title: Empathy and social-emotional factors in recovery from stroke.
abstract: There is growing interest in evaluating the social and emotional effects of stroke, with the aim of improving recovery and outcome. Recent investigations indicate that post-stroke depression and social impairment are cross-cultural consequences that affect between one-third and two-thirds of patients. These conditions appear to be undertreated, even though studies confirm measurable benefits of medical and caregiver education interventions. A further improvement in outcome can be expected from the comprehensive recognition and management of other social and emotional alterations that encompass emotion-related communication disorders, reduced emotional arousal, initiation and expression, and impaired social cognition, empathy and related interpersonal competencies.
authors.affiliation: Departments of aMedicine (Division of Neurology), College of Medicine, Pennsylvania State University, University Hospital Rehabilitation Center, The M.S. Hershey Medical Center, Hershey, Pennsylvania, USA. peslinger@psu.edu
authors.forename: Paul J
authors.initials: PJ
authors.lastname: Eslinger
authors.forename: Kari
authors.initials: K
authors.lastname: Parkinson
authors.forename: Simone G
authors.initials: SG
authors.lastname: Shamay
mesh_terms: D004645:Empathy; D006801:Humans; D020127:Recovery of Function; D012917:Social Adjustment; D012944:Social Support; D020521:Stroke / Q000523:psychology*