The problems of empathy

While empathy has certainly been considered prominent in fostering helping, care, and altruistic behaviour, its dark sides have often been disregarded. This chapter aims to delve into the problems and issues that empathy, as a psychological mechanism enabling us to share others’ emotions, has. Before doing so, one must define what empathy means and contrast it with other related concepts often conflated with it (in §2). Once the definitional issues have been clarified (although certainly not solved), I will focus on how an excess of empathy can lead one to lose herself and to burnout (in §3) and on empathy’s intrinsic limitations (in §4). The former is particularly relevant in healthcare settings, although it is also a general issue, and the latter has to do with the biases and partialities that empathy always incorporates. Finally, I will consider whether regulating empathy can solve its problems (in §5).