La valutazione delle capacità empatiche negli autori di reato con disturbi mentali

Subject: The compromising of empathetic abilities may be an influential factor in the consolidation of disorders in interpersonal relations. A serious compromise in the psychological construct of empathy may also give rise to an incapacity to control one's own behaviours and ignore the consequences of one's own actions. Scientific literature finds a strong correlation between personality disorders, empathy deficits, substance abuse, childhood trauma, and perpetrators of violent crimes. The objective of this study is to evaluate the empathetic capacities in a sample of 20 criminals with mental disorders housed in two psychiatric communities in the area of Asti (Italy). 90% of the sample subjects have been diagnosed with a personality disorder and a past use of substances and alcohol. Materials and methods: Given the complexity of the psychological construct of ¿empathy¿, studied by means of the ¿Empathy Quotient¿ questionnaire, it was decided to increase the number of evaluation tools to study correlated psychological constructs. The Trait Meta-Mood Scale was used to study the level of emotional intelligence; The Difficulties in Emotion Regulation Scale-Brief Version was used to study the level of difficulties in dealing with negative emotional states and the Adverse Childhood Experience Questionnaire was used to study the prevalence of childhood trauma within the sample. The data analyses were carried out on a reference sample composed of 32 inmates from the district prison of Vercelli (Italy). Results: In the community sample a high presence of childhood trauma was found, with an average of 4 traumatic experiences per subject. 70% of the community sample reported from 2 to 9 traumatic experiences during childhood. A similar result (50% of the samples reported 2 or more traumatic experience in childhood) was found within the prison sample. The total average Empathy Quotient score was equal to 42.96, a value that indicates a Empathy Quotient within the norm. The results of the Trait Meta-Mood Scale indicated a normal level of Emotional Intelligence within both the community sample and the prison sample. The results of the Difficulties in Emotion Regulation Scale ¿ Brief Version and of the relative sub-scales indicated significant differences. The community sample would appear to be more competent in managing emotions compared to the prison sample. The difference between the two groups could be explained by the presence of therapeutic programs found in the communities, but non in prison.