ReviewFrontiers in psychology2023
Helper Syndrome and Pathological Altruism in nurses - a study in times of the COVID-19 pandemic.
Review in Frontiers in psychology, 2023. The graph could read no effect estimate from its abstract, so it casts no vote on the map. Cited by 4 papers.
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Who cites it
4 citing papers in PubMed.
- The Relationship Between Sense of Community and Collaborative Learning: Quantitative Study in Medical Education.JMIR medical education · 2026Article
- Mentalizing on the edge: borderline traits and their association with real-time self-reflection - an ecological momentary assessment study.Borderline personality disorder and emotion dysregulation · 2026Article
- Exploring the role of spiritual leadership among nurse colleagues: an associative analysis of its impact on passion and altruism.BMC nursing · 2025Article
- The impact of practical training based on narrative nursing on the humanistic care ability of Chinese intern nurses.Frontiers in medicine · 2025Article
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Authors and funding
4 authors.
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Abstract
Background: Pathological Altruism and the concept of Helper Syndrome are comparable. We focused on Schmidbauer's description because it provides a comprehensive and testable definition. Nevertheless, this concept of Helper Syndrome has not yet been empirically investigated in a sample of helping professionals. Aim: To investigate whether nurses working with covid-19 patients are more likely to have Helper Syndrome compared with individuals from non-helper professions. Methods: The online survey took place between April 2021 and February 2022, in urban and rural regions of Salzburg, during the time of the COVID-19 pandemic. Nurses ( Results: In both groups, Helper Syndrome was detected (nurses 29.5%, controls 30.5%). Participants with Helper Syndrome showed significant differences in personality styles and traits, namely significantly higher scores for Conclusion: For the first time, we were able to demonstrate Schmidbauer's concept of Helper Syndrome. According to our data, we found a subgroup of individuals similar to Schmidbauer's description of Helper Syndrome, but this sample was independent of helping or non-helping profession. These individuals seem to be at higher risk for psychiatric disorders.
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