Personal distress
The self-focused anxiety stirred up by another's suffering.
What it means
Personal distress is a self-oriented, aversive emotional reaction, anxiety, discomfort, or alarm, evoked by witnessing another person's pain or need. It is contrasted with empathic concern, which is other-oriented warmth and compassion, and the two have opposite motivational consequences: empathic concern drives helping, while personal distress drives the urge to reduce one's own discomfort, which can mean escaping the situation rather than aiding. Batson's research used 'easy escape' conditions to separate them, showing that distressed observers often leave when they can, whereas concerned observers help even when escape is easy. High trait personal distress is linked to poorer regulation and contributes to burnout and compassion fatigue in caregivers. The distinction is pivotal to the empathy-altruism debate.
Examples
Overwhelmed by a graphic charity appeal, a viewer changes the channel to make her own discomfort stop, rather than donating.
A new nurse feels flooded by a patient's pain and finds reasons to be needed elsewhere; a colleague, moved but steady, sits down and holds the patient's hand.
Passing someone crying on a bench, one person crosses the road to stop their own chest tightening; another feels the same jolt but turns it outward and asks if she is all right.
First described in C. Daniel Batson; Davis (1983) Interpersonal Reactivity Index.