What Is Empathy and Can It Be Taught?

Abstract

Empathy is the "almost magical" emotion that persons or objects arouse in us as projections of our feelings. Empathy requires passion, more so than does equanimity, so long cherished by physicians. Medical students lose some of their empathy as they learn science and detachment, and hospital residents lose the remainder in the weariness of overwork and in the isolation of the intensive care units that modern hospitals have become. Conversations about experiences, discussions of patients and their human stories, more leisure and unstructured contemplation of the humanities help physicians to cherish empathy and to retain their passion. Physicians need rhetoric as much as knowledge, and they need stories as much as journals if they are to be more empathetic than computers.

Clarifying empathy: the first step to more humane clinical care

“…6 Spiro argues that physicians must have the time to listen to patients. 7 However, medicine's positivist view prioritises technical progress, evidencebased medicine, targets, and efficiency, so risking a view of patients solely as objects of intellectual interest. 8 Mattingly suggests that, because the medical culture does not consistently support the practice of empathy, it becomes easy for doctors to see empathy as 'nice' but not an essential part of practice.…”

Fink About It: Development and Evaluation of a Communications Curriculum for Healthcare Professionals

“…Adding to this "human dimension" the introduction of patient perspectives was considered vital to promote empathy, and this is provided by former patients who deliver a workshop style lecture on their experience of radiotherapy, as well as their impression of the communication process at all stages of the patient pathway. "Empathy in medicine has been described as the ability, through our understanding or consciousness, to vicariously share the experiences of another human being" (Spiro, 1992). An ability to empathise with another human being is fundamental to good communication, and can be difficult to nurture and assess in third level education.…”

An Overview of Empathy

“…Risk factors for disk herniation include obesity, 12 male gender, 12 age more than 40 years, 12 heavier lifetime loading during occupational and leisure time activities, 13 and history of back disorders. 13 Factors associated with degeneration of the intervertebral disk include genetic factors and changes in disk hydration and collagen.…”

“…13 Factors associated with degeneration of the intervertebral disk include genetic factors and changes in disk hydration and collagen. 14 These factors reduce effectiveness of the nucleus pulposus (the inner disk layer) for absorbing shock, providing resistance to compression, and permitting flexibility of the vertebral column.…”