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BMC Psychiatry
Published in: BMC Psychiatry 1/2019

Open Access 01-12-2019 | Fatigue | Research article

The pitfall of empathic concern with chronic fatigue after a disaster in young adults

Authors: Seishu Nakagawa, Motoaki Sugiura, Atsushi Sekiguchi, Yuka Kotozaki, Carlos Makoto Miyauchi, Sugiko Hanawa, Tsuyoshi Araki, Atsushi Sakuma, Ryuta Kawashima

Published in: BMC Psychiatry | Issue 1/2019

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Abstract

Background

Empathic concern (EC) is an important interpersonal resilience factor that represents positive adaptation, such as “relating to others” (a factor of posttraumatic growth [PTG]) after disaster. However, controversy exists regarding whether the changes in EC (e.g., the intra-personal change between the acute phase and the disillusionment phase) positively or negatively affect mental health after a disaster. We hypothesized that increased EC may increase chronic fatigue due to over-adjustment (hypothesis 1). We also hypothesized that increasing the changes in “relating to others” could decrease the changes in chronic fatigue (hypothesis 2).

Methods

Forty-nine young, healthy volunteers (M/F: 36/13; age at 3 months after the disaster [3 months]: mean ± SD: 21.1 ± 1.7 years) underwent assessments of EC using the Japanese version of the Interpersonal Reactivity Index, chronic fatigue using the Japanese version of the Checklist Individual Strength (CIS-J) questionnaire, and “relating to others” using the Japanese version of the PTG inventory during the acute phase (3 months) and the disillusionment phase (1 year after the disaster). Pearson product moment correlations at 3 months and 1 year were determined for all scores related to EC.
The changes (delta = degree of change from 3 months to 1 year) or scores at 1 year were entered into linear structural equation systems to test the hypotheses.

Results

The delta of EC positively affected the delta of the CIS-J, and the delta of relating to others negatively affected the delta of the CIS-J. Both the EC and relating to others scores were negatively associated with the CIS-J score at 1 year. These results were in accordance with hypothesis 1 and 2.

Conclusions

We demonstrated the opposite effects of 2 types of ECs, i.e., stability (inherent disposition) and flexibility (degree of change), on the degree of chronic fatigue. Increasing EC with increasing chronic fatigue, but not the change in relating to others, may be a red flag for individuals during the disillusionment phase.
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Metadata
Title
The pitfall of empathic concern with chronic fatigue after a disaster in young adults
Authors
Seishu Nakagawa
Motoaki Sugiura
Atsushi Sekiguchi
Yuka Kotozaki
Carlos Makoto Miyauchi
Sugiko Hanawa
Tsuyoshi Araki
Atsushi Sakuma
Ryuta Kawashima
Publication date
01-12-2019
Publisher
BioMed Central
Keyword
Fatigue
Published in
BMC Psychiatry / Issue 1/2019
Electronic ISSN: 1471-244X
DOI
https://doi.org/10.1186/s12888-019-2323-0

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