Lack of sympathy?

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1

I’ve noticed over the past few years that I have a lack of sympathy. That is, when someone has something bad happen, even if it’s someone I care about very much, I have no emotional reaction. Nothing at all. I don’t feel sad for them, I’m just completely blank. I can be worried about them if they’re upset, but I’ve come to realize that that’s more of a selfish reaction, because I like spending time with them and I want them to be okay and happy so we can have a good time together.

But the thing is, I honestly do enjoy peoples’ company! I tend to be very generous, not asking for anything in return, and I really do care about the people in my life. I just can’t feel sympathy for them in anything but a purely selfish way. And it’s not just bad stuff, I was at a friend’s wedding and I didn’t feel anything, no happiness or excitement for the married couple. I tend to fake it, and I’ve gotten very good at acting.

I also have an odd reaction to the emotions I do feel. I don’t really have a physical reaction to them. I mean, I’ll laugh, I’ll cry, but for the most part it all feels fake, like I’m just phoning it in, even though the emotion itself is real.

I can’t tell if I’ve always been this way or if it’s been more recent, but I first started noticing it a couple years ago. I’m not too bothered by it, just a slight concern that there might be something wrong with me (other than the obvious), but I felt that I should bring it up with someone. Anyone have any ideas?

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I think this may just be a natural reaction because you’ve been going through a stressful time. Dealing with psychosis or schizophrenia is a stressful experience.

There is a lot of research that has come out over the past few years that shows that as people’s stress levels rise - their empathy / sympathy / compassion abilities go down.

Here are some examples of the research:

When Stress Rises, Empathy Suffers

Humans—and mice—are much more likely to feel empathy toward friends than strangers. New research finds that stress hormones are to blame, writes Robert M. Sapolsky

Among the many contradictions of humans, some of the more striking ones concern empathy. Our hearts break at a disaster on another continent, and we send money to people whose faces we will never see. We look after the well-being of our pets with deep, empathic concern. We feel the pain of characters in a novel. But at the same time, we can walk past a homeless person sleeping on the sidewalk without noticing him. It’s no news that we’re one very complicated species.

The challenge is to make sense of such behavior, to understand the circumstances that foster or hinder empathy. A recent study published in Current Biology—I’m one of the paper’s many co-authors—uncovers some of its biological underpinnings.

Some years ago, Dr. Mogil showed that even mice display such emotional contagion; their sensitivity to pain increased when they were exposed to another mouse in pain. Even more remarkably, the effect depended on familiarity: It only occurred if the other mouse was a cage mate. A stranger provoked no emotional contagion.

Why doesn’t a stranger evoke such empathy? A mouse exposed to a new mouse has a stress response, secreting a class of stress hormones called glucocorticoids. The scientists in the McGill study gave mice drugs that temporarily blocked either the secretion or the action of glucocorticoids. As a result, the mice displayed emotional contagion for strangers. The stress response had been blocking their capacity for empathy.

Source:

http://www.wsj.com/articles/when-stress-rises-empathy-suffers-1421423942

More news on research on this area:

http://www.huffingtonpost.com/2015/01/17/stress-empathy-_n_6466240.html

and

Stress is ‘barrier to feeling empathy for strangers’

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One other point is that the “Negative Symptoms” that are typical of schizophrenia include “emotional flattening” - or decreased or lack of emotions, so the issue could just be the common negative symptoms that most people who have schizophrenai experience.

Schizophrenia Symptoms:

negative (i.e. apathy, lack of emotion, poor or nonexistant social functioning), and cognitive (disorganized thoughts, difficulty concentrating and/or following instructions, difficulty completing tasks, memory problems)

Source: http://schizophrenia.com/diag.php#diagnosis

also - I guess this issue is also common with depression. It seems that only in “Anger” for people with schizophrenia are the emotional responses more typical of the broader population.

Here is some related research:

"Schizophrenia patients showed the usual effects from their facial expressions of sadness, fear, happiness, and surprise, but only from their postures of anger, whereas patients with depression showed the same effects only from their expressions and postures of sadness"

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I can definitely relate

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New research on this topic just came out today:

Blunted affect, also referred to as emotional blunting, is a prominent symptom of schizophrenia. Patients with blunted affect have difficulty in expressing their emotions. The work of Abrams and Taylor and their development of the Rating Scale for Emotional Blunting in the late 1970’s was an early indicator that blunted affect could indeed be assessed reliably. Since then, several new instruments assessing negative symptoms with subscales measuring blunted affect have been developed.

Source:

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I do not have SZ but can relate.

It seems that I can have lack of sympathy, especially when I am angry at someone or just in a bad mood.

I am under a lot of stress with different Anxiety/OCD Fears, maybe this has something to do with it

7

Your not alone. This happens to me too… all that emotion flying and I’m feeling numb and shut down… It’s not that I don’t care… I just don’t have any feelings about the situation at the time.

Sometimes… I have to fake the being happy for / with someone. I wish I didn’t… but sometimes it’s just how it is… I hate to say I just don’t care enough… because I do care… but I numb down.

I’ve been reading that a lot of people have numb or cross wired responses to other peoples emotions.

I have a bit of question for you… because I notice this with me…

do you feel more emotional or connected during a one on one interaction? For me… a large crowd of people like a wedding… that’s a lot of input… and I over load and shut down. If it’s one on one… I’m more at ease and I do feel things more naturally.

This is where we might have an advantage over neurotypical people… If someone tells you something bad that they are going through… you can offer a shoulder to cry on… but you don’t get caught up in the emotions… you might be the one who can see the clear path out of their problem. More analytical brain then emotional brain.

I hope things are still going well for you… the engagement… the moving… the costume design… wishing you the best in all you do.
James

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Hi Rowan
As we grow older, we face more risks and more stressfull situations than when we were younger. I think this is why its so difficult to remain empathic towards others. Its really a choice you have to make, if you feel this way. Im sure you have it in you, since you notice it. Im not saying you should join a religion or anything, just try to empatize a little more every day.

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I think that as long as you don’t decide to steal from someone who is crippled you’re okay. We all have a number of ways we can help out our friends. Sympathy just isn’t one way for you. You can be generous with your friends in other ways.