title: Empathy in sexually sadistic offenders: an experimental comparison with non-sadistic sexual offenders.
abstract: Previous studies suggest that severe sexual sadism and psychopathy are phenotypically different, although both are characterized by deficits in emotional processing. We assessed empathic capacity in a sample of 12 sexual sadists in comparison with 23 non-sadistic offenders using the Multifaceted Empathy Test (MET). All participants were forensic patients under mandatory treatment orders who had committed sexual offenses. The MET is a computerized rating task that differentiates and measures cognitive and emotional components of empathy, or perspective-taking versus compassionate components. To identify the effects of possible empathy deficits caused by psychopathic traits, we controlled both samples for psychopathy as a covariate, measured by the Psychopathy Checklist-Revised (PCL-R). According to our results, sexual sadists did not differ from non-sadistic sexual offenders with regard to emotional empathy for either positive or negative stimuli. The results suggest that severe sexual sadism is a distinct, pathological sexual arousal response, not a deficit in emotional processing.
authors.affiliation: Ansbach District Hospital, Ansbach, Germany. dr.joachim.nitschke@bezirkskliniken-mfr.de
authors.forename: Joachim
authors.initials: J
authors.lastname: Nitschke
authors.forename: Shota
authors.initials: S
authors.lastname: Istrefi
authors.forename: Michael
authors.initials: M
authors.lastname: Osterheider
authors.forename: Andreas
authors.initials: A
authors.lastname: Mokros
mesh_terms: D000328:Adult; D000987:Antisocial Personality Disorder / Q000523:psychology*; D003071:Cognition; D004644:Emotions; D004645:Empathy; D005555:Forensic Psychiatry; D005858:Germany; D006801:Humans; D008297:Male; D015999:Multivariate Analysis; D011329:Prisoners / Q000523:psychology*; D012448:Sadism / Q000523:psychology*; D012742:Sex Offenses / Q000523:psychology*