Empathy and social problem solving in alcohol dependence, mood disorders and selected personality disorders

► Review of empathy and social problem solving skills in psychiatric disorders. ► Dissociation of emotional vs. cognitive empathy deficits in some disorders. ► Empathy and social problem solving impairments as vulnerability markers. ► Both domains as promising areas to be targeted in psychotherapeutic treatment. ► Limits of the current database: sparse neuroimaging data, clinical heterogeneity.