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Chronic Pain Modulates Empathic Responses in People with Spinal Cord Injury.

Giulia Galli1, Luca Sebastianelli1,2, Giorgia De Santis1,2

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Individuals with spinal cord injury (SCI) experience reduced empathy for pain compared to healthy individuals. Chronic pain after SCI is linked to lower empathy, impacting interpersonal reactivity.

Keywords:
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Area of Science:

  • Neuroscience
  • Psychology
  • Rehabilitation Medicine

Background:

  • Chronic pain following spinal cord injury (SCI) may impact embodied cognition, specifically empathy for pain.
  • Limited research exists on how self-pain in SCI affects empathy and cognitive processing.

Purpose of the Study:

  • To investigate differences in empathy for pain between individuals with SCI and healthy controls.
  • To quantify cognitive responses to pain-related stimuli in SCI patients.

Main Methods:

  • Behavioral classification task assessing reactions to others' pain.
  • 15 participants with SCI and 15 healthy controls.
  • Interpersonal Reactivity Index (IRI) for empathy and numeric rating scale for pain intensity.

Main Results:

  • Individuals with SCI showed significantly lower empathy levels (cognitive and affective) than controls.
  • Higher chronic pain unpleasantness correlated with lower empathic dispositions in the SCI group (r = -0.63; p = 0.01).
  • SCI participants displayed a reduced empathic response to observing others in pain.

Conclusions:

  • Chronic pain after SCI is associated with diminished empathic processing.
  • Findings offer insights into interpersonal reactivity mechanisms following SCI.
  • Embodied cognition, particularly empathy, is affected by SCI-related chronic pain.