When Do We Have Empathy for the Mentally Ill?
&gt;For example, one vignette described “Terry,” a 28-year-old woman who felt deeply sad for the past four weeks and lost interest in activities she usually enjoys. In the “biological” version presented to the study participants, Terry’s father also suffered from symptoms of depression, a doctor told her as a teenager that she might have an imbalance of neurotransmitters, and an MRI scan revealed that she had an unusually small hippocampus, which could affect her reaction to stress. In the “psychosocial” version, Terry’s father died when she was five, her mother has always been highly critical and not very nurturing, and Terry suffered from a recent breakup and problems at work.<p>&gt;...respondents felt less empathy for the fictional patients when they read the biological explanation.<p>Am I missing something here? Of course people would empathize more with a person who has relatable experiences. Nobody is going to relate to &quot;an MRI scan revealed that she had an unusually small hippocampus&quot; but almost everyone has experienced relationship troubles and problems at work.