Abstract:

Objective To investigate the features of empathy deficiency of the patients with schizophrenia,and to analyze the relationship between empathy ability,clinical symptoms,and social function.Methods The patients with first-episode  schizophrenia (n=30) and the normal controls (n=30) were selected. Interpersonal Reactivity Index-C( IRI-C),Positive and Negative Syndrome Scale (PANSS),and the Scale of Social Function in Psychosis Inpatients (SSPI ) were used to measure the score of empathy,mental symptoms and the social ability;the total score of empathy and the scores of four scales in two groups were compared;the relationships between the empathy ability score and clinical symptom score,social function score in patients group were analyzed.
Results The IRI-C score of the patients in schizophrenia patients group was lower than that in normal control group (P<0.05).The schizophrenia patients with higher PANSS negative syndromes had the lower IRI-C score,and serious empathy deficiency;there was negative correlation between empathy ability and PANSS negative syndrome in schizophrenia patients group（r=－0.572，P<0.01）;the IRI-C score wasn’t  correlated with SSPI score（r=0.166，P>0.05） in schizophrenia patients group.Conclusion The first-episode schizophrenia patients have empathy deficiency,which is affected by the negative syndromes.The more severe negative symptoms  of the  patients are， the worse empathy ability is.

Key words: schizophrenia, empathy, mental symptom, social function