Pathological Altruism

by Barbara Oakley (Editor), Ariel Knafo (Editor), Guruprasad Madhavan (Editor)

The benefits of altruism and empathy are obvious. These qualities are so highly regarded and embedded in both secular and religious societies that it seems almost heretical to suggest they can cause harm. Like most good things, however, altruism can be distorted or taken to an unhealthy extreme. Pathological Altruism presents a number of new, thought-provoking theses that explore a range of hurtful effects of altruism and empathy.

Pathologies of empathy, for example, may trigger depression as well as the burnout seen in healthcare professionals. The selflessness of patients with eating abnormalities forms an important aspect of those disorders. Hyperempathy - an excess of concern for what others think and how they feel - helps explain popular but poorly defined concepts such as codependency. In fact, pathological altruism, in the form of an unhealthy focus on others to the detriment of one's own needs, may underpin some personality disorders.

Pathologies of altruism and empathy not only underlie health issues, but also a disparate slew of humankind's most troubled features, including genocide, suicide bombing, self-righteous political partisanship, and ineffective philanthropic and social programs that ultimately worsen the situations they are meant to aid. Pathological Altruism is a groundbreaking new book - the first to explore the negative aspects of altruism and empathy, seemingly uniformly positive traits. The contributing authors provide a scientific, social, and cultural foundation for the subject of pathological altruism, creating a new field of inquiry. Each author's approach points to one disturbing what we value so much, the altruistic "good" side of human nature, can also have a dark side that we ignore at our peril.

Genres: Psychology, Nonfiction, Philosophy, Science, Sociology, Evolution, Neuroscience

496 pages, Hardcover

First published January 1, 2011

About the author

Barbara Oakley, PhD, a 'female Indiana Jones,' is one of the few women to hold a doctorate in systems engineering. She chronicled her adventures on Soviet fishing boats in the Bering Sea in Hair of the Dog: Tales from Aboard a Russian Trawler. She also served as a radio operator in Antarctica and rose from private to captain in the U.S. Army. Now an associate professor of engineering at Oakland University in Michigan, Oakley is a recent vice president of the IEEE Engineering in Medicine and Biology Society. Her work has appeared in publications ranging from The New York Times to the IEEE Transactions on Nanobioscience.

Reviews

[Ayse_ · Rating 4 out of 5]

This book is a valuable compilation of narrations on different aspects of pathological altruism based on current scientific literature. It is not easily read like the other books of B. Oakley; however it is a very educational and interesting book.

Pathological altruism is a type of cognitive-behavioral problem that; the person feels/perceives oneself sacrificing for the benefit of others, however the attempt fails to create welfare of others and may actually cause harm to oneself or others. It is a complex multi-faceted problem.

It is eye-opening to see that survivor`s guilt, self-righteousness, selflessness, dependent personality, pathological certitude and many forms of people pleasing behavior are some of the aspects of this dysfunction.

[Julian · Rating 4 out of 5]

An encyclopaedic yet entirely readable collection of scientific articles exploring the concept and origins of altruism gone wrong. While the idea of altruistic behaviours sitting on a spectrum from a healthy to pathological qualities may sit uncomfortably with some, it is by no means a new concept. Buddhist studies also distinguish between 'mindless/idiot' and 'mindful/helpful' compassion, and the concept in psychodynamic/psychological theories is hinted at in constructs of 'rescue transferences' as well as vicarious traumatization/burnout.
This book integrates information from a wide variety of disciplines, and is particualrly thorough in outlining the neurobiology of altruistic behaviour, before discussing pathological variants. Neuroscientists will be familiar with the summaries of the place of neurohormones such as oxytocin and vasopressin have here, and the structural correlates of helpful behaviours (Dopamine reward pathways in the ventral tegmentum, the anterior temporal pole, the frontal OFC/VMPFC and limbic amygdala, insula and subgenual cingulate components).
Going back to the mindless versus mindful altruism dichotomy, a case is made for reconceptualizing burnout as 'Empathic distress', which can then lead to pathological altruism as a means of relieving one's distress by helping others. This is very similar to the idea of 'emotional empathy', whereby one's mirror neurons resonate with the distress of the other; however one is unable to see oneself as separate from the other. Pathological guilt may then become entrenched, and additionally add to the potentially damaging impact by predisposing the helper to such psychiatric conditions such as PTSD, Depression and OCD. The authors then go on to speculate how a childhood history characterised by parental depression, love withdrawal, guilt induction and high criticism may predispose to helpers experiencing guilt and empathic distress.
Truly altruistic behaviour arises out of 'Empathic concern', whereby one can sympathize with another's distress but is able to clearly demarcate self from other, thus enabling the mental space required to formulate effective and efficient means of supporting and helping the distressed other. In empathy studies, this position is known as 'cognitive empathy', or'perspective taling', and is dependent on both the intact functioning of mirror neuron and deeper limbic structures, as well as the orbitofrontal/ventromedial prefrontal cortex interacting in an integrated manner. Clearly, if one only has the cognitive perspective without the ability to resonate with another's ditress, this gives rise to the much maligned psychopathic conditions. If both are compromised, then one segues into the hypo-empathic autism and schizophernia spectrum disorders.
There is also a prominent contribution from genetics and evolutionary science. Evidence from a genetic perspective is taken from the example of Williams syndrome, a chromosomal disorder whose sufferers consistently show highly altruistic, social approach behaviours which make them vulnerable to exploitation. The concept of 'in group' or parochial altruism is looked at from inclusive fitness/multilevel group selection theory, and is tied in with more recent neuroscience findings regarding oxytocin supporting this.
For the clinician, there is a brilliant chapter on the psychodynamics of P.A, based on the motivations and intentions behind the act. The author's informed distinction between protective, defensive, masochistic and malignant altruism will be of significant aid in understanding and formulating patients' problems.
The cultural aspects are not forgotten, and there is a chapter detailing the significant differences between Western (read; USA) and eastern (read: japanese)concepts and understanding. There is also a chapter reminding us that genes interact with the surrounding culture: While the s/s allele of the 5HTTP gene predisposes 'western' populations to an other-focus and increased rates of depression/anxiety, the same allele in japanese populations also predispose to helpful behaviours however, with REDUCED rates of psychiatric disorders.
To round it all off, there are very interesting chapters studying the biography of Mahatma Gandhi, an acceptance/commitment based approach to P.A, how P.A relates to suicide terrorism and even a chapter warning us on the dangers and pitfalls of first contact with extra terrestrials!
Hard work, effortful reading but ultimately highly rewarding.

[Chet · Rating 5 out of 5]

This is really an interesting and intellectual read. Although it is a collection of academic papers, presented as chapters, it is for the most part understandable by the layperson and the ideas are very creative and are presented methodically. I found this book while searching on codependency, which is a psychological condition whereas the subject thinks they are helping someone who they are really hurting. The enabling wife of an alcoholic is the traditional example. However, there are many other types of codependency and now, thanks to this book, we can see that there are many other types of pathological altruism. More moderate examples are overtreating cancer, suicide attackers, and animal hoarders. An extreme example is mass genocide. Read this book and be fascinated.

[Jess d'Artagnan · Rating 4 out of 5]

This collection of scholarly articles explores the topic of pathological altruism. Pathological altruism is described as someone who acts with the sincere intention of doing good, but who ends up causing harm to themselves or others. One of the articles I found most interesting was the concept of self-addiction and addiction to the feeling of self-righteousness. The argument was that feeling self-righteous can trigger the same addictive neurological response as other forms of process addiction (ie gambling or shopping). The book is super interesting, but the academic writing style will make it inaccessible and downright boring for some people.

[Vivian · Rating 5 out of 5]

Excellent! I do not suggest that everyone read it from cover to cover as I did (goodreads challenge), but by flipping through you are highly likely to come across something fascinating that you have not read about before (unless you study altruism for a living).

[Jen · Rating 3 out of 5]

This is not the kind of book I would normally read (collection of scientific studies), but the topic is conceptually fascinating and I'm a big fan of the editor, Barbara Oakley and her MOOC "Learning How to Learn." There are many ways that altruism can be harmful, and as someone who likes to try to be altruistic, it was good food for thought to consider the shadow side of doing good.

[Jacob Williams · Rating 4 out of 5]

Several interesting articles. Reviewed at: https://brokensandals.net/reviews/pat...

[Will · Rating 4 out of 5]

This book provides a fascinating discussion of the concept of pathological altruism; when people tried to help, but in doing so lead to harm for themselves and other. It discusses the issue from the perspectives if psychology, political science / sociology, and evolutionary biology. The 30 or so chapters are incredibly diverse in approach and style, though all centered on the broader theme. An incredibly interesting book for anyone who wants to better understand why those aim to help often end up causing harm.

[Paul Brooks · Rating 4 out of 5]

Almost like a textbook of essays. The general idea comes with the title, and if you're really diving deep this book is chock full of cited sources. Wonderful new colloquialism for the psychology nerds; Pathological Altruism.

Definition of pathological altruism: "A person who sincerely engages in what he or she intends to be altruistic acts, but who harms the very person or group he or she is trying to help, often in unanticipated fashion; or harms others; or irrationally becomes a victim of his or her own altruistic actions." Pg4 Pathological Altruism

-Variations on pathological altruism:
Codependency, Empathy-Based pathological guilt, Survivor guilt ("shoulda been me"), Self-addiction (similar to narcissism, hyper-sociability, or "look at me!")
[Exp. The cat lady, hyper-sociability, genocide, suicide attack martyrdoms]

[Rudy Parker · Rating 3 out of 5]

not as good as Evil Genes, but still very strong on theory and argument. Good illustrations of her points as usual too.

[Dianne J]

Another great well-researched book by Barbara Oakley. She definitely came to this planet to write books on pathology.

[Damion]

I wanted this book for chapter 8 (the paper on animal hoarding). The overall book is more technical than I expected and is formatted like a college textbook. It's worth checking out but feel free to skip and skim through it.