We then discuss current limitations of the concept, the many open questions that remain, and urge future research to investigate empathic disequilibrium carefully and together with people who share this unique experience.

The idea has theoretical and clinical implications. It may change the way we think about empathy and help recognise and accept diverse empathic experiences, moving us beyond the usual “low” or “high” empathy narrative.

In this paper, we place empathic disequilibrium within a broader theoretical framework, showing how cognitive and emotional empathy form two global dimensions, the overall empathy level AND the balance (or imbalance) between its components. These two dimensions appear to be unrelated to one another.

Empathic disequilibrium has since emerged as a reliable correlate of neurodiverse and clinical characteristics, capturing patterns that overall empathy scores, or its components alone, often miss.

Research has long emphasised that social communication depends on both cognitive and emotional empathy, working together. Yet studies on neurodiverse and clinical groups have often examined these components separately, which may have contributed to the inconsistent findings in the literature.

Amazing! Huge congrats! 👏

Love this educational idea! Very cool but completely inaccurate map!