This video attempts to answer the questions: What is sadistic empathy? What are empathy vampires? What is the relationship between sadistic empathy, empathy vampires, narcissism and psychopathy? Empathy is typically conceptualized as positive and we know it’s a useful mechanism in the treatment of mental health disorders, but it also has a downside. In order to be efficient and productive mental health counselors, we need to understand both the benefits and the drawbacks of the use and overuse of empathy.

Breithaupt, F. (2018). The bad things we do because of empathy. Interdisciplinary Science Reviews, 43(2), 166–174.

Kanske, Philipp.2018.“The Social Mind: Disentangling Affective and Cognitive Routes toUnderstanding Others.”Interdisciplinary Science Reviews.

De Vignemont, Frederique, and Tania Singer.2006.“‘The Empathic Brain: How, When and Why?”Trends in Cognitive Sciences10 (10): 435–441.