your Empathy Levels?

What is empathy?

The definition of empathy can be a little tough to narrow down.

According to Greater Good Magazine, empathy has to do with determining how someone else is feeling. It involves being able to step into another person’s shoes to make an educated guess as to their possible thoughts.

Often, studies recognize two kinds of empathy:

• affective empathy: how we might feel when we sense someone else’s emotions
• cognitive empathy: how well we can grasp another person’s emotions

  How is empathy related to mental health?

  Empathy may be related to mental health.

  For instance, an older 2007 studyTrusted Source states that numerous mental health conditions are linked to lower levels of empathy. Some people living with certain mental health conditions may not experience empathy altogether.

  A 2018 study suggests that reduced empathy seen in those living with antisocial personality disorder (ASPD) can increase the chance of instrumental aggression, also known as goal-oriented aggression.

  This means a person is more likely to act with aggression for personal gain due to reduced responsiveness to the distress cues of others.

  According to a 2018 reviewTrusted Source, impairments in cognitive empathy were found in those living with Alzheimer’s disease, which may affect cognitive decline. The review further indicates severe empathy deficits in those living with frontotemporal dementia (FTD).

  Is there a connection between empathy and depression?

  Everyone’s experience with depression will vary. Yet, it often appears that depression affects the level of empathy someone might have.

  Depression may affect empathy

  If you have depression, you may think that other people are more distressed.

  A 2017 studyTrusted Source asked participants to rate how upset they thought someone in a video felt. Participants who felt sad during the study also thought the person in the video was upset. Meanwhile, participants who didn’t feel sad rated the person in the video as less distressed.

  A 2014 study similarly concluded that depression affects empathy. But the results differ from the conclusions drawn in the 2017 study mentioned above.

  In particular, it was noted that study participants with depression scored lower on cognitive empathy, which is the ability to understand how someone else might be feeling.

  Possible differences between age groups and sex

  How depression affects empathy may differ depending on your age and sex.

  For instance, a 2011 study that included couples found that women experiencing symptoms of depression were less likely to accurately read their significant other’s emotions or understand what they were thinking.

  Further, a 2021 studyTrusted Source suggests that the relationship between empathy and depression might change with age.

  In adolescents, it was found that empathy and depression levels would move up or down together, so that a younger person may show both high empathy and higher levels of depression. The opposite was found in older adults.

  Antidepressant treatments may be at fault

  Some research suggests that antidepressant treatments, and not depression itself, may be behind any lowered empathy levels.

  For instance, in a 2019 studyTrusted Source, participants with depression didn’t experience reduced empathy levels before starting treatment. Later, three months into treatment, their affective empathy levels had dropped. Still, their cognitive empathy levels didn’t change.

  Next steps

  If you or a loved one are experiencing depression, it’s important to seek help from a trusted professional.

  Further, if you’re experiencing lower empathy, you may want to try to improve your empathy levels.

  This can include finding a support group to help you talk through any challenges you’re facing.