Connection: Journey's End, RC Sherriff (1928)
Ewan Jeffrey, David Jeffrey in Enhancing Compassion in End-of-Life Care Through Drama, 2021
Empathy is the ability to appreciate the emotions and feelings of others and to develop a connection with them. Empathy enables doctors to understand the inner experience of patients, to communicate this understanding, and to respond in a therapeutic way. It is both the recognition and acknowledgement of the other’s individuality and humanity.5 Guidance from the General Medical Council (GMC) refers to empathy and describes it as one of the qualities of a good doctor.6 Compassion, empathy and caring are central to the doctor–patient relationship. One of the justifications for including a study of the humanities in medical education is to foster empathy in medical students. There is a danger that with the increasing bureaucracy in medical education idealism and empathy may dwindle.5
Psychological interventions in dementia
Grahame Smith in Dementia Care, 2018
What are psychological interventions? How are they used within a dementia context?Who is Tom Kitwood?What type of process should communication be?How does the environment impact on communication?Define recovery within a dementia context.Why is empathy so important?What is the relationship between cognitive stimulation, reality orientation, and reminiscence?Identify an unmet need.What other mental health conditions are commonly associated with dementia?Describe a modified cognitive behavioural approach.
Listening to the Family’s Pain
David B. Cooper, Jo Cooper in Palliative Care Within Mental Health, 2018
Active listening skills are fundamental for all health and social care professionals working in mental health and palliative care contexts. Both settings have goals of alleviating suffering and enhancing quality of life. To begin to help people, the professional must demonstrate an interest in the person’s life, giving them their full and undivided attention. Brennan’s seminal (2004) text, Cancer in Context, proposes that emotional support seems to consist of two key components: empathy and validation. Empathy can be defined as using listening skills to attempt to understand how it feels to be in the other person’s shoes, and conveying this understanding through words and body language. Validation is also conveyed through non-judgemental listening, alongside words and gestures to communicate to the person that their thoughts and feelings are understood and also understandable, given their particular circumstances. Key components of active listening are outlined below, drawn from Jenkins and North (2008).
Empathy and theory of mind abilities of children with specific learning disorder (SLD)
Published in Psychiatry and Clinical Psychopharmacology, 2018
Damla Eyuboglu, Nurullah Bolat, Murat Eyuboglu
One of the most important components of social behaviour is the ability to empathize with another person. Empathy has two subtypes, namely the cognitive and emotional subtypes. Cognitive empathy is the ability to understand the perspective of another person in relation to an incident and to predict the other person's behaviour in the current condition, which covers ToM abilities. In contrast, emotional empathy is the ability to recognize a person's emotion about a situation, predict possible emotional associations, and share the pain of another person [32]. False-belief and ToM tasks were used to evaluate empathy and ToM abilities in our study. It was found that the first-order, second-order, and total ToM scores of children and adolescents with SLD were significantly lower than those of healthy children and adolescents, and those with SLD demonstrated worse performance in ToM abilities. ToM abilities develop around 5 years of age [15], and the age range of both the case and control groups was 7–12 years in our study. Given this information, the children with SLD were expected to be old enough to have developed ToM abilities, but according to our findings, the children with SLD had insufficient ToM abilities. In accordance with our findings, Cardillo and et al. in their study published in 2017, reported that children with dyslexia had weak ToM skills and had difficulties in understanding others feelings, thoughts, and intentions [33].
College students’ intentions to assist peers with chronic medical conditions
Published in Journal of American College Health, 2022
Russell D. Ravert, Luke T. Russell
In addition to expecting direct associations between stigma, self-efficacy, and intention, the strength of these direct influences was expected to be partially explained by an individual’s level of empathy, and the individual's degree of experience with others who have chronic medical conditions. Empathy involves an ability to take the perspective of another person and to feel sympathy and concern.28 In college samples, high empathy has been associated with social tolerance (i.e., reduced social distancing) toward students with mental health problems.29 Therefore, an association between high empathy and low stigma might be expected. Likewise, one’s degree of experience with others who have chronic medical conditions may indirectly influence intent to assist. Specifically, having known more people with chronic conditions may both reduce stigma toward that population, and increase confidence in providing assistance.
The consequences of diverse empathic responses in nurse-patient interactions: a discourse analysis
Published in Journal of Communication in Healthcare, 2018
Tonia Crawford, Peter Roger, Sally Candlin
Empathy in healthcare interactions have been the focus of considerable research since the 1980s. It is a powerful therapeutic technique that has been linked with improved outcomes of care and health status, patient satisfaction, enhanced doctor-patient trust and concordance with treatment plans [1–4]. The concept of empathy is difficult to define, and there are a number different conceptualizations of what it means. For instance, empathy is considered a human trait or disposition, a professional state, a communication process or interaction, a way of caring, and evidence of a special relationship [5,6]. According to Frankel [1] empathy involves recognizing a concern or negative feeling, and then providing support and legitimacy by acknowledging the concern and giving it a name. Empathy can also be seen as a multidimensional triad that involves ‘cognitive (the ability to understand another person’s feelings and perspectives), affective (feelings of compassion and sympathy for the other person, as well as concern with his or her wellbeing), and behavioral (transmission of other person’s feelings and perspective so that he or she feels profoundly understood) components’ [7,p.368]. Empathy is distinct from sympathy, which is described as awareness of another person’s feelings, provoking sadness or concern. With sympathy, the feelings of the other person are not internalized; however, empathy involves a person’s ability to internalize another’s emotions [7].
Related Knowledge Centers
- Alexithymia
- Emotion
- Emotional Contagion
- Hostility
- Proprioception
- Prejudice
- Compassion
- Sympathy
- Empathic Concern
- Pity