Douglas LaBier, Ph.D., psychoanalytic psychotherapist, and Director of the Center for Progressive Development in Washington, DC said: “Empathy Deficit Disorder is a pervasive but overlooked condition. In fact, our increasingly polarized and social and political culture of the past few years reveals that EDD is more severe than ever. It has profound consequences for the mental health for both individuals and society.” He further explains that “when you suffer from EDD you are unable to step outside yourself and tune in to what other people experience, especially those who feel, think and believe differently from yourself. That makes it a source of personal conflicts of communication breakdown in intimate relationships and of adversarial attitudes - including hatred - towards groups of people who differ in their beliefs, traditions or ways of life from your own.”
One of the characteristics of someone with EDD is that “in a group setting they will talk a lot about themselves and their lives without really caring about what other people share.”
There are two other former international figures who also suffered from EDD: Joseph Stalin and Adolph Hitler.
Marvin Fremerman
Springfield, Missouri