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Need for empathy in Asperger's

NAS50725

I understand that a person with Asperger's struggles with having empathy for others, but do they also not need empathy from others? Or is it likely that one might have a strong need for empathy from others, to the point of almost demanding it? 

Thank you.

Parents

  • Interesting question. Yes there are misconceptions about people on the ASD spectrum having empathy, and part of this is because there isn't a wide understanding of the difference - as Sunflower said - between cognitive empathy & affective empathy and their relationships to emotional contagion, compassion, alexithymia and emotional overload.

    As to whether people with ADS feel a need for empathy from others, I'd be very interested to see a survey done on this for purely personal reasons; I know that I'm frequently guilty of attention seeking in a variety of ways, and as Binary said part of this is because of a feeling of wanting to be understood.

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  • Interesting question. Yes there are misconceptions about people on the ASD spectrum having empathy, and part of this is because there isn't a wide understanding of the difference - as Sunflower said - between cognitive empathy & affective empathy and their relationships to emotional contagion, compassion, alexithymia and emotional overload.

    As to whether people with ADS feel a need for empathy from others, I'd be very interested to see a survey done on this for purely personal reasons; I know that I'm frequently guilty of attention seeking in a variety of ways, and as Binary said part of this is because of a feeling of wanting to be understood.

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